Lauren Ellerman

February 20, 2008 – Breaking news out of Tampa FloridaAuthorities: Caretaker stole nearly $500K from blind woman, 93LUTZ — A former caretaker has been arrested after stealing nearly $500,000 from a 93-year-old blind woman, authorities said.Barbara J. Mulert, 61, worked as a caretaker for Lutz resident Kathryn Dahman, 93, from…

FDA Says It Approved The Wrong Drug Plant – Heparin Probe Sends Inspectors to China(www.washingtonpost.com) By Marc Kaufman“The Chinese facility that supplies the active ingredient of the widely used blood thinner heparin was never inspected by the Food and Drug Administration because the agency confused its name with another just…

We see this all the time…Jury says facility is negligent, and the Department of Health says the facility did nothing wrong. No really, the self-policing arm of Virginia’s long term care system is often asked to review records, perform inspections, and report to the public as to care provided in…

Breaking news –After initially resisting their disclosure, the Bush administration on Tuesday published the names of 131 nursing homes with poor inspection records and said some were already showing signs of improvement. Want to see the full list?http://www.cms.hhs.gov/CertificationandComplianc/Downloads/SFFList.pdfSadly – people know these facilies provide sub-standard care, but residents remain –…

Heparin can be scary stuff….Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that the maker of Heparin, Baxter International Inc., has temporarily stopped productions. This is the company’s response to 350 possible reactions to the drug which has caused death, kindey failure etc.. (or so they say).Heparin is most often used in cardiac…

I am hoping our office will get power back – and the phones and email will be back online today… but our local power company is not as hopeful. If you are trying to reach our office, please try again this afternoon or tomorrow – sadly, we do not have…

I ran across this December 2007 NC Blog Post, and was disappointed, but not surprised:http://www.northcarolinainjurylawyerblog.com/2007/12/north_carolina_care_operator_s.html“Ron Burrell, the North Carolina care operator who has been ordered to pay some $5 million to two families whose loved ones died because of negligence at two of his facilities, still owns and operates the…

Congressional Inquiry Focuses on Drug AdsAdvertisements for the cholesterol drug Lipitor, which feature artificial heart pioneer Dr. Robert Jarvik, are drawing congressional scrutiny. The House Committee on Energy in Commerce wants to know how Dr. Jarvik became involved in ads for Lipitor and whether his involvement may be misleading to…