Quote of the day
"I want people to have an option other than surgery or lifetime addiction to narcotic or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which the literature says are bad for you."
Hugh Lubkin, a Sacramento-area chiropractor recently appointed to the Board of Chiropractic Examiners, regarding his controversial theories regarding the acceptable frequency of chiropractic visits
Gov’s Chiropractor Board Appointee Draws Criticism
A Sacramento-area chiropractor recently appointed by the governor to the Board of Chiropractic Examiners has drawn criticism from an administrative law judge for endorsing “unreasonable theories” about the acceptable maximum of chiropractic treatment. Hugh Lubkin asserted that it might be legitimate to treat a patient 300 times in 2 1/2 years. By John Hill, Sacramento Bee
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Probe Show Me State’s Second Injury Fund, Rep Says
The chairman of a Missouri House of Representatives business committee suggests that lawmakers investigate payouts from the state’s controversial Second Injury Fund. Auditors estimate claim payments will exceed revenues by $19 million per year from 2007 to 2009. By AP via Columbia Tribune
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Impact of Missouri Court’s Reversal of Dependents’ Ruling Unclear
A March Missouri Supreme Court allow a widow to receive, as a dependent of her late husband and, thus, an employee, permanent total disability benefits to which he was entitled before he died. The impact of the ruling on the state’s strapped Second Injury Fund is unknown. By Jeremy Elwood, Springfield Business Journal Staff
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Sept. 11 Comp Deadline Looms
Only 100 days remain to register for workers’ compensation claims related to work done at or near the World Trade Center site following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. While more than 100,000 people reportedly may be eligible, only about 14,000 have registered so far. WNYC Radio (New York City)
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BrickStreet Denies Wrongdoing, Promises to Settle Up
West Virginia’s exclusive workers’ compensation insurer BrickStreet Mutual pledges to settle “as quickly as possible” more than $3 million in expenditures that state auditors deemed “misspent and misapplied,” even though the company president maintains that there was no excessive spending. “We think everything we did was proper,” says Greg Burton, BrickStreet’s president and CEO. By Phil Kabler, Charleston Gazette
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Trucking Company Barred from Using Waiver Forms
Tennessee-based Covenant Transport no longer can ask its employees to sign paperwork stating they waive their rights to seek workers’ compensation, after the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development sues it. According to court documents, the company has agreed to stop using the forms or any similar documents and to contact any past or present employees presented with the waiver to inform them that their rights are unaffected, whether they signed it or not. By Jill Dunn, eTrucker
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Australia Unions Protest Switch to Federal Scheme
Protesters from various unions gather outside Sydney’s Parliament House to highlight a switch by several major builders on New South Wales government projects from state to the federal Comcare scheme for workers’ compensation. One union official contends the federal scheme cuts eligibility for workers’ comp for those injured traveling to and from rest breaks and work, and slashes death benefits. By AAP via Daily Telegraph (Surry Hills, NSW, Australia)
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