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On November 13, 2012, the U.S. Senate gave the final Congressional approval to the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA), legislation that will strengthen protections for federal workers acting as whistleblowers. The law is designed to protect government employees who expose fraud, waste or other wrongdoing in government agencies from retaliation by their supervisors. The bill…

More than 130 False Claims Acts, totaling more than nine billion dollars, were settled in fiscal year 2012. GlaxoSmithKline illegally marketed nine popular prescription drugs for off-label uses. They were accused of illegal off-label marketing despite known adverse side-effects and physician kickbacks. The case settled for $3,000,000,000, including both civil and criminal penalties. Abbott Laboratories…

The hemodialysis drugs GranuFlo Dry Acid Concentrate and Naturalyte Liquid Acid Concentrate have been recalled by the FDA. The drugs can cause elevated levels of bicarbonates in the blood which have been linked to serious medical problems, including GranuFlo hypokalemia, a dangerous drop in the blood’s potassium levels. When GranuFlo or Naturalyte are mixed incorrectly…

A woman is dead after a fatal accident on Interstate 240 in Memphis. The accident occurred at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday, October 21, 2012, on I-240 near Poplar. Forty-one-year-old Yukelia L. Kizer was a passenger in a maroon 2008 Dodge Avenger. The driver of the Avenger noticed a car stranded on the right lane…

Two Ole Miss students are dead after a head-on crash in Oxford, Mississippi. The Lafayette County car crash occurred on Saturday, October 27, 2012, at about 11 a.m. on Highway 6 near the Highway 7 ramp. Twenty-four-year-old Sarah Wheat and her brother, 30-year-old John Wheat, were headed back to the Ole Miss campus after a…

An emergency room nurse is dead after a fatal Mississippi car accident near Hernando, MS in DeSoto County. The Mississippi car accident occurred at about 4 p.m. on November 3, 2012. Thirty-seven-year-old Timothy Brigman was driving north on McCracken Road near Vinson Road when a southbound Ford F-150 pick-up truck swerved over the center lane…

This past Wednesday, Toyota announced a major recall affecting approximately 670,000 of their popular Prius hybrid cars.  The recall was attributed to defective steering components and water pumps, which could lead to an inability to steer the car or causing the car to stall. While the steering issues will usually not result in a complete…

Repetitive motion disorder or RMD is one of the leading categories of Tennessee workplace injuries. RMD encompasses a range of injuries caused by repeating the same movement. In this post, I will list and describe these conditions. Carpal tunnel syndrome – Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the nerve that runs from the forearm to the…

You depend on your lawyer for guidance and support in navigating the confusing legal system.  It is therefore understandable that you would be hesitant to hire yet another attorney to pursue a legal malpractice claim after having been injured by another attorney’s negligence or wrongdoing.  However, it is important to not delay in bringing your…

For most people, the holidays represent family gatherings, festive parties, and time spent with loved ones.  For people who have suffered the recent loss of a loved one, however, the holiday season can be a challenging time.  Grieving individuals can become overwhelmed by the ghosts of holidays past, especially in the event of an untimely…

Eleven people are dead from fungal meningitis after receiving contaminated steroid injections for back pain. As of October 27, 2012, 74 of the 1,009 people in Tennessee who received epidural injections of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate manufactured by New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts have contacted the disease. And nationwide, at least 368 cases of…

Tennessee emergency room doctors have one primary goal: to keep the patient safe from death or serious injury long enough for the patient to be either discharged or transferred to another specialist.  This requires ER doctors to address the most serious and life threatening conditions first and foremost.  In the case of a patient who…

Your attorney requests information. You send your lawyer an email with the answers, and then you question: Is my email safe? Will anyone else access this information? Should I have waited? All attorneys have a duty of confidentiality to their clients. This is one of the foundations of the attorney-client relationship. It allows clients to…

You slipped and fell and hurt your knee. At first, you were concerned about your injury. How much care would you need? Would you have a permanent injury? When would it get better? Then you got out of the hospital and came home. Suddenly, you realize just how much an injured knee affects your life.…

The recent outbreak of fungal meningitis, allegedly caused by tainted injectable epidural steroids, has led Tennessee to take action. Monday, October 15, 2012, the New England Compounding Center (NECC) lost its license to distribute in Tennessee. The license revocation, an action taken by the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy, has permanently banned the NECC from ever…

We have written about the importance of having uninsured motorist coverage in Tennessee, as well as the unfair change in Tennessee insurance bad faith law elsewhere on this website.  We have also commented on the Kaitlynn Fisher story.  Today, The Commercial Appeal published a guest column I wrote on these subjects.  Below is an excerpt…

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), fifteen patients in 15 states have now died as a result of the October 2012 epidural prednisone steroid injection fungal meningitis outbreak. The outbreak began with a steroid injection, suspected of being contaminated, and originating at the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Massachusetts. The number of…

Thomas GreerSince graduating magna cum laude in 2005 from the University of Memphis School of Law, Thomas has helped make a difference in the lives of victims of serious personal injury, wrongful death, and professional negligence. Thomas has extensive trial experience in both state and federal court. Among other victories in the courtroom, Thomas obtained several impressive jury verdicts and settlements…

Tips for a Healthy Halloween Pumpkins on the porch and chatter about costumes can only mean one thing:  Halloween is fast approaching. As party goers and trick-or-treaters plan for a night of fun, the Tennessee Department of Health suggests spending a few minutes thinking about safety and health. Costumes:  • Don’t risk eye damage by…

There are plenty of dangerous jobs to have, but some claim more lives than others in the United States. Each year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a grim report. The most recent, “2011 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries” provides a list of the top ten most dangerous jobs in America. Fishermen: Easily the…

While we would like to think the medical care of our aging parents and grandparents in Tennessee nursing homes is top notch, the simple truth is that your loved ones are frequently the victims of overmedication. And, more and more organizations like the Department of Health and Human Services are putting the blame on the…

If you or a loved one has been the victim of a Tennessee motorcycle crash that resulted in a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), then you may be understandably upset and confused. You may be wondering just what the long-term effects of this injury will be. First, it is important to understand that…

The nationwide meningitis outbreak is affecting Tennessee citizens the hardest.  A total of 61 cases of meningitis have been reported in Tennessee since the outbreak, more than any other state.  Federal and state officials have now linked the outbreak to the New England Compounding Center located in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, in additional to incurring medical bills,…

Two people were killed in a tragic accident in Bradley County, Tennessee on Interstate 75 early Monday, September 24, 2012. The crash involved a TDOT truck, a tractor-trailer and a highway patrol vehicle. Both the semi driver and a road worker were fatally injured. 53-year-old truck driver Charles Morgan and 28-year-old road worker, Nicholas Feller,…

All throughout the United States, the number of semi, tractor-trailer and commercial truck accidents is on the rise. Over 500,000 large truck accidents occurred on our nation’s roadways in 2010, causing approximately 100,000 injuries and 5,000 deaths. Compare this to the 3,200 fatalities in 2009, and the question must be asked: Why are large truck…