Jane Paulson settled a lingual nerve injury case this month.  The client’s lingual nerve was injured during an extraction of her wisdom teeth.  Injury to the lingual nerve should not occur during wisdom tooth extraction when the procedure is performed properly.  No one expects to have a numb tongue from having his/her wisdom teeth extracted.  In our opinion, it is an avoidable risk of the procedure.

Jane has represented and continues to represent clients who are injured during wisdom tooth extraction in Oregon and Washington.

Happy May Day!

Many children drop flowers on their neighbor’s doorsteps on May Day.  Parents usually go with or watch their children to keep them safe.  As parents we often forget dangers may be in our own homes.  We bring toys into the home assuming they must be safe because the toys are on the market.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  Many toys are on the market that are unsafe and have not been tested.

Some toy facts:

1. A child dies every month from a toy caused injury…….38 in last two years
   Consumer Product Safety Commission

News about the possibility of a pandemic flu has thrown many people into a panic. The swine flu outbreak has already killed more than 150 people in Mexico, and more and more cases are being diagnosed each day. The World Health Organization raised the influenza pandemic alert level to phase 4, indicating human-to-human transmission of the virus. Phase 5 indicates the beginning of the pandemic phase and widespread human infection. As of 11am Eastern Time, there were 64 confirmed cases of the swine flu in the United States: 10 in California, 45 in New York City, 6 in Texas, 2 in Kansas, and 1 in Ohio. When I first heard that schools in Mexico were closed, I thought they must mean that schools in particular regions or cities were closed, but no, schools in the entire country are closed. That is how serious this flu could be.

I don’t think you’d get many arguments from anyone that our nation’s health care system could use some help. So many are uninsured, and even those who are insured can’t always decipher their policies. HMO, PPO, copay, out-of-network, it’s hard to tell what’s what, and it’s just as confusing for the billing departments at hospitals and medical offices.

The most commonly used system for reimbursement to medical providers by insurance companies is fee-for-service, in which doctors treat patients, and insurance companies compensate. In this scenario, doctors make more money if they see more patients and run up some costs. Many feel this system is based on speed rather than building strong doctor-patient relationships.

Here in Portland, Oregon, celebration of President Obama’s inauguration unfortunately was somewhat overshadowed by a local political scandal. Portland mayor Sam Adams, who was sworn in as the city’s mayor on January 1, 2009, admitted this week that he lied about a 2005 relationship with a teenage boy. During the 2008 mayoral campaign, a rival alleged that Adams, who is openly gay, had engaged in a sexual relationship in 2005 with Beau Breedlove, then 17. Adams vehemently denied these charges and stated that his relationship with Breedlove was that of a mentor.

What a change!  We have a new President.  A President who not only recommended people consider the Martin Luther King holiday as a National Day of Service but President Obama volunteered.  He is a new leader for our country.
My friend Wendy Siri and I took the opportunity to volunteer on Monday.  We wanted our children to be able to participate with us (ages 13, almost 5, almost 5) and to learn about volunteering.  Since I am on the Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East Board we checked with Habitat.  What can we do with our kids in Portland, Oregon?  Jen Twyman, the volunteer coordinator, told us we could make lunch for all the volunteers on site.  It was brilliant!  We brought lunch for 30 people and the kids were able to help hand out lunch to the volunteers.

Just wanted to wish all our readers a healthy and happy 2009!

We’ll resume our regular blog posting next week!

Jane Paulson was recognized last night with four other members of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association by the President of the Oregon State Bar, Rick Yugler, with the President’s Special Award of Appreciation.  The award is a discretionary award of the president of the bar, with the concurrence of the board, presented to a person who has made recent outstanding contributions to the bar, the bench and/or the community.  The group was recognized for their efforts to defeat a ballot measure, funded in large part by Bill Sizemore’s friend Loren Parks, to cap attorney fees at 10% (on cases over $25,000 with under $25,000 capped at 25%).

Black Friday is this Friday, and with that the holiday shopping season will kick into high gear. In recent years the gift card has grown in popularity. After all, what’s not to like–you get to pick out your own gift! Well, there’s a bit of a catch when it comes to gift cards. According to this article in the November 21, 2008, edition of the New York Times, consumers will likely spend about $59.9 billion on gift cards from particular stores and restaurants this year. That means these gift cards can only be redeemed from that specific vendor. That wouldn’t be such a problem if the economy weren’t in such a shambles, and so many companies weren’t filing for bankruptcy protection. Once a retailer or restaurant goes out of business, that gift card becomes worthless. Analyst Brian Riley of the TowerGroup estimates that some $100 million in gift cards was lost this year when businesses went under.

Exercise your right as a citizen of the United States of America to VOTE!  In Oregon, it is too late to mail in your ballot so take it to a ballot drop box or to your local elections office.

Some businesses are giving away free items to folks who vote — Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s.