Rape victim is denied contraception pill

   
 It seems like everyday you get to hear stories that make you ask yourself are we actually living in the 21 century in a free world?
      This is one of those stories.
       A woman , that we are going to simply call R.W. in order not to disclose her identity ,was the unfortunate victim of a rape. After she was examined at Tampa's Rape Crisis Center, the doctor provided two anti-contraception pills for her to take. 
 While she was reporting the crime, however, an arrest warrant on her name was found for failure to pay restitution and failure to appear. Being detained at Hillsborough County Jail, her pills were confiscated by the staff who refused to return them so R.W. could  take them.
     Michele Spinelli, jail employee, motivated her actions on religious beliefs. Even though eventually she did not get pregnant, R.W. decided to sue the jail guard and Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee for gender discrimination and violations of the right to privacy and the right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
      Is the Sheriff accountable for Spinelli's actions?
      Even though judge Kovachevich dismissed the claims against Gee, she did wrote :"The single action of a final policy-maker can represent official government policy, even when the action is not meant to control later decisions. [...]Gee, as the representative of the municipality, promulgated no policy on anticonceptive medication and provided no guidance or supervision to Spinelli on the matter. Given that some entity must set policy for the government in each situation, plaintiff has rendered plausible the claim that Spinelli was designated the final policy-maker with respect to her decision to withhold anti-conceptive medication for religious reasons.”

   What I found so disturbing about this case is how religion has made some people think they have the right to decide about other people's life, even when that goes against the law.
    I wonder what would happen if Michele Spinelli herself would have been the victim of a rape. Would she still be so firm into defending her beliefs? It's easy to be pose as righteous when the other person must facec the consequences of your decisions. It may be easy to say that is wrong to use contraceptives when you're not the on who has to live with this decision, when you're not the one who has to raise the child, and provide for him , while trying to erase the horrible memory of how that child was conceived.
    
    As a common thing for all rape cases, nobody is there to help the victims when they are assaulted, but a lot of people tend to emerge afterwards with their opinions and lessons on morality .

     On an unrelated note, in New York, many schools have started banning words on standardized tests that might be considered offensive. Words like "birthday", or "dinosaur" because some of the kids attending those schools belong to a religion that doesn't accept the existence of dinosaurs, or doesn't celebrate birthdays.( I guess musems should be next)

    It makes me ask, when did we get to be so intolerant with other people religions that we decided the best way to deal with it is to ignore the subject all together? We are either going to shove our point of view down the other person's throat or just politely change the subject, since apparently we are not able to cope with the fact that other people like us may have other opinions and that we should respect their opinion even though we don't agree with it.

    In Michigan , the Sikh community was revolted after a student was denied the right to carry a religious sword at school. Now this is an elementary school we are talking about. Imagine your kid getting in a fight with another kid on the playground, which is a pretty common thing, except the other kid carries a sword with him always.

    There is such thing as religion and then there's common sense. You can not use religion as an  excuse to break law, and do whatever you like just because your belief demands it .  Respecting another person 's belief should be done is such a way you don't offend the other, which may be pretty hard , but not impossible if we all agree that our beliefs are just different point of views, and none of us holds the absolute truth.
      
    

Improper dosage of prozac leads to murderous behaviour

     
      A couple of years ago, Alyssa Bustamante was just another misunderstood teen with a defiant glaze and a goth look. Now recently turned 18, she's serving a life sentence in jail after found guilty for the murder of nine years old   Elizabeth Olten.
But what could have lead to such horrible violent act from this apparently normal teen from Missouri?
       Is Alyssa Bustamante a monster in disguise or could it be that her acts were strongly influenced by the negative effects of the a high dosage of antidepressants?

       A boy in Canada , although experimenting with various drugs at the early age of 15, had reportedly no violent tendencies killed his friend with a kitchen knife. Those who knew him said his personality changed radically after being prescribed Prozac. Even the judge presiding his case stated that drugs such as Prozac and other antidepressants may have extremely negative effects on teen, that often lead to violence towards themselves or others.
       In UK, a boy under 18 beat his father to death after taking high doses of Prozac and  citalopram, a drug that was illegal for patients under the legal age. In Germany  Tim Kretschmer opened fire on his classmates without saying a word, just like it was in a video game. It's clear he couldn't have been lucid at the moment, but could his brain be altered by medication in such a way he was unable to realize what was happening?
     
       The fact that drugs are killing teenagers all over the world may sound almost like a cliché, something wide accepted as a downsize of our modern world, something we don't really want to hear about until it happens in our neighborhood. But these are not the generic illegal drugs sold on on a back alley, these are legal drugs , prescribed by doctors for patients who are trying to overcome their problems.
        Prozac side-effects have created news about suicidal teens and shocking brutal murders, but should we blame the pharmaceutical companies or the doctors for giving wrong prescriptions?
        The theory that pharmaceuticals companies such as  Eli Lilly  purposely hid informations from the public about their products, information that pointed to some test results showing how antidepressants increase suicidal tendency, by causing an imbalance in the brain's biochemicals was regarded as a conspiracy theory, and yet , we are bombarded by the news with more and more tragic stories. 
       We can't help but wondering if these gruesome crimes could have been avoided if companies would have been a little bit more transparent, if doctors would have treated their jobs with a little bit more responsibility and tried to find out what exactly was the problem with these troubled teens before choking them with pills.
Maybe Alyssa Bustamante would have prepared for graduating high school this year, instead of looking at us from behind bars.

Judge in Breivik case, playing cards in court.

   
       Ernst Henning Nielsen, one of the three judges presiding the case of the mass killer from Norway was caught playing cards on his laptop while Mattias Gardell, Swedish religious historian, was addressing court.
It seems, however that the history lesson was not interesting enough for judge Ernst Henning Nielsen who decided to enjoy a game of solitaire before the lunch break.

     The court's first reaction after the cameras caught this goof was to condemn the broadcasters for filming the judge's desk.
 “One of the conditions for broadcasting is that there should be no filming of the judges’ desk. There are notes and documents of a sensitive nature lying there,” said Irene Ramm spokeswoman for the district court. She then came back on a more friendly note : "The judges are attentively following what is being said and what is being presented to the court. There are different ways of staying focused."

    Anders Behring Breivik , age 33 is currently being judged for the attacks on July 22 2011 when he detonated a rigged car near a government building in Oslo. He then debarked on the island of  Utøya where the youth division of the Norvegian Labour Party was organizing a summer camp. Breivik pretended to be a cop and then opened fire killing 69 persons. A total of 77 persons were killed and another 242 were wounded on that tragic day by a man that claims to be leading a holy crusade against multiculturalism and "The muslim invasion" .
    Breivik's intolerance towards muslims may have roots in his early years when he apparently had some problems with some members of the muslim community in his hometown. At 7, his friend's father, Turkish, wrecked his bicycle  and at 15 he had a minor altercation with a Pakistani  underground driver for riding on the outside of a underground car, that ended up with Breivik's being slapped.

    At the moment  the courthouse is trying to establish if the "crusader" is to be sent to a regular prison or an insane asylum. Breivik's has confessed his crimes and denies any responsibility, regarding himself as a hero, but ironically he managed to prove one thing right : terrorism has no religion.

Google wins battle in France

TF1 the number 1 television channel in Europe has declared war against Google.

The French broadcast group went to court against the popular search engine, and more precisely against YouTube , the video streaming website owned by Google since 2006.

TF1 was outraged to see copyrighted movies and tv shows being posted without approval on YouTube and sought damages up to 141 milion euros ( 175$ milion)

The whole business backfired when the court found Google not to be liable for pirated content on YouTube and TF1 was ordered to pay 80,000 euros as legal fees.

Although the rules are pretty strict regarding copyright infringement with videos uploaded to YouTube, Google can not act as a police force with users content. In fact the only ones that can be held liable for video-sharing of pirated content are the users alone. 

YouTube can only be held accountable if it refuses to take down the ilegal material after the rightful owner reports it, which sometimes may seem easier said than done. 

Just imagine that in order to be sure his content is not being pirated, the owner of the material should be constantly checking uploaded videos on YouTube. YouTube had his share of problems back home as well, since from 2007 the internet company has been fighting with Viacom.

Could this slowly lead to the fall of YouTube. All we know is that "youtubers" are a fast growing comunity and filtrating their content becomes harder and harder to conceive with each new member.

It may seem like scourge mainly for artists who find it very hard to sell their work when everybody can just get it free on youtube, but when we look at the past years we'll see that a lot of fresh singers and performers gained their fame and fortune by first singing in front of their webcam.

Lawyer of the day

    My last article was about a car accident and today I just stumbled across an interesting article from earlier this year, the kind of article you could say restores faith to humanity.
   On February 07 this year, personal injury lawyer Melinda Helbock, also   founding partner of The Law Offices of Melinda J. Helbock, a well known law firm in San Diego , California, announced that she will be offering free legal advice for people affected by car accidents occurred in San Diego. This can only be seen as a good news for all drivers in San Diego who know have someone to turn to when found in unfortunate events.

    Melinda Helbock has proven herself as an excellent attorney in her over 17 years of trial experience. Member of  he San Diego Bar Association and the American Association of Justice, she received her law degree at the  California Western School of Law, and quickly became known through the community for her dedication and kindness in helping people who have entered her office.
   
      Indeed, the warm, family atmosphere at   Melinda J. Helbock, A.P.C  is not what you would usually see in a law firm and the trained staff as well as the collaboration with a whole network of law specialists  throughout the country has helped it provide high quality legal service for nearly 20 years.
       Melinda J. Helbock, A.P.C covers areas of practice such as:       

          

• -Civil Litigation
• -Business Litigation
• -Corporate Law
• -Personal Injury
• -Asbestos Litigation
• -Pharmaceutical Litigation
• -Real Estate Law
• -Worker's Compensation
• -Entertainment Law
• -Pro-Bono Representation
• -Employment Law
• -Intellectual Property Law
• -Bankruptcy Law
• -Family Law
• -Probate Law
• -Wills & Estates

     But Melinda is not only a great lawyer. Loving wife and mother of two boys, she is also a very active member of community. You might wonder how does she manages to get all these things done ? Yet she is constantly volunteering for organizations like :

• Encinitas County Day, volunteer
• Alzheimer's patient, volunteer caregiver
• ELL Minor B's Nationals 2010, team mom
• ELL Rookies Grasshoppers 2010, co-team mom
• Encinitas Little League Rookies Sidewinders 2009, team mom

It seems californians can only be proud with such a true pillar of comunity. All I say is that if I ever have a car accident in San Diego , I sure know who to call.

 

Cerebral palsy lawsuits

What is cerebral palsy? 

  
          Cerebral palsy is the most common term when referring to a groups of conditions affecting nerves and muscle ergo impairing locomotor skills and muscle development.         Cerebral palsy is a noncontagious chronic illness and those affected by it are faced with very difficult challenges throughout their lives.



         This condition may occur from pregnancy up to the age of three and is mainly caused by damage to the motor control centers of the developing brain hence the word "cerebral " ( the region of the brain affected) and palsy referring to disorder of movement.  Resulting limits in movement and posture cause activity limitation and are often accompanied by disturbances of sensation, depth perception and other sight-based perceptual problems, communication ability; impairments can also be found in cognition, and epilepsy is found in about one-third of cases. CP, no matter what the type, is often accompanied by secondary musculoskeletal problems that arise as a result of the underlying etiology.

Who's to blame?

      While in some cases is really hard to determine the cause, usually it happens due to certain problems during pregnancy or complications at birth such as oxygen deprivation , hypoxia of the brain and birth trauma during labor and delivery. Study have shown though , that the primary cause would be a not easily detected infection in the mother during pregnancy. 
      Post birth causes include severe jaundice, lead poisoning, physical brain injury, shaken baby syndrome, incidents involving hypoxia to the brain (such as near drowning), and encephalitis or meningitis. The three most common causes of asphyxia in the young child are: choking on foreign objects such as toys and pieces of food, poisoning, and near drowning.   
      However, each year, thousands of cerebral palsy cases are caused by medical malpractice and negligence during pregnancy and delivery. A doctor may be responsible for failing to diagnose and treat an infection in the pregnant mother. 
     Human error can be found during child birth delivery in numerous forms, from failure to detect if the baby has enough oxygen to improper use of forceps or vacuum extraction. 

Who can file a cerebral palsy lawsuit?

     Every year,  numerous malpractice lawsuit are being filed against doctors thought responsible for birth injuries. In 2011 a family in Connecticut has been awarded  a verdict of $58 million dollars. A big sum you think? Think again. Cerebral palsy is a very serious condition and it affects the child for life making it extremely difficult for him to live a close to normal life without special and often expensive treatment.
Parents of an infant born with cerebral palsy have the right to file a medical malpractice lawsuit if they believe it happened at the fault of the doctor or someone in the delivery team.
It is true that nothing can change the harm done but the damages received if they win the case may give their child a chance for proper treatment .

    

Birth defects related to Prozac

  I remember picking up my paper a long time ago and reading this very interesting title:

"Woman sues after receiving free unsolicited box of Prozac in her mail."

 and asking myself why would she be so enraged just for receiving a free antidepressant sample before realizing the implications.
    Prozac also known as the "happy pill" is a very powerful prescription drug, primarily used for treating  depression, bulimia nervosa, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and aparrently was left in  the woman's mailbox like a chocolate or perfume sample. We could easily imagine the consequences if someone else have picked it up and took it like a child for example.
   
    What made me remember that peculiar article was a study proving how Prozac, if taken during pregnancy ,may lead so very serious birth complications and birth defects in infants. Apparently the problem is so serious that the FDA has  asked the companies that make Prozac and other SSRI drugs to change the warnings they issue about possible side effects from the drugs to include the possibility that they can cause possible deadly birth defects in babies.

    While doing some research I discovered that two years previous to the FDA approval, a 1996 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that women taking Prozac during pregnancy were twice as likely to deliver a baby with three or more "minor abnormalities" and poorer than average neonatal adaptation. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
     Among the birth defects that Prozac has been linked to we find:           

• Anal atresia
• Anencephaly (birth without a forebrain)
• Atrial Septal Defects
• Clubfoot
• Craniosynostosis (premature closing of sutures of the skull)
• Diaphragmatic hernia
• Heart defects
• Limb-reduction defects
• Omphalocele (babies born with organs outside the body)
• Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA)
• Persistant pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN)
• Pulmonary Atresia (PA)
• Pulmonary Stenosis
• Tricuspid Atresia (TA)
• Ventricular Septal Defects     

     Even so, it is still being prescribed to pregnant women all over the world. While depression is a serious matter and untreated may cause grave problems for a future mommy what is more alarming is the fact that most of the prescriptions are being handed without a proper psychiatric diagnosis often by doctors doctors who aren't psychiatrists. 
     It is one thing to use such a powerful drug when dealing with depression and it's a whole different story to make use of it just to relieve some stress , or sleep better. Common sense would dictate that one should first  talk to their doctor and inquire about possible side-effects especially when  it is enough to do a simple google search to find the testimony of so many women who reported that after taking Prozac during pregnancy , their newborns suffered from life-threatening birth defects.
      So on the one side we have a very competitive and aggressive pharmaceutical market that shoves free samples of their product in your mailbox and on the other doctors who treat antidepressants as "mood boosters" while more and more pregnant women fell victim to this lack of caring for human life.
   
      If you already fall in the latter category, all I could recommend you is to take a stand and consult a  Prozac birth defect lawyer. The pursuit of a lawsuit may not only lead to some financial compensation that could ease your situation but could also serve as an example to raise awareness and  prevent such tragedies from happening.