Nurse practitioners operating independently of actual M.D.s?  Well, it is likely that such nurse practitioners and physician assistants are in effect doing that now, even though operating in the context of a medical practice.  My worry certainly is the oversight and the liability concerns.  If I go to a nurse practitioner's office and as a result I am injured, is that medical malpractice, or just general malpractice?  It's an important distinction, as it is much more difficult and expensive to sue a doctor for medical malpractice than, say, a motorist for an automobile accident.

Here's a lawsuit going somewhere to happen.

Is BP putting its money where its mouth is?  We'll see.  As a lawyer that handles claims all the time, what is important is NOT that money is being reserved, or set aside, but instead whether claims will be quickly, properly, and fairly administered and paid.  Interestingly, "The fund will be controlled not by BP, but by an independent, third party...."  Attorney Kenneth Feniberg is supposed to be "in charge" of the fund, whatever that means.  Here's a bio on Feinberg from his firm's web site:

Kenneth R. Feinberg has been key to resolving many of our nation's most challenging and widely known disputes. He is best known for serving as the Special Master of the Federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001, in which he reached out to all who qualified to file a claim, evaluated applications, determined appropriate compensation, and disseminated awards. Mr. Feinberg shared his extraordinary experience in his book What Is Life Worth?, published in 2005 by Public Affairs Press. Just a few years later, Mr. Feinberg became Fund Administrator for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund following the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech. Mr. Feinberg also has served as Special Master in Agent Orange, asbestos personal injury, wrongful death claims, Dalkon shield, and DES (pregnancy medication) cases.

Clearly, this guy has a lot of experience with mass tort/accident/injury situations.  Let's see if he can get it done.  In the meantime, the oil continues to fill up the Gulf.  Ugh.

For those dozens of you who have checked back at this site over the past several years, you will note a new template and a (somewhat) new direction. 

When I started this blog back in 2003, I was railing about Big Insurance and its efforts at tort reform.  As those efforts largely were proven unsuccessful, I broadened the scope to include general legal stuff that interested me, and later just blogged on any subject that caught my eye.

Now, I have decided to integrate the blog more closely with my law firm website and get serious about blogging once again.  I have also -- after playing website developer games for over two months, dumped the website developer, and made content and feature changes in the firm's web site myself.  I was able to do in three days what they couldn't do in two months.  There's a whole frustrating story there for the telling.  Some day....

In any event, I hope you'll check out the site, and especially the new FAQs/Videos page, which has a bunch of Q & A on legal matters, as well as some videos, one of which I posted here a few weeks ago.  I have also posted the videos on Youtube, here, here, here, here, and here.

Constructive comments about the site and this blog are welcome.  Remember -- I'm doing this myself, so be kind if you can!