Archive for September, 2011
Malpractice Caps – Explaining the Unexplainable
September 30th, 2011 | 
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A medical malpractice cap is a statutory limit placed on the amount of money a plaintiff may be awarded in the event of a malpractice legal case win. Additionally, these caps can and do limit the amount that malpractice victims can be charged for being represented by a malpractice lawyer. Often these caps are applied regardless of whether or not a recovery is awarded via judgment, settlement, or arbitration. They are the subject of national dispute, as it is often argued that these caps place an unfair ceiling on compensation awarded for losses incurred in the event of true medical malpractice.
Variations Throughout The Nation
As with malpractice insurance premiums, malpractice caps vary throughout the country, and are tied directly to the state laws. While there are some states that do not have malpractice caps, this is not often the case. Malpractice caps are often only applied to damages tied to non-economic factors, such as pain and suffering, inconvenience, or disfigurement, as opposed to economic damages such as medical expenses.
Cause for Debate
The variation amongst state laws is at the root, a large reason why there is such a debate about malpractice caps. As stated earlier, some states go without caps, while others exclude damages from disability and/or disfigurement. Some states apply the caps on punitive damages, while others only apply caps on victim recovery. More often than not, however, medical malpractice caps limit non-economic damage recovery rewards to somewhere between $250,000 and $1 million dollars.
On the other end, these malpractice caps can apply to fees charged by malpractice attorneys to the victims for representation. While this is not as common as caps on rewards, there are some states that make use of this rule. A number of states have complex rules dictating caps on attorney fees based on state economic factors, amount of recovery, and more.
More Changes Coming
Malpractice cap laws are constantly changing throughout the nation. It is clear that in a system where the law can vary so widely, malpractice caps have not yet settled. Experts agree that over time the laws regarding malpractice throughout the nation may become more aligned, as the overall effect on the state, the attorney, the defense, and the plaintiff become apparent.
Getting To Know More About General Anxiety Disorder
Article by Rachel Smith
Anxiety is normal – yes, this is true. The feeling is triggered whenever there are stressful situations such as a big exam or even a wedding. Although it may be beneficial because it keeps the person focused, it is also destructive if experienced in higher levels. Anxiety is good if you get to experience it in milder forms.
For example, if you are to take a major exam and you wouldn’t want to flunk on it, a considerable amount of anxiety might just help you. But if you become too tense that you think about it almost every hour, then that’s the point where anxiety becomes disastrous. Since this mental disorder is experienced by over half of the world’s population, here are some facts which will help you know more about General Anxiety Disorder.
General Anxiety Disorder: The Trigger Factors
The cause of General Anxiety Disorder is actually unknown. However, there are three important factors associated with its occurrence, and these are: environmental factors, brain chemistry and genetics. When we say environmental factors, it means stressful events such as abuse, battery, neglect, disappointments, and a lot more.
On the other hand, brain chemistry suggests that this disorder is caused the by neurotransmitters in our brain which are out of balance. Lastly, genetics say that family history of General Anxiety Disorder plays an important role in increasing the chances of a person to develop such mental problems. Although these factors do not prove to be direct causes of GAD, they have been associated with its occurrence.
General Anxiety Disorder: The Diagnostic Criteria
The proper diagnostic criteria for General Anxiety Disorder may only be confirmed by a psychiatrist. However, to aid you in recognizing its symptoms, here are some manifestations of a person with this type of disorder. First, the apprehension or the anxious feeling should last for a period of six months or more.
It is accompanied by other symptoms such as difficulty controlling worry, tenseness, easy fatigability, difficulty focusing, irritability, muscle pains, insomnia, nausea, and feeling out of breath. If you see yourself feeling these symptoms, it would be best to have you seen by a specialist. After all, it would be better preventing the problem while it’s still not severe.
General Anxiety Disorder: Its Effects on You
General Anxiety Disorder eats up a person in different ways. One person may be manifesting a specific symptom while it may be absent on another. However, the effect of General Anxiety Disorder can only be summed up in one, and that is, it consumes the functionalities of a person.
Whenever a person experiences this chronic mental disorder, his functions usually become limited which leads to an unhappy life. So before the problem limits you in any way, visit the specialist so that proper interventions can be planned for you.
Charcoal and the General Steel Making Process
Article by Sarah E. Martin
When one thinks of charcoal, we normally think of the most important historical use of wood charcoal; as the main ingredient in gunpowder. However, it was of major importance in metallurgical operations as a reducing agent, primarily in the manufacture of steel. The most common use in the modern era for charcoal is as a fuel source, but still has industrial application. The Charcoal Hearth Process was vitally important in the early industrial steel age.
Charcoal Hearth Processes were sometimes, but rarely, called forge processes, and bustling and buzzing are very obsolete terms. These processes are designed for the production of wrought iron (charcoal iron), usually by refining cast iron, occasionally by melting scrap before a tuyere with charcoal for fuel, the product being obtained in a pasty condition, and containing a certain amount of slag, but less than puddled iron. Only the latter method survived the early 20th century in this country.
In general the furnaces or hearths are like the Catalan and bloomary hearths for reducing iron from the ore, low, rectangular chambers, sometimes roofed, and with one or more tuyeres. The chief difference is that in refining cast iron much more strongly oxidizing conditions are brought about, chiefly by melting the metal down in drops before the tuyere, repeatedly, if need be, so that it passes in a state of minute subdivision and with great surface exposure through a part of the hearth where the atmospheric oxygen is in excess; and by the action of the basic ferruginous slag with which the metal is mixed during the earlier stages, and with which it is covered during the later stages, to ward off the strongly carburizing tendency of the charcoal.
Only a good quality of pig iron (nearly always charcoal pig) is used, as the process is expensive, and is employed only for a high grade of wrought iron. The pig iron is often given a preliminary refining to eliminate most of the silicon. The hearths are usually built of unlined cast-iron plates, at least in part water-cooled. Brick-work is avoided as the silica would enter the slag. The processes may be classified according to the number of times the metal is melted down before the tuyere, into single melting, double melting, and triple melting (or German or breaking up); into Walloon and non-Walloon.
The hearth may be covered or uncovered; if the latter it is called an open fire or open hearth; if the former, a closes hearth. The bloom, after rolling, is called finer’s bar (cor- responding to muck bar in puddling), and after piling and rerolling, finished charcoal bar. German general steel is an obsolete name for the product obtained by melting white or refined pig in a charcoal hearth; it may also be made of poorer quality. In the Bohemian process, mottled or even gray pig is used, and the blooms are reheated in the same hearth. Charcoal is first charged, and on top of this some slag and the pig which is melted down slowly, the iron cake which is formed being frequently raised up. The cinder is tapped at intervals. Finally the bloom is welded to the end of a rod and taken to the hammer; any particles of iron that remain in the hearth are retreated.
The use of charcoal in steel making rapidly diminished with the introduction of coke, anthracite smalls, etc. for industrial processes.
The Impact of High Legal Costs on Healthcare
Spending money on legal fees is a part of our society, especially in the healthcare industry. There is a time and place for the legal system in healthcare, but more and more we unfortunately see instances where legal fees are unnecessary or high, resulting in a significant impact on doctors and nurses and the services provided to patients.
Some of the rising cost of healthcare is directly related to an existing crisis in our country. One of the most significant aspects of consumers’ relationship with the healthcare industry is that when things go wrong, one of the first things that happens is someone hires an attorney for a malpractice suit.
Because of high costs for healthcare insurance coverage, we now have 41 million people in the United States going “bare.” What this means is that in addition to the individual not getting proper care, doctors and nurses are now faced with a major challenge specific to out of control malpractice coverage. In other words, uninsured patients, doctors have to find a way of protecting themselves in case of error or mishap.
More than $10 billion is spent annually in the U.S. for malpractice and legal costs arising from absence of or inadequate healthcare coverage.In addition to out of control malpractice premiums due to the current tort system, we also see a 50% increase in median jury awards and a 40% increase for median out-of-court settlements.
The frightening thing is that no end is in sight. Because jury awards are increasing, the need for robust malpractice insurance and legal coverage also increases. When you consider the cost of a doctor or nurse battling malpractice claims, you are looking at significant monies. Even maintaining legal counsel and malpractice insurance coverage is enough to put some medical professionals out of business or at least push them to a less risky field of medicine.
While it’s tempting to throw the blame on attorneys’ charges, the underlying issue is that we need better healthcare solutions. In addition, we need laws that better protect medical professionals from frivolous lawsuits filed by money-hungry without a valid claim.
Now, we have seen a proposal by the President with renewed attention on capping awards specific to pain and suffering in malpractice lawsuits. True, this does shed some light on an all-important matter but we still have a very, long way to go. The solution to high legal costs in healthcare is not a cut and dry case. We need to boost our nationwide health coverage, toughen our laws, and ensure doctors and nurses are properly trained. Most importantly, the hospitals and clinics that staff medical professionals need to put strict guidelines in place to reduce risk for malpractice and the ever-increasing legal dollar.
Life Insurance For Burials and Final Expense
What Is a Burial Policy?
There is a product that is called a burial policy, or sometimes final expense or funeral insurance. These are actually small whole life policies that have been designed for people in middle age or retirement years who with to plan for the cost of final expenses. Insurers have developed them so they are simple for older people, even those in imperfect health, to apply for. They can be a valid part of some older people’s financial planning.
Whole Life Insurance
Whole life means that a life insurance policy will cover a person for their whole life, as long as it is kept in force. By being kept in force, it usually means that the policy is paid for or paid up. Contrast this to term life which expires after a set amount of time.
Now you can convert some term policies to whole life before the expiration date. This is one way that many people get a burial policy. For example Mr. Jones may have a 30 year term policy with an option to convert. He purchased the policy when he was 35 to make sure his growing family would be secure. A little over a year before the policy expired, when Mr.Jones was 63, he started thinking about retirement. He could convert the larger term policy to a smaller whole life policy without having to prove his heath. That was in the terms of his contract.
He decided to convert his original $250,000 term life policy to a $25,000 whole life policy so that he could be assured he could provide his grown kids with money to handle final expenses when he passed away. This is one example of how people’s life insurance needs may change, but some products have been developed to help them make that change.
What If An Older Person Has No Life Insurance?
If an older person, from their fifties to eighties, lacks any coverage, they may still find a good final expense policy at an affordable price. Simplified issue plans ask very few health questions. Many seniors can qualify. Guaranteed life policies do not ask any health questions, so almost everybody can qualify. It is important to understand the difference between these choices so yo find the right one for you.
In general, you would probably want to purchase a simplified issue policy before a guaranteed issue policy if you can. The rates will be lower, and you can take advantage of an immediate death benefit. Guaranteed issue policies can be useful for many families if they cannot qualify for simplified issue.
Do You Need A Burial Policy?
If the family, or the older person, have no problem coming up with the cash for a funeral, you may not need to purchase this type of insurance. But funerals can get very expensive, and it can be hard to come up with thousands of dollars to pay for a burial plot, funeral, and other associated expenses. A burial policy may be an affordable way to plan for this.
It can be a tough subject to bring up. But many older people are happy that this matter is taken care of. Sometimes they buy a policy for themselves. Sometimes grown children will pay for the policy. It is a family decision. The right choice depends upon your own situation.
Posted in Final Expense Life Insurance | 
Tags: Burials, Expense Policy, Fifties, Funeral Insurance, Growing Family, Health Questions, Heath, Term Life Policy | 
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Wado Ryu Karate – General Background
Article by Thanaseelan Vengadasalam
History:
Hironori Ohtsuka (1892 – 1982) was the founder of the Wado Ryu system of Karate. He commenced training in shindo yoshin ryu jujitsu at the age of 6, and at the age of 30, he began training under the supervision of Gichin Funakoshi (the founder of Karate-do) before founding the Wado Ryu system in 1939. Wado Ryu is one of the 4 main Japanese styles of Karate that are taught around the world. In 1939, Ohtsuka organised the All Japan Karate Do Federation Wado Ki and the Worldwide Headquarters for the Wado Ryu System. In 1967, he was the first katateka to be awarded the 5th order of merit of the sacred treasure of the Emperor of Japan as an acknowledgement of his achievements. Following his death in 1982, Hironori Ohtsuka’s son, Jiro, became the chief instructor of the Wado Ryu system. Today, there are a number of senior, well-respected representatives of Wado Ryu in Japan, who are also leaders of their own federations or associations.
Characteristics of Wado Ryu:
To practitioners of Wado Ryu, the main philosophy is to better their attitude both within and outside the art. This is one of the main aims of the martial art which emphasises the development of respect, discipline and understanding in a mental as well as physical capacity. This aim affects our attitude towards ourselves and others in our home life, work and social activities. To show aggression outwardly, even during training sessions, is greatly discouraged. The name Wado Ryu, approximately translated, means “the peaceful way”.
Another characteristic of Wado Ryu is that unnecessarily large movements are kept to a minimum. Importance is placed on the speed and efficiency of movements with which each technique is performed, rather than the strength or physical effort outwardly shown. Exponents of Wado Ryu place great emphasis on the coordination of body movement with each particular technique. This principle is found in many other martial arts, such as ju-jitsu, aikido and kendo. This coordination is stressed at all stages of learning, from the execution of basic techniques to the application of advanced, free-fighting combinations.