The New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Fraud Statute, N.J.S.A. 34:15-57.4, is alive and well in the Division of Workers’ Compensation as it applies to injured workers. Attorneys for workers’ compensation carriers are making fraud arguments often, and in some cases being successful in terminating workers’ benefits. Yet injured workers do not routinely file fraud claims against employers and/or their insurance carriers, who routinely and improperly deny benefits to injured workers. However in this update to an article I wrote previously, I can now happily report that the New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Statute applies to both employees and employers.
Vaping Teen Goes into Respiratory Failure
An 18-year-old developed wet lung and went into respiratory arrest three weeks after starting to vape. The young women entered the ER with stabbing chest pains and difficulty breathing, which got progressively worse until she went into respiratory failure and wound up on a ventilator.
Doctors diagnosed the young women with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, also called wet lung. In the case study, pediatrician Casey Sommerfeld said, “chemicals in the e-cigarettes led to lung damage and inflammation” which gradually worsened. Wet lung can cause permanent lung damage if not treated quickly. Continue Reading Vaping Teen Goes into Respiratory Failure
First U.S. Death from Exploding E-Cigarette
Tragic news was released from Florida this week that a man who died on May 5, 2018, suffered a fatal injury from an e-cigarette explosion. The man died from a “projectile wound to the head,” and also suffered thermal burns on 80% of his body. Tallmadge D’Elia, who reportedly worked as a technical supervisor at CNBC in New Jersey, was only thirty-eight (38) years old.
Continue Reading First U.S. Death from Exploding E-Cigarette
FDA Clamps Down on E-cigarette Companies Selling to Minors
In response to growing concern about e-cigarette use by children and teens, the FDA has intensified its enforcement of illegal sales and advertising of new electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as Juul, myblu and KandyPens.
The FDA has stated it is committed to decreasing smoking and nicotine addiction in youth under the age of 18 and has launched several initiates to achieve this goal. One is a multi-level plan to reduce nicotine in traditional, combustible cigarettes. This plan, which seems long overdue, does not appear to include reduction in nicotine available via ENDS devices, despite that some deliver as much or more nicotine than cigarettes. The FDA also neglected to extend its ban on the use of sweet, fruity flavors that appeal to children and teens. Juul, for example, comes with fruit-flavored liquid pods containing the nicotine equivalent of a full pack of cigarettes.
Continue Reading FDA Clamps Down on E-cigarette Companies Selling to Minors
Wrongful Death Legislative Expansion Proposed in New Jersey Senate
On April 5th, the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee pushed forward Senate Bill S-1766, legislation which would expand the state’s wrongful death statute to allow for recovery of damages from “mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, loss of society and loss of companionship.” Currently, the survivors who lost a loved one cannot be compensated for such emotional loss.
Continue Reading Wrongful Death Legislative Expansion Proposed in New Jersey Senate
E-Cigarette Campaigns are Disturbingly Similar to Banned Tobacco Ads
The Tobacco Advertising Collection at the Smithsonian Institution contains more than 30,000 examples of cigarette advertising by tobacco companies. Entitled “Not a Cough in a Carload: Images from the Tobacco Industry Campaign to Hide the Hazards of Smoking,” the twelve-part archive series, created by Dr. Robert Jacklar, emphasizes the deceptive advertising practices used to convince people that tobacco products were safe.
Dr. Jacklar, who treated many patients for cigarette-related illnesses and later lost his mother to cancer, is now creating a similar collection—this time with e-cigarette advertisements. According to Jacklar there is little difference in the messaging. He has reportedly collected 13,000 examples of deceptive e-cigarette ads and is vocally adamant that the industry is ignoring all of the agreements and bans that were agreed to by tobacco companies. Referencing the new Juul product as an example, Jacklar was quoted in Smithsonian to say, ““Very clearly, they do the same damn thing today as they did then. The messaging is very subtle, very carefully crafted…to appeal to adolescents.”
Continue Reading E-Cigarette Campaigns are Disturbingly Similar to Banned Tobacco Ads
Public Health Groups Sue FDA for Delaying E-cigarette Legislation
In late March, several public health organizations and medical groups filed suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its decision to delay FDA review of e-cigarette products. The controversial decision pushed the deadline for e-cigarette product approval applications to August of 2022 relieving the vaping industry of strict compliance under FDA product standards.
The plaintiffs argue the decision was improper under law, puts public health at risk, and leaves young people vulnerable to the negative effects of nicotine and tobacco addiction. The suit also claims the FDA’s decision prevents access to scientific information about the health effects of vaping.
Continue Reading Public Health Groups Sue FDA for Delaying E-cigarette Legislation
The Juul of Teen Nicotine Addiction
The Juul looks like a computer flash drive but it is a vaping device. It’s sleek, it’s discrete, and it’s becoming very popular with underage nicotine users.
Juul, the company that manufactures the device, states it targets only adults; however, the nicotine liquid flavors include “virginia tobacco, cool mint, fruit medley, creme brulee & mango,” which are arguably appealing to children. “Juuling,” has become a disturbing trend in schools and is increasing at an alarming rate. More than one school, including an entire Pennsylvania school district, have banned flash drives in an effort to prevent juuling by underage school children.
Vaping May Increase Risk of Pneumonia
A study from the U.K. shows that vaping increases exposure to bacteria that causes pneumonia which may increase the risk of contracting the potentially lethal lung disease. The study by Queen Mary University of London showed that vaping increases production of a receptor that captures pneumonia bacteria in the nose, throat, and lungs. According to senior author Jonathan Grigg, MD, there is “growing evidence that inhaling e-cigarette vapor has the potential to damage health.”
E-Cigarette Starts Fire/Panic at Airport
If you believe the hype from the vape industry, e-cigarettes don’t explode; and if they do, it is a rarity caused by the user. This story has been disproved time and again. Just read some of our other e-cigarette blogs.
What the vaping industry doesn’t tell you is that when an e-cigarette does catch on fire (as we often see in the news), the consequences can be severe and life-altering.
Picture Denver International Airport (DIA), January 30, 2018. DIA reported a record number of passengers in 2017, servicing nearly 53 million people; up to 19,000 per day. Now picture a crowded security line. This was the scene when a passenger bag that had just passed the x-ray machine burst into flames. The fire sent people running and shut down security scanning and inter-terminal train service for an unspecified time. Luckily airport personnel were able to extinguish the flames with a nearby fire extinguisher.
The cause of the fire and ensuing panic? An e-cigarette.