MALIBU, Calif., April 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- California's worker's comp regulations have had the tragic unintended consequence of creating lifelong drug addicts. Faced with more restrictive rules than before, workers compensation lawyers have been scrambling to figure out ways to increase the value of their clients' cases. In order to receive the largest payouts possible, a cadre of unscrupulous lawyers and medical doctors have teamed up to exacerbate workers' reported medical conditions. When workers with back injuries see these lawyers, they are sent to doctors who overprescribe addictive pain medication, creating lifelong addiction in their clients that can then be termed a permanent disability, which receives the highest payouts from insurance carriers. This practice not only bilks insurers, it destroys the lives of injured workers. More and more, injured workers are filing worker's compensation for back pain along with psychological disorders. This is a new trend. In 1961, heart disease and stroke accounted for 25% of disability claims. Today, back pain and mental illness make up 53% of claims, according to the Social Security Administration. Workers in these cases may ask for full disability benefits based on permanent back injury and psychological distress caused by the injury. The disability caused … Continue reading →

Butte-Silver Bow is bringing the state of Montana in on a search to find a new service provider for the county chemical dependency services. Chief Executive Matt Vincent is holding an informational meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the council chambers of the courthouse to discuss the matter. He said Tuesdays meeting will cover the process of having the help of the Department of Public Health and Human Services to select a new service provider. In February, Vincent announced that the county could no longer afford to run the chemical dependency center. A budget analysis showed the program had run about $1 million in the red since 2005. Vincent said he hoped the county could find a new provider by the beginning of the next fiscal year in July. Butte-Silver Bow is the only municipality in Montana with a local government-run chemical dependency center. Reporter Piper Haugan: 422-3114,piper.haugan@mtstandard.comor Twitter.com/Piper_Haugan Read more: Meeting tonight on drug treatment center … Continue reading →

Apr. 7, 2013 Vemurafenib-resistant tumors in patients with melanoma showed reduced growth after cessation of treatment, and in animal models, drug resistance was prevented by intermittent treatment, according to data presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington, D.C., April 6-10. "It was exciting to witness the discovery of BRAF mutations in melanoma and the translation of this discovery into an effective therapy with vemurafenib," said Darrin Stuart, Ph.D., senior research investigator at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Emeryville, Calif. "It was, however, disappointing to see patients stop responding to such a promising therapy after six to eight months of treatment." BRAF mutations are found in more than half of all cases of melanoma, and previous studies have shown vemurafenib increases survival for these patients, according to Stuart. However, most patients relapse with lethal, drug-resistant disease. In a previous study to investigate the mechanisms causing melanomas to become resistant to vemurafenib, Stuart and his colleagues grew patient-derived tumors expressing BRAF mutations in mice and demonstrated that not only do these tumors develop vemurafenib resistance, but they become dependent on the drug to grow. Tumors stopped growing and regressed after cessation of the drug in these animals. … Continue reading →