By Jerome Aning Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PhilippinesA woman-doctors 17-year demand for P100 million in damages from a Makati City hotel for a recurring brain injury she allegedly suffered through the years after she hit her head inside the hotel has ended after the Supreme Court (SC) dismissed her claim for lack of merit. The high courts Second Division threw out Dr. Genevieve Huangs appeal on the earlier rulings of the Court of Appeals and the Makati Regional Trial Court which both dismissed her claim for damages for lack of merit in 2006 and 2007, respectively. This court examined the records, including the transcripts of stenographic notes, and found no reason to disturb the factual findings of both lower courts. This court, thus, upholds their conclusiveness, the high tribunal said in the decision penned by Justice Jose Perez. Justices Arturo Brion, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Martin Villarama Jr. and Estela Perlas-Bernade concurred in the decision. In August 1996, Huang filed a complaint for damages in the Makati Regional Trial Court against Dusit Thanis owners, Philippine Hoteliers Inc. and Dusit Thani Public Co. Ltd, as well as the hotels insurer, First Lepanto Taisho Insurance Corp. Court records showed that in June 1995, … Continue reading →

By Kim Walter MIDDLETOWN -- Friday's state budget hearing shed light on several topics that concern area residents, including services and treatment for individuals who have suffered a traumatic brain injury. A $2.5 million proposal for the upcoming state budget would provide funding to maintain operations of ten state-funded brain injury programs, create a data collection system and conduct brain injury outreach and counseling services. "Recovery from a brain injury requires long-term community support, and services such as case management, information and referral, clubhouse programs and day support programs," said Jill James, who has worked in human services throughout the valley. James recently started working more with people who had suffered brain injuries, and said she noticed quickly the lack of services available to them in the area. "It was shocking," she said. "I guess some of it is because it can be an invisible injury ... you can't always see it right away, but it affects so many parts of the person." James told the panel of representatives that TBI is a contributing factor to a third of all injury-related deaths in the United States. "And it doesn't discriminate," she said. "Brain injuries can happen to anyone, at any … Continue reading →

A U.S. brain-injury treatment center has filed for bankruptcy following reports of abuse and neglect of patients by their caregivers. The Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation Inc. and three affiliated corporations filed Chapter 11 petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in in Tampa yesterday. They said in court filings that they estimated they owe between $3 million and $30 million to 103 to 346 creditors and that their assets total $150,000 or less. The bankruptcy action came on the same day that a unit of Regions Financial Corp. (RF) sued the institute, known as FINR, claiming it defaulted on $31 million in real-estate loans. Birmingham, Alabama-based Regions Bank said in its lawsuit that patients welfare is at risk because of financial problems and mismanagement at the rehabilitation center in Wauchula, about 50 miles southeast of Tampa. Florida officials in August ordered FINR to move about 50 patients to other facilities. The center has been fighting the directive, issued after a Bloomberg News story revealed a history of violence there. Caregivers beat patients and goaded them to fight each other and fondle female employees, according to reports by state officials released to Bloomberg. The list of creditors in the bankruptcy filings includes … Continue reading →