Watchdog Bytes

Dumb and dirty jokes aren't cheap: woman harassed by co-workers nets $55,000

Six male "professionals" -- with the collective wit of an 8-year-old Will Ferrell -- constantly dropped the F-bomb, the S-bomb, and other assorted expletives (in English and Spanish) to rattle a female co-worker. 

The vulgarians, CAD Technicians at Childress Engineering Services of Richardson, Texas, repeatedly subjected the woman to a barrage of sexual slurs and “jokes.” 

Among their sophisticated repartee were obligatory jokes about dam-building woodland creatures; referring to their reproductive organs as guns (semi-automatic, etc); and at one point saying the woman was Miss Piggy in a joke so filthy we can’t even put it on the Internet. 

When the woman complained to officials at Childress she was more or less ignored. When she went to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she was fired, the agency said. 

On the fourth day of a Dallas trial, before the case was submitted to the jury, the federal agency announced Childress would pay the woman $55,000 to settle, as well as provide extensive injunctive relief to prevent future unlawful conduct and, we hope, bad jokes.

The EEOC contended that despite Green’s EEOC charge the company failed to discipline the harassers, who admitted to the lewd conduct and even testified to it at trial.

Ham it up, losers. 

-- Darren Barbee

Starbucks will have the tall: El Paso coffee shop fires woman with dwarfism

Does coffee giant Starbucks have a problem with little people?

It does now. After being hired at an El Paso Starbucks as a barista by the ubiquitous coffee company in July 2009, a woman who has dwarfism asked for a small stepladder or stool to prepare orders and serve customers at the counter. 

Starbucks said no and, bang goes the dynamite, went and fired her, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which recently sued Starbucks over the matter.

Starbucks' reasoning: The woman “could pose a danger to customers and employees,” the suit says. 

Yeah, we didn't get that either. Did S'bucks imagine she would be flinging cappuccinos at customers without the stool?

“Starbucks has become a virtual icon of modern American culture, appealing to an incredibly diverse customer base,” said Robert A. Canino, regional attorney for the Dallas District Office of the EEOC.

“We'd hope that when considering hiring a person with a disability, Starbucks would choose to enhance its brand with the mark of equal opportunity and access.”

For now, the company looks mighty small. 

-- Darren Barbee

Nursing home residents' medications nearly doubled their risk of death, feds say

Nursing homes are drugging elderly residents with medications that aren’t approved for their conditions and, as a special bonus, the drugs increase by as much as 1.7 times the risk that some seniors will die.

Are nursing homes psychotic? Or were they just in for the $300 million?

 

 

A government study found that 14 percent of the nation’s 2.1 million elderly nursing home residents had at least one claim for an antipsychotic drug.

Such drugs are supposed to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. But among those treated, about 88 percent had dementia, a condition that the FDA warns increases the risk of death compared to a placebo.

That’s right; the residents were getting the drugs off label, meaning they didn’t have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

The study examined records from for the first six months of 2007 and found that 304,983 elderly nursing home residents had at least one Medicare claim for an atypical antipsychotic drug.

That rang up a tab of $309,028,317, not including the tip. Thank you, taxpayers.

Medicare is only supposed to pay for drugs that are used for medically accepted indications approved by FDA. The review discovered that half of all claims did not meet those conditions, or roughly $116 million

The drugs studied by the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general are Aripiprazole, Clozapine, Olanzapine, Olanzapine/Fluoxetine, Paliperidone, Quetiapine, Risperidone, and Ziprasidone.

-- Darren Barbee

With the stroke of a pen, RN now facing federal prison

Don’t worry, Adelma Casas Sevilla, RN, you’re just going to feel a little sting.

Here goes: You’re a rotten, greedy conspirator who the government says helped ripped off  $5.2 million in taxpayer dollars.

Now that wasn’t too bad, was it? 

Casas Sevilla, who will likely earn a spot in the registered nurse hall of shame, fraudulently signed care plans stating that federal government beneficiaries needed home health care when she knew they were not home-bound and not in need of nursing, the government says.

In this crazy country of rules and laws, Casas Sevilla is facing 10 years in the brig. 

Casas Sevilla, 54, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Atlas in Houston last month to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud involving Medicare.

-- Darren Barbee

Caregiver touched genitals of man who has mental capacity of 4-year-old, judge finds

Carl Victor Reynolds played tickle tickle with a Down Syndrome patient’s private parts at a private care home -- that is, when Reynolds wasn’t busy screening racy videos on the night shift, according to administrative court documents.

The resident had the mental capacity of a 4-year-old.

Reynolds was a caregiver at a unit of Community Access, Inc., Preston House, an ICF/MR group home  located in Tyler, Texas, court documents show.

In September 2008, Reynolds worked as a member of the direct care staff on the night shift at Preston House, from 12:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., according to court documents. In court documents, Reynolds said the allegations were untrue and that he was being retaliated against because of complaints he had made.

However, Reynolds was found by a judge to have touched or tickled the resident in his genital area.

On Sept. 12, 2008, Reynolds also brought DVDs of a cable television program, Queer as Folk, to Preston House and watched them during his shift. The show, according to court records, depicts nudity and sexual content, including simulated sexual encounters. Reynolds exposed the resident to programs containing sexual content, the judge found.

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services recommended that Reynolds be banned from working at state facilities and the judge found that the department proved its sexual abuse allegation based on a “preponderance of the evidence.”

Police closed their investigation into the incident because there was “no evidence to show that a criminal offense took place.”

-- Darren Barbee

 

STDon'ts: FDA says sexual disease cures bogus

Viruxo.com laments bogus websites out on the Internet offering snake oils and such as a “cure for herpes.”

OK, maybe snake oil isn’t the best phrase for this item. 

Anyway, the Viruxo site says “Many herpes treatment sites mislead with their miracle ‘herpes cure.’”

Viruxo.com, on the other hand, humbly notes that its own product is a “New Herpes Treatment! Cure For Herpes Outbreaks.”

Such claims prompted the following declaration: “A pox on Viruxo!” (or words to that effect) on May 3 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission. The FDA and the FTC are cracking down on unproven claims of treating sexually transmitted diseases. Products targeted include Medavir, Herpaflor, Viruxo, C-Cure, and Never An Outbreak.

The agencies say the products violate federal law and make actually make people sicker than they already are. “These products are dangerous because they are targeted to patients with serious conditions, where treatment options proven to be safe and effective are available,” said Deborah M. Autor, director of the Office of Compliance in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Consumers who buy these products may not seek the medical attention they need and could spread infections to sexual partners.” The companies that received the warning letters claim that their products treat a range of STDs, including herpes, chlamydia, genital warts, HIV, and AIDS.

-- Darren Barbee