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Courtyard by Marriott Clifton Park has opened its doors in Clifton Park, New York. The four-story hotel features an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor patio with a fire pit, fitness center and guest laundry, and offers 1,781 square feet of meeting space. |
Marriott International has opened the 259-room Courtyard by Marriott Shanghai Fengxian. The 259-room hotel offers more than 824 square meters of meeting space, 11 meeting rooms, a 25-meter indoor swimming pool, a 24-hour health center and a sauna & spa center with eight treatment rooms. |
Courtyard by Marriott Raipur joins the growing portfolio of more than 1,000 Courtyard by Marriott hotels in more than 40 countries worldwide. Located in the capital city of Chhattisgarh, Courtyard by Marriott Raipur is the 14th property for the brand in India, and the second in the state joining Courtyard by Marriott B... |
Courtyard by Marriott is making its debut into Taiwan with the opening of the Courtyard by Marriott Taipei in the centre of Nangang District. |
Varsha Moudgal, M.D. and Anurag Malani, M.D. |
Anurag Malani, M.D. (left), and Varsha Moudgal, M.D. |
During September 2012, Drs. Varsha Moudgal and Anurag Malani and their two infectious disease physician partners at St. Joseph Mercy Medical Center in Ann Arbor began to see and treat a growing number of patients who had unusual symptoms of what they thought was bacterial meningitis. |
Malani practices with Moudgal in the now five-member Infectious Disease Consultants, and they have been credited for being crucial in helping identify and solve the medical crisis — which turned out to have originated from tainted steroid drugs from Massachusetts. |
"We couldn't determine the type of meningitis. Some had bad headaches and a few had fevers, but most did not," Moudgal said. "The white blood count in their spinal fluid was very high, which indicated bacterial meningitis, but their cultures were negative and these patients weren't very sick (at the time) as is charact... |
The first six patients were treated by several different doctors. |
"Some felt better with hydration or steroids. They had initial improvements and went home," Malani said. "They came back a week or two later because their symptoms didn't improve and they still felt very sick." |
What Moudgal, 39, and Malani, 41, didn't know at the time was that from May through September 2012, more than 14,000 patients had been given steroid injections that were suspected of being unintentionally tainted by a fungus that causes meningitis at a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy. |
Over the next several months, more than 751 people in 19 states were infected by contaminated steroid injections, including 264 treated in Michigan hospitals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
St. Joseph became the epicenter of the fungal meningitis outbreak with 195 fungal meningitis patients — 74 percent of Michigan's total. At the height of the outbreak, St. Joseph had 87 of its 537 beds filled with patients with fungal meningitis, abscesses or related infections. |
To date, 64 people nationally have died — 19 in Michigan, including 12 at St. Joseph Mercy, said the Michigan Department of Community Health. |
In the first few days of October 2012, Moudgal and Malani were still sorting out the medical reasons and treatment options for a variety of patients trickling in with meningitis-like symptoms. |
By Oct. 3, the hospital began an internal investigation of the infection's cause. The next day, Moudgal said she watched a news report that said people might be contaminated by fungal meningitis given to them through contaminated steroid injections. |
"We started to look at that," she said. "I checked on our patients and we found out everybody on the list had received spinal injections for pain at (Michigan Pain Specialists PLLC in Brighton). We were able to put two and two together and realized it was fungal meningitis." |
Moudgal said the six original patients treated in September had either already been rehospitalized or they were asked to return for admission and treatment. |
"We began anti-fungal therapy. We were pretty sure what we were dealing with," Moudgal said. "We had no idea the extent of the problem. We just wanted them in and on treatment." |
By the time the CDC issued a statement about the problem on Oct. 4, Moudgal said physicians were well on their way in treating the six patients and others who were beginning to arrive in the emergency department with similar complaints. |
Moudgal said Michigan Pain Specialists, a physician-owned pain clinic not affiliated with the hospital some 26 miles away, already had made phone calls to all its patients, asking them to go to St. Joseph's emergency department for evaluation. |
Michigan Pain Specialists was one of four clinics in Michigan to receive contaminated shipments of steroids from Framingham, Mass.-based New England Compounding Center, which was shut down in October 2012 and has since filed for bankruptcy protection as more than 400 lawsuits have been filed against it. |
Only two of the four clinics, however, including Michigan Pain and Neuromuscular and Rehabilitation Associates in Traverse City, had injected patients who developed a related infection, said Jennie Finks, health care infection coordinator with Community Health. |
The other two clinics were Southeast Michigan Surgical Hospital in Warren and Michigan Neurosurgical Institutes in Grand Blanc. |
"Once we found out what we were dealing with, we were probably the quickest hospital to respond," Moudgal said. "We started developing protocols as more and more patients started to come in." |
For example, St. Joseph physicians developed a protocol on how to collect spinal fluid, how to deliver treatment, instructions on the two main antifungal medication's side effects and when to perform an MRI to check for hidden abscesses. |
By the end of October, St. Joseph Mercy had opened a specialized Fungal Outbreak Clinic at St. Joseph to treat discharged patients, to deal with follow-up issues. |
In November and December, orthopedic and neurosurgeons at St. Joseph Mercy performed more than 100 surgeries to address the injection-site infections and some rare cases when joints were infected, Malani said. |
Now, some 17 months after the initial outbreak, Malani said 20 patients have lingering health issues that are treated with medications at St. Joseph's outpatient clinic. |
Symptoms of meningitis, which is an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord, include fever, new or worsening headaches, nausea, and numbness and slurred speech similar to a stroke. |
The response by St. Joseph Mercy physicians was a textbook example of how clinicians should work with public health officials in responding to infectious disease outbreaks, said Jeffrey Band, M.D., health system chairman of epidemiology and international medicine at Beaumont Health System in Royal Oak. |
Moudgal and Malani "thought more like clinicians than epidemiologists," said Band, former head of special pathogens branch at the CDC. "They went above and beyond what the CDC had recommended (to wait on treatment until more symptoms developed) because they knew once the infection develops it can cause high morbidity a... |
Band said the St. Joseph doctors decided they not only would identify all patients who received the tainted steroid shots and bring them in for tests, but they would order MRIs for everyone as a preventive measure. |
"Because of that approach, they identified many more patients had active problems but were asymptomatic and were able to intervene more quickly," he said. |
In addition, the St. Joseph physicians determined the incubation period for the fungus infection was not just six weeks as the CDC originally advised, but several months, Band said. |
"Another contribution was that patients treated for meningitis needed to be given medication for longer periods of time ... at a minimum of three months and probably up to six months," Band said. |
Moudgal said the CDC learned a lot about treatment protocols from St. Joseph Mercy. |
"A lot of their alerts came from us," she said. "We took all the knowledge we could get and then adjusted their recommendations. It was a very rapid transfer of information, done on a weekly basis." |
Finks said Community Health worked very closely with St. Joseph Mercy's infection control department to coordinate collection and release of information. |
"We shared information with the CDC and others in Michigan," Finks said. "It was very helpful they were taking the lead because they had so many cases." |
Injured War Zone Contractors Fight to Get Care from AIG and Other Insurers | Democracy Now! |
former KBR worker who lost his left leg and sight in his left eye after his convoy was ambushed in Iraq. He returned home to have most of his medical claims challenged by his insurer, AIG. He lives in Poteau, Oklahoma. |
a reporter for the ProPublica investigative news website, he wrote the investigative news series ”Forgotten Warriors” about neglected civilian contractors. He is also author of the book Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq. He joins us from Washington, DC. |
a former contractor for KBR, his left leg was shattered in an April 2004 attack in Iraq. He’s also faced a protracted legal battle with AIG over his medical benefits. |
AMY GOODMAN: The bailed-out insurance giant AIG has come under intense criticism for handing out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to top executives and billions in payments to other financial firms, all while receiving taxpayer aid. But new disclosures on its handling of insurance claims add a fresh angle to ... |
More than 1,400 contractors have been killed, another 31,000 wounded, in Iraq and Afghanistan. AIG has been the leading profiteer from providing their medical insurance. |
Earlier this month, former KBR worker John Woodson of Poteau, Oklahoma, spoke out about AIG in an interview with ABC News. In October 2004, Woodson lost his left leg and sight in his left eye after his convoy was ambushed in Iraq. He returned home to have most of his medical claims challenged by his insurer, AIG. |
JOHN WOODSON: I ran over a IED and was blown out of the truck over a hundred foot away from where I was. I lost my left leg. Both of my knees were damaged. My pelvis was broken. And I’ve lost my eyesight. My left eye is permanently damaged, as well as my right, three-quarters of it. |
I’m not able to work. I cannot see. I can’t sit for a very long time. I can’t stand for the same time limit. There’s irritation somewhere in my body. |
You constantly are worried about who is going to pay these bills, who is going to take care of me, because you can’t rely on AIG to come through for you. I don’t understand how a company of their size and their magnitude and with government bailouts and money and support — I don’t understand them not taking care of the... |
AMY GOODMAN: John Woodson, speaking to ABC News. Well, John Woodson joins us now on the phone from Poteau, Oklahoma. |
We’re also joined by T. Christian Miller, a reporter for ProPublica investigative news website. He wrote the news series “Forgotten Warriors” about neglected civilian contractors. The website is propublica.org. He is also author of the book Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq. He’s joi... |
And joining us on the phone, as well, is Kevin Smith Idol, a former contractor for KBR. His left leg was shattered in an April 2004 attack in Iraq. He’s also faced a protracted legal battle with AIG over his medical benefits. Kevin Smith, with us from Abilene, Texas. |
Well, because we are in Oklahoma, let’s begin with John Woodson. Talk further about what happened to you in Iraq, your battle there, and then the battle here at home with your insurance company, John. |
JOHN WOODSON: Yes, ma’am. Good morning to everyone. |
Well, working in Iraq driving a truck, I was, I guess, blown up by a IED. The struggles that were later to come were just unimaginable. I, I guess, suffered a terrible damage to my body and loss of sight. Coming home, I stayed in a medical-induced coma for well over a month. After waking up, I couldn’t believe — I coul... |
AMY GOODMAN: What exactly did AIG say to you here when you came back to Oklahoma? |
JOHN WOODSON: Well, I lived in Houston, Texas. I guess in the hospital, they had sent a representative to see me, after I was coherent, and informed me at that point that they would take care of all medical bills, take care of my — the rest of my life, you know, seeing the damage. They promised that there wouldn’t be a... |
AMY GOODMAN: And explain exactly the extent, John, of your injuries. |
JOHN WOODSON: OK. I have lost my left leg below my knee. Pelvis was broken. The right foot was broken. Both knees are shattered inside, messed up. The bladder and the lower portion of my body was damaged. My spine had an accordion effect in it, where it is damaged. My sight, losing my — the sight, total sight of my lef... |
AMY GOODMAN: And what kind of insurance is AIG providing you? |
JOHN WOODSON: They are providing support, biweekly support. They’re supposed to be providing me medical, pharmaceutical and transportation, due to what’s my injuries. But it’s been a constant fight, a battle on each one, each avenue that I pursue to get things handled and done. |
AMY GOODMAN: T. Christian Miller, welcome to Democracy Now! Talk to us about the overall picture here. How uncommon is this? Or how common is what John is experiencing? |
T. CHRISTIAN MILLER: It’s not very uncommon, Amy. What we did is that ProPublica partnered up with the Los Angeles Times and ABC News to take a broad look at this issue of what happens to contractors who have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan when they come home. And what we found is they are put into a system known... |
What we found is that within this system, carriers like AIG — and there’s others, but AIG is the primary carrier — will actually challenge a claim or deny or dispute a claim in about almost half of every case of a serious injury, much like in the case of Mr. Woodson’s case, where you’ve lost several days of work, and i... |
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to turn right now to Keith [sic.]. If you could talk about what was your situation before you returned home to Abilene, Texas? |
KEVIN SMITH IDOL: Well, I got — I was, of course, injured in ’04, and I went through several months — I should say, or several weeks of surgeries and hospital stays in Baghdad. And if it wasn’t — or, I should say, Germany and Baghdad. And if it wasn’t for my mother trying to get all the — everything worked out, I’d pro... |
And I finally made it back to Abilene. And when I made it back to Abilene, unlike John, everything, you know, went fairly well, until they just completely stopped paying my benefits one day for no reason. And then, after a call to my attorney the same day, they reinstated my benefits until ’07, November of ’07. In that... |
And now that I had my benefits reinstated through the federal court, it’s become very difficult to get anything done. It’s kind of like what John said. It’s just very difficult to get anything approved. They don’t return your calls. They don’t — when the doctor calls to get something approved, and they — it might be we... |
Or in one particular case, I called the adjuster personally and asked them, you know, why they weren’t paying. And basically — and it was on a sleep study for my PTSD. And although they were ordered to pay that by the federal judge — I was told that it was supposed to be a split night sleep study, so there’s supposed t... |
AMY GOODMAN: Kevin Smith Idol, we’re going to come back to this conversation. We’re also joined by John Woodson. Both are KBR military contractors who went to fight a war in Iraq and came home to fight a war with the bailed-out insurance giant AIG. We’re also joined by the person who exposed this whole story, T. Christ... |
This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. We’re going to go to break, then come back. Stay with us. |
AMY GOODMAN: We are looking at the bailed-out insurance giant AIG and the US soldiers who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan only to face a battle with AIG. They’re KBR contractors. |
We’re joined by Kevin Smith Idol. He’s with us from Abilene, Texas. Since we’re here in Oklahoma in Lawton, broadcasting from Cameron University, we’re also joined by John Woodson, who is almost completely blind after an attack in Iraq and has both knees shattered, lost part of his leg in Iraq. He’s joining us from Okl... |
I wanted to turn to you, John, to — rather, to T. Christian Miller, to ask about this issue of the number of claims that AIG has accepted and rejected. Give us the full picture. |
T. CHRISTIAN MILLER: Well, the full picture is there are about 214,000 contractors in Iraq right now, which of course means there’s more contractors on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan than there are actual uniformed personnel. So, part of our story was, we wanted to look at the hidden side of the casualties in this ... |
What we found is that AIG, which is the insurance giant, provides insurance coverage — it’s essentially a type of workers’ compensation coverage — to about 90 percent of the individuals who have been wounded or killed in Iraq. And one thing I think that your listeners should know, Amy, is that this is not private insur... |
And then, when you turn around and look at how much money they have received in premiums and how often they file a protest in these claims, you’ll see a distinctive pattern, where about 43 percent, 44 percent of the claims for serious injuries are disputed. Even in the case of a psychological injury, you’ll see 60 perc... |
So you have a population here of civilians, who were not soldiers — they were civilians — but they face many of the same risks as soldiers. They were exposed to many of the same battles and bloodshed as soldiers were. And so, they’re coming home to a system which is not providing them care that the taxpayers have alrea... |
AMY GOODMAN: And this overall issue of a bailed-out AIG giant, this is US taxpayer money. |
Once they return home, if they are injured in the war in a combat activity, as both John and Kevin were, eventually the US government is going to pay back the insurance companies for the cost of care for these guys, and then they will add another 15 percent fee on top of that to pay the carriers like what they call a h... |
So, on both sides, both in the terms of the premiums the taxpayers have paid and the care for these guys, Americans are eventually going to pay for that. In the meantime, the carriers — these guys are trapped in this system that the carriers basically control. |
AMY GOODMAN: And the responsibility of KBR? |
T. CHRISTIAN MILLER: KBR is their employer. And as their employer, they purchase the insurance. So KBR could, in theory, be pushing its insurance company to move more quickly and rapidly to treat these individuals. You haven’t seen a lot of instances of that, where KBR has stepped up and really pushed for the insurance... |
And you look at these guys, I mean, it’s not a mistake that they’re out in Oklahoma and Texas. A lot of these guys were blue-collar folks, former military often, and sort of the Midwestern states, in Arkansas and Oklahoma and Texas, who — they weren’t mercenaries. They were folks who are going over to Iraq to drive tru... |
So, to the extent that they come back and they don’t get the benefits that they were promised, that we paid for, that again is something that is in the hands of the federal government to make sure that the carriers pay out these funds. And you haven’t seen a very good job of that system being policed. |
AMY GOODMAN: And the congressional oversight right now, everything from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, tell us what Congress is doing about these men, who are already shattered, fighting with their insurance company that’s being paid for by US taxpayers. |
T. CHRISTIAN MILLER: You’ve seen some early signs of interest by Congress on this issue. Representative Elijah Cummings, who has done a lot with AIG on lots of different issues, has called for a hearing with Representative Dennis Kucinich’s panel for the Government Reform Committee. That hearing presumably could bring ... |
And they tell us, in the Los Angeles Times-ABC News project, that they pay 90 percent of claims. And they later backtracked on that, and they said, “Well, we pay the vast majority of these claims when proper documentation is received.” So I think there’s a lot of questions that can be answered by some of these insuranc... |
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, John, as we talk to you in Oklahoma, we’re about, oh, what, four hours away from you right now. As you heard about this bailed-out AIG giant that you’ve been fighting with, with their execs going to spas and having their retreats, what were your thoughts? |
JOHN WOODSON: Oh, I was outraged, like I guess most all Americans were. This morning, I listened to the news and heard a story about a Joseph Cassano and billions of dollars in this situation. I guess this is something upcoming. But, oh, you’re horrified at this. |
And I know we all — you know, we’ve all gave something, and we’re just not getting back what we put into this. And then you see this money just being just thrown away, and these people have no care in the world at all. So it’s very saddening to realize that we are Americans, and they are, too, and they don’t care. No o... |
I know Kevin and myself and so many others, we have suffered unbelievably. And a lot of us, you know, we can’t wait. And it’s just a waiting game. And they just — they push you along. |
And there’s — you know, with the insurance, KBR — KBR stays out of it. They don’t have much to do with anything. But with this insurance and your adjusters that you go through, just there’s no feeling. And it’s just really sad. And it’s really hard to put words on this, because most people don’t feel. And they look at ... |
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you all for being with us. John Woodson, speaking to us on the telephone, well, from right here in Oklahoma; also, Kevin Smith Idol, speaking to us from Abilene, Texas — they’re both former KBR contractors fighting with the bailed-out AIG insurance giant. Also, T. Christian Miller, th... |
Gwen Carr and Ashley Sharpton were among 11 people taken in by handcuffs for blocking traffic. |
Gwen Carr, mother to Eric Garner, and Ashley Sharpton, the youngest daughter of Al Sharpton, were among a group of demonstrators arrested outside of Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday night, the New York Post reports. |
According to NBC New York, about 30 protesters gathered to speak out against President Donald Trump’s SCOTUS pick, Neil Gorsuch. Trump nominated the Colorado native and federal appeals judge during a Tuesday primetime press conference at the White House. |
Carr and Sharpton were among 11 people taken in by handcuffs for blocking traffic, NBC New York reports. |
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