Society's ChildS


Health

Kentucky court upholds decision in penis removal case

Image
© The Associated PressDeborah and Phillip Seaton
Louisville, Kentucky - A Kentucky man lost his bid Friday to force a doctor to pay damages for removing a cancer-riddled section of his penis during what was scheduled to be a simple circumcision.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals found that a jury correctly concluded that 66-year-old Phillip Seaton of Waddy consented to allow Dr. John Patterson to perform any procedure deemed necessary during the Oct. 19, 2007, surgery.

Patterson, a Kentucky-based urologist, maintains he found cancer in the man's penis during surgery and that it had to be removed. The patient claims the surgery was supposed to be a circumcision and he never authorized the amputation, nor was he given a chance to seek a second opinion.

"Additionally, there is uncontroverted testimony in the record that if Mr. Seaton were not treated for the penile cancer, it would prove fatal in the future," Judge Janet Stumbo wrote for the court.

Judge Michael Caperton dissented, but did not issue a written opinion.

Clay Robinson, a Lexington-based attorney for Patterson, said the opinion was "very well-reasoned" and fact-based.

"You always appreciate when you see judges at any level go into that amount of detail," Robinson said.

Seaton and his wife, Deborah, sued Patterson, a Kentucky-based urologist, in Shelby County Circuit Court in 2008. Seaton, now in his 60s, was having the procedure to better treat inflammation. The Seatons also sued Jewish Hospital, where the surgery took place. The hospital settled with the couple for an undisclosed amount.

Folder

Judge OKs settlement in BP class action suit

bp logo
A federal judge has given final approval to BP's settlement with businesses and individuals who lost money because of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP PLC has estimated it will pay $7.8 billion to resolve economic and medical claims from more than 100,000 businesses and individuals hurt by the nation's worst offshore oil spill. The settlement has no cap; the company could end up paying more or less.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who gave his preliminary approval in May, made it final in a 125-page ruling released Friday evening.

"None of the objections, whether filed on the objections docket or elsewhere, have shown the Settlement to be anything other than fair, reasonable, and adequate," he wrote.

BP and attorneys for the plaintiffs said they were pleased.

"We believe the settlement, which avoids years of lengthy litigation, is good for the people, businesses and communities of the Gulf and is in the best interests of BP's stakeholders," company spokesman Scott Dean said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "Today's decision by the Court is another important step forward for BP in meeting its commitment to economic and environmental restoration efforts in the Gulf and in eliminating legal risk facing the company."

A statement from plaintiffs' attorneys Steve Herman and Jim Roy praised the settlement program's administrator, Pat Juneau.

"This settlement has - and will continue to - bring the people and businesses of the Gulf the relief they deserve," the attorneys wrote.

Handcuffs

Two Charleston teens found carrying handguns, arrested

Image
© CCDC Richard Simmons
Charleston, South Carolina - Two teens who tried to run from police officers on Wednesday were arrested after officers say they were both found to be carrying handguns.

According to an incident report, officers saw the two teens loitering at 208 Hanover Street, a property of City of Charleston Housing Authority, around 12:30 p.m. on December 19.

Police say the suspects were identified as a 17-year-old juvenile and 18-year-old Richard Dara Simmons.

Officers say the 17-year-old suspect was detained after he attempted to walk away from the officers. Officers searched the teen and discovered he was carrying a .38 Taurus revolver.

Police say Simmons attempted to run, but was captured. Officers found a semi-automatic pistol in his waistband.

The juvenile was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun and possession of a handgun under 18 years of age. Simmons was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun.

Both teens were taken to the Charleston County Detention Center.

Source: WCSC

Pistol

2 adults shot to death inside Alabama nightclub

Hoover, Alabama - A police captain says two people have been shot to death inside a nightclub in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.

Hoover police Capt. Jim Coker tells Al.com that the two people were pronounced dead at the scene. The shootings happened around 11:30 p.m. EST at Martini's nightclub in Hoover.

Few other details were immediately available in the investigation, which Coker says is in its early stages. He says both victims are adults but didn't say whether they are male or female.

Pistol

Update: Gunman kills woman at Pennsylvania church, 2 men elsewhere before being shot dead by state troopers

Image
© The Associated Press/Altoona Mirror, J.D. CavrichLocal law enforcement block off road along Rt. 22 near the Canoe Creek State Park, Pa. while investigating a shooting on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012.
Hollidaysburg - A man fatally shot a woman decorating for a children's Christmas party at a tiny church hall and killed two men elsewhere in a rural township on Friday before he was shot dead in a gunfight with state troopers.

Three troopers in patrol cars were injured in a pursuit that began after the gunman, driving a pick-up truck, fired at them, police said. One trooper injured a wrist and then was hit in the chest but was saved by a bulletproof vest.

The gunman was killed during a final exchange of gunfire after ramming his truck head-on into another police cruiser, authorities said.

The shootings began in Frankstown Township, in central Pennsylvania, at about 9 a.m., and investigators were processing five crime scenes within about a 1.5-mile radius, authorities said at a news briefing Friday afternoon. Troopers were responding to a 911 call of a shooting in the township when they heard calls reporting at least one other shooting elsewhere, state police said.

"It's going to take us some time to put this all together ... and know exactly what occurred," said Lt. Col. George Bivens, deputy state police commissioner.

Authorities did not release the names of the victims or the shooter, though they did say the man lived in Blair County.

State police said they were still trying to piece together a timeline and motive. The gunman and the victims weren't related, though the victims may have been, at least distantly, Blair County District Attorney Rich Consiglio said.

Pistol

Mass shootings have long history

Image
© Unknown
He came along with a shotgun on his shoulder while a group of children were playing in front of the school. Without warning or provocation, he raised the gun to his shoulder, took deliberate aim, and fired into the crowd of boys.

Although it sounds sadly modern, the account was published in the New York Times more than a century ago.

Dated April 10, 1891, the article described an elderly man firing a shotgun at children playing in front of St. Mary's Parochial School in Newburgh, NY.

"None of the children were killed, but several were well filled with lead," the report said.

More than a century earlier, on July 26, 1764, a teacher and 10 students were shot dead by four Lenape American Indians in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, in what is considered the earliest known U.S. mass school shooting.

Indeed, killing or trying to kill a mass of people is not a modern phenomenon. For as long as there has been history, there have been gruesome mass murders.

Comment: Read the following articles to learm more about the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre

Connecticut massacre, two shooters? Look to Aurora, Colorado
Sandy Hook massacre: Official story spins out of control
Sandy Hook psy-ops: Police state here we come
Sandy Hook massacre: Evidence of official foreknowledge?


Arrow Down

Hunger and homelessness rise in the U.S.

Homeless
© Reuters/Jason RedmondBennie Thomas, who is homeless, eats a free Thanksgiving meal for the Skid Row homeless and needy at the Los Angeles Mission in Los Angeles, California November 21, 2012.
Homelessness and poverty is on the rise, with 84 percent of US cities reporting that requests for emergency food assistance increased in 2012. Of those seeking emergency food, 51 percent were families and 37 were employed.

The news comes just a few days before millions of Americans get together for Christmas. With homelessness and poverty reaching record levels this year, many families may not be able to afford the feast they were able to prepare in the past.

The Hunger and Homelessness Survey released by the US Conference of Mayors states that of 25 cities surveyed, 21 have seen an increase in homelessness this year and the remaining three said it remained at the same level. Cities of all sizes, regions and wealth levels were surveyed, including Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Salt Lake City.

The report found that 46.2 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, were living in poverty, and the number of homeless people on a single night in January 2012 was 633,782. The struggling US economy has caused many workers to move from full-time work to part-time, scraping by and living from paycheck to paycheck.

"In the last year, we saw a brand-new 26,000 households [about 56,000 individuals] needing food who never did before," Steveanna Wynn, executive director of the SHARE food program in Philadelphia, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The increase in poverty and homelessness is "the worst it's ever been," she added. "These people never in their wildest dreams through they'd have to go to a food cupboard."

Dollar

Facebook now charging some users to send messages

Thumbsdown
© WordTracker.com
Facebook has begun testing a pilot program where users have to pay a fee for each message they want to send over the social networking site.

The website, one of the most visited in the world, published a press release on Thursday that explains a "small experiment" that will require users to fork over a small sum if they want to contact persons that aren't directly linked to.

Since 2010, Facebook has implemented a feature where messages from unfamiliar users are routed to an "Other" folder instead of the traditional inbox where emails from users had always ended up until then. Facebook says that automatically separating messages into one folder or another by using specially designed algorithms has allowed the site to ensure that spam and other unwanted messages are absent from the actual inboxes of users.

Because users are not notified automatically when messages land into the "Other" folder, emails sent from friends of friends or other people with legitimate inquiries are easily missed. By charging users to ensure messages are routed to the primary inbox, Facebook hopes that fewer messages of actual important won't go unnoticed. It also, however, opens the door for advertisers to have one more way of targeting users.

Arrow Down

Threatening online comments spur UK crackdown

Online Comments
© DreamstimeCasual online comments on Twitter or Facebook could bring serious legal consequences.
Tapping out an angry screed on Twitter? Posting a scathing restaurant review on your blog? Or just dissing a frenemy in a Facebook post?

Though it might feel satisfying to vent by writing angry, demeaning or threatening online comments, a growing number of people have found out the hard way those posts can have severe legal ramifications.

British lawmakers have issued new guidelines covering the way they prosecute people who post online comments that are demeaning or threatening, according to the Los Angeles Times. United Kingdom law enforcement has typically taken a hard line against offensive posts by aggressively prosecuting people for crude online jokes and comments.

In the process, however, lawmakers have sparked a fiery civil-liberties debate - activists have accused the government of censoring free speech. One young British man, for example, was sent to prison for 12 weeks after posting a tasteless joke about a kidnapping, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Nuke

Seawater leak shuts down Swedish nuclear reactor

Image
© Agence France-Presse/Bjorn Larsson Rosvall / Sweden outSweden's Ringhals atomic power station
Swedish authorities have ordered the shutdown of a reactor at its largest nuclear power plant near Gothenburg following a seawater leak. The leak is the latest in a string of similar incidents that have plagued the Swedish nuclear industry.

­"There is no safety problem" at Reactor 4 of the Ringhals plant, nuclear authority inspector Jan Gällsjo told the national TT news agency. However, the presence of saltwater in the pressurized water system is an irregularity that needs to be repaired, Gällsjo added.

The Ringhals power station is located on Sweden's southwest coast near Gothenburg, the country's second largest city.

Earlier this month, the Radiation Safety Authority ordered the shutdown of reactor O2 at the Oskarshamn plant due to safety concerns, the Local reported. Several days later, an investigation found cracks in two of the 10 pools in which nuclear waste is stored. Nuclear waste management contractor SKB was ordered to review security and safety requirements before the reactor can be brought back online.

A report published in October by environmental organization Greenpeace heavily criticized safety conditions at Sweden's nuclear plants.