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July 8, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Duty to save gullible from themselves?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Islamists have the West just where they want us

JWisdom:: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 3: The Fully Loaded Human Being by Rabbi Dovid Gross

July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

JWisdom:: The Moses Method by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

June 13, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine

Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends

JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 12, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

June 11, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say?

Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult'

JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination

June 6, 2008

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem

Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs

JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 5, 2008

David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend'

Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread

JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 4, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster'

Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus

JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler

June 3, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East

Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel

JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator?

He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review May 26, 2006 / 28 Iyar, 5766

Junk Science in the Courtroom — ‘Expert Witnesses’ will say anything for money

By Drs. Michael A. Glueck & Robert J. Cihak

The Medicine Men
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The war rages on daily with staggering losses. That is, the war between good and honest workers and businesses trying to keep their hard earned money — and the trial lawyers who are always looking for new ways to pilfer it. In some cases there is covert collusion between the lawyers, their brethren in the state and national legislatures, and those judges who play catch with these lawyers since they know someday their plundering positions could be reversed.


In their ongoing pursuit of new avenues to attack some trial lawyers have now turned to using junk science in alliance with their ravenous and insatiable appetite for frivolous lawsuits.


The Executive Director of Orange County Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (OC-CALA), Maryann Maloney, has announced a "Take Out the Trash" campaign encouraging judges, legislators and the public to dump junk science from our courtrooms.


Some "expert witnesses" will say anything for the right price for personal injury lawyers bringing questionable claims, or plaintiffs (recruited by attorneys) filing lawsuits without experiencing any injury. More and more personal injury lawyers are using "expert witness" doctors who have never met the plaintiffs they diagnose. Painful to this writer, some unethical physicians have joined the litigation research, development, manufacturing, marketing and sales squads.


Junk lawsuits based on junk science undermine the integrity of our courts, drive up the price of medicine and doctors' fees for healthcare consumers, and divert funds and attention away from researching and developing medical cures.


Asbestos and silicosis litigation are just the latest examples of how dubious facts are being used to exploit our legal system.

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In their first annual Bad Science Investigation ("BSI") Awards the organization "Sick of Lawsuits" (www.sick of lawsuits.org) detected some of the worst uses of bad science in our courts and are disclosing examples of how far some bad actors will go in the interest of trying to profit from lawsuits. Maybe we should call the above organization the BS Investigation team and place them under the sheath of CSI:Las Vegas where they could report to Gil and Kathryn.


Some of the worst:

  • In California, Dr. Gary Ordog, dubbed "Dr. Mold" by Forbes, has appeared as an expert witness in hundreds of cases claiming that mold can cause a terrifying array of diseases, from lung cancer to cirrhosis of the liver. This is despite the American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, the Federal Institute of Medicine and the American College of Medical Toxicology all saying there's no evidence for such claims.

  • In recent fen-phen litigation, an independent review of 120 echocardiograms diagnosed with heart damage by two cardiologists hired by plaintiffs' attorneys found that only 6% actually showed heart problems. One of the doctors received an extra $1,500 for every positive reading.

  • A 269-page opinion by Texas federal judge Janis Graham Jack pointed the grand jury toward the corruption involved in almost every one of the 10,000 silicosis claims before her court. "These diagnoses were manufactured for money," she wrote.


Judge Jack, a former nurse, couldn't understand how a disease that caused fewer than 200 deaths annually in the entire United States could have resulted in 20,000 claims in Mississippi and surrounding states.


The diagnosis of silicosis was made in 99% of more than 9,000 plaintiffs by the same nine doctors. One admitted that he didn't even know the criteria for diagnosing the disease, but had simply included a paragraph supplied by the screening company in each of his reports. One doctor had his secretary fill out patient diagnoses on blank forms, while another analyzed 1,239 patients in 72 hours.


The judge also found that more than 65% of the silica plaintiffs had also been plaintiffs in a previous asbestos suit, with the diagnoses made by the same doctors. She stated that statistics alone should have shown the lawyers that their case defied "all medical knowledge and logic," and that by bringing the suit they had shown a "reckless disregard of the duty owed the court."


According to the Wall Street Journal, Judge Jack has "stalled the entire silicosis scam," and also opened the door to probing millions of earlier asbestos suits ("The Silicosis Sheriff," Wall St. J. 7/14/05). Just as judges in Texas and Florida have begun throwing out testimony from questionable "experts," judges everywhere must take an active role in throwing the junk science out of the legal system.


Likewise jurors have an immense responsibility to deny liars for hire. We previously commented on this in JewishWorldReview.com, Jan. 2005, "Jury can fire liars for hire." When you, as a juror, are told to believe lying professionals and distrust honest citizens you not only have a right but an obligation to tell these liars to take a trek. The American jury is our last line of defense against corrupt lawyers, legislators, judges and liars for hire.


We need to put an end to this trumped up sickening litigation epidemic that threatens our healthcare system.


EDITOR'S NOTE: Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., wrote this week's commentary. He is on the board of Orange County Citizen's Against Law Suit Abuse (OC-CALA)

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

Michael Arnold Glueck, M.D., is a multiple award winning writer who comments on medical-legal issues. Robert J. Cihak, M.D., is a Discovery Institute Senior Fellow and a past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Both JWR contributors are Harvard trained diagnostic radiologists. Comment by clicking here.

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