Georgia Attorney General says "No" to Lawsuit Against Health Care

"Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is butting heads with the state's top lawyer, threatening to ''go it alone'' and sue the federal government over a new federal health care law.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Wednesday declined Perdue's request to sue over the health care law, arguing the state doesn't have a ''a viable legal claim.''

''I cannot in good conscience file a lawsuit against the United States that I believe has little or no chance of success and will undoubtedly consume significant state resources in a time of severe budgetary crisis,'' Baker wrote in a letter to the governor.

But Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley fired back that the state could ''go it alone'' with an outside counsel.

''His refusal to participate doesn't preclude us from going forward,'' Brantley told reporters.

Brantley said several lawyers have volunteered to handle the state's lawsuit pro bono -- removing the concerns about cost for the cash-strapped state. He suggested politics might be behind Baker's decision not to sue over Democratic-backed bill, the top domestic issue for President Barack Obama.

''We know that he's a candidate for governor and so we know that there are multiple things that he's looking at or thinking about and that's fine,'' Brantley said.

There was no immediate response from Baker, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed Perdue.

Attorneys general from 13 other states have filed a federal lawsuit arguing the federal law -- which mandates that many Americans purchase health insurance -- violates the Constitution.

Brantley said the state could join that legal challenge or file its own.

Perdue had asked Baker to sue on behalf of the state. He has repeatedly blasted the health reform law saying it would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars every year by expanding Medicaid rolls, forcing the state health insurance plan to cover the adult children of state workers up to age 26 and requiring the state to set up a health care purchasing exchange.

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter suggested Wednesday that Perdue could need legislative approval to pursue a lawsuit without the OK of the state's top lawyer.

But Brantley said the governor's office didn't think legislation was needed.

He said the state had hired outside counsel to pursue litigation over the state's voter ID law and to pursue litigation related to water rights at Lake Lanier. Former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman is leading Georgia's water litigation for a hefty $855 an hour." ~ NYTimes.com

Contact Attorney Ken Nugent, GA Perosnal Injury Attorney, for more news regarding the state of Georgia and the new healthcare.

Nurse Discusses Reglan Use in Infants

"Lexington, GA: Terry P, a nurse in Georgia, worked with premature babies in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She says she cannot remember a single premature baby in her care who was not given Reglan, despite the fact that there is still little information available about the long-term effects of Reglan on infants.

Nurse Discusses Reglan Use in Infants"Reglan is used to help with gut motility," Terry says. "It's used for premature babies because their bodies are not ready to work like yours and mine. When you try to feed them, their peristalsis [muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract] is not as efficient. Doctors try to boot it up with Reglan."

However, Reglan is also used to enhance breast milk production, and Terry says infants could be exposed to even greater quantities of the drug that way.

"There was one doctor in particular who was a 'breastfeed your baby or you'll kill it' doctor," says Terry. "Some women can't do it. Breast milk is the best thing for babies—they can digest it best. But not all women can do it. This doctor was writing prescriptions for Reglan to increase breast milk production."

Premature babies have a premature neurological system, which means they react to noise, touch and other stimulus by becoming jittery and moving their arms and legs up and down. "Even sound will cause that jitteriness," Terry says. "But they shouldn't stay that way all the time."

Under normal circumstances, the infant can be calmed down. "But if the drug is increasing that jitteriness, they're messing the babies up by giving them Reglan," says Terry. "The thing is, they were all on Reglan. There was not one premature baby who was not given Reglan.

"They were given Reglan as soon as feeding was incorporated. Say there is a baby who is 24 weeks gestation—normal is approximately 40 weeks. Once the baby is stabilized and the blood oxygen is good, they start tube feeding the baby and start the Reglan with the feeding so that the gut will contract like a normal gut and the food will move through. That could be as soon as a week after birth.

"The thing is, you might be giving the infant only a small amount of Reglan, but when you weigh only 500 grams, that's a lot of medication to take in."

Reglan now carries a black box warning alerting patients to the risk of tardive dyskinesia, especially if the drug is used for longer than 12 weeks. However, some critics argue there is still insufficient evidence to show that Reglan is safe for infants. According to the labeling information, serious Reglan side effects "happen more often in children and adults under age 30," including uncontrolled spasms of the face and neck muscles, or muscles of the body, arms and legs." ~ Source: LawyersAndSettlements.com

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