Nurse at botched Ohio transplant sues over firing

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A veteran nurse present during a botched kidney transplant at an Ohio hospital last summer has sued for wrongful termination.

The lawsuit filed Friday in Columbus seeks $25,000 for Melanie Lemay, a nurse suspended then fired after a different nurse accidentally threw away a viable kidney as medical waste during the procedure last August.

After the error, the hospital apologized and put an administrator and two nurses on paid leave. Lemay alleges her subsequent termination was based on violating policies and procedures that didn't exist on the day of the operation.

The 30-year employee of the University of Toledo Medical Center alleges that operating room policies that hospital administrators turned over to investigators from the Department of Health and Human Services had an effective date of Aug. 16 — six days after the surgery.

An investigative report on the incident indicated no policy or procedures other than those dated Aug. 16 were presented to investigators as in place on the day of the failed procedure.

The suit states the other nurse failed to log out of the hospital computer system when she went on break, which required Lemay to make entries under that nurse's chart. Lemay said the second nurse did not ask for a status update on the transplant or the patient when she returned from lunch and proceeded to remove the kidney from the room and dispose of it.

Lemay says she did not see the items being removed nor know the other nurse had removed them. She was fired for violating policies on communications, logging out, and failing to stop the other nurse from removing items from the operation room before the procedure was concluded, the suit states.

University of Toledo spokesman Tobin Klinger declined comment Saturday. "It would be inappropriate for us to comment on pending litigation," he said.

Besides the personnel actions, the hospital voluntarily suspended its kidney transplant program from August to December.

A report by a surgeon hired by the hospital to review its program called it "baffling" that the nurse would accidentally dispose of the viable kidney. At the same time, he found no problems with the systems that would have indicated the hospital was at risk for such a mistake. The nurse who threw out the organ resigned within weeks.

The family of the woman set to receive the kidney that day and her brother, who was her live donor, filed suit against the hospital last week alleging medical negligence and seeking $25,000 for each of eight plaintiffs.

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New jobs disproportionately low-pay or part-time

WASHINGTON — The 162,000 jobs the economy added in July were a disappointment. The quality of the jobs was even worse.

A disproportionate number of the added jobs were part-time or low-paying — or both.

Part-time work accounted for more than 65 percent of the positions employers added in July. Low-paying retailers, restaurants and bars supplied more than half July's job gain.

"You're getting jobs added, but they might not be the best-quality job," says John Canally, an economist with LPL Financial in Boston.

So far this year, low-paying industries have provided 61 percent of the nation's job growth, even though these industries represent just 39 percent of overall U.S. jobs, according to Labor Department numbers analyzed by Moody's Analytics. Mid-paying industries have contributed just 22 percent of this year's job gain.

"The jobs that are being created are not generating much income," Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities USA, wrote in a note to clients.

That's one reason Americans' pay hasn't kept up with even historically low inflation since the Great Recession ended in June 2009. Average hourly pay fell 2 cents in July to $23.98 an hour.

Among those feeling the squeeze is Elizabeth Wilkinson, 28, of Houston. After losing a $39,000-a-year administrative job at Rice University in January, Wilkinson found work at an employment agency for $15 an hour. Yet she's had to supplement that job with part-time work as a waitress.

"This morning I put $1.35 worth of gas in my car because that is all the money that I had," Wilkinson said via email. "It's very difficult to survive on $30,000 (a year), and I am living paycheck to paycheck."

Part-time work has made up 77 percent of the job growth so far this year. The government defines part-time work as being less than 35 hours a week.

Analysts say some employers are offering part-time over full-time work to sidestep the new health care law's rule that they provide medical coverage for permanent workers. (The Obama administration has delayed that provision for a year.)

Weak economies overseas have also reduced demand for U.S. goods and, as a result, for better-paying U.S. jobs in manufacturing. Government spending cuts have taken a toll on some middle-class jobs, too.

Many employers have also discovered that they can use technology to do tasks more cheaply and efficiently than office workers used to do. And some have found that they can shift middle-class jobs to low-wage countries such as China.

By contrast, most lower-paying jobs — from waiters and hotel maids to store clerks, bartenders and home health care aides — can't be automated or shipped abroad.

"You're always going to have jobs in the retail sector," says Michael Evangelist, a policy analyst with the liberal National Employment Law Project, which advocates on behalf of low-wage workers.

Consider Mike Ulrich, 30, who earned a master's degree in public administration in May from the University of Colorado. Ulrich hasn't been able to find work that requires a college degree. Instead, he works at a hardware store in Spokane, Wash., earning the state's minimum wage: $9.19 an hour.

Not all July's new jobs were low-paying. Local schools hired more than 10,000 teachers and other employees. Financial firms added 15,000.

And Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West, thinks concerns about the surge in part-time work might be overblown. The government's figures on part-time jobs are highly volatile, Anderson notes. The big gain this year could quickly reverse, he says.

Yet for the most part, Daniel Alpert, managing partner of Westwood Capital, wrote in a report last month, "the only folks engaging in meaningful hiring are doing so because labor is cheap."

The low quality of the added jobs could help explain something that has puzzled economists: How has the U.S. economy managed to add an average of roughly 200,000 jobs a month this year even though it grew at a tepid annual rate below 2 percent in the first half of the year?

Some are proposing an answer: Perhaps a chronically slow-growth economy can't generate many good-paying jobs — but can produce lots of part-time or lower-wage retail and restaurant work.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, recalls that the robust economic growth of the late '90s generated millions of middle-class jobs. And it pushed unemployment so low that short-staffed companies were forced to convert part-time jobs into full-time ones.

"Faster growth would fix things," Swonk says. "That's the magic fairy dust."

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Time Warner blackout of CBS goes into 2nd day

Time Warner Cable's blackout of CBS continued Saturday, and neither side indicated a resolution of their dispute over fees is imminent.

Time Warner dropped CBS Friday in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and several other cities, leaving three million customers without the network's programs. The issue is fees that the cable company pays CBS to air its programs.

Each has accused the other of making unreasonable demands. On Saturday the two sides even seemed to disagree on the status of negotiations. A Time Warner spokeswoman said Saturday afternoon that negotiations are ongoing. CBS said it expects talks to resume soon, but the decision rests with Time Warner.

Without a deal, Time Warner customers were missing Tiger Woods' attempt at his 8th win at Firestone Country Club near Akron, Ohio, in this weekend's Bridgestone Invitational. Woods held a lead of 7 strokes as he played Saturday. CBS fans also won't see programs such as "Under the Dome" or "60 Minutes."

Time Warner cut off the CBS shows as well as cable networks Showtime, TMC, Flix and Smithsonian. The cable company's customers are caught in the middle, and the stakes will only go higher. CBS will air the PGA's final major tournament starting Thursday, and its preseason National Football League coverage begins on local stations next week.

Late Friday night, Time Warner posted a message to subscribers on its website from CEO Glenn Britt saying that CBS has been "uncompromising" by making demands that are inconsistent with deals made with hundreds of other broadcasters. If Time Warner gives in to CBS' demands, he said, then other programmers will ask for more as well.

"Cable TV bills would skyrocket. You'd be mad. We'd be mad. It won't end well for anyone," Britt wrote.

Time Warner charges about $20 monthly per subscriber for broadcast channels. One industry analyst estimates that CBS got 75 cents to $1 per Time Warner subscriber in the contract that recently expired.

CBS said this is the first time it's been dropped by a cable system, and it has successfully negotiated deals with Comcast, Cablevision, Charter, DirecTV, AT&T, Verizon and other companies.

"CBS programs are among the most popular in the industry, and yet there are many cable networks - with considerably less viewership - that receive more money for their programming from Time Warner Cable than we do," CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said in July memo to employees.

The fight could be a long one with CBS trying to gain revenue from retransmission fees to buffer against cyclical swings in advertising revenue and Time Warner caught in a competitive environment that limits price increases to pay for rising programming costs.

Research firm SNL Kagan estimates retransmission fees paid to programmers will reach $3 billion industry-wide this year and double to $6 billion by 2018.

Earning revenue from pay TV subscribers is crucial to CBS's growth prospects, analysts say. Even though CBS sends its signal out over the airwaves for free to anyone with an antenna, about 85 percent of its viewers watch TV through a pay TV provider.

Time Warner spokeswoman Maureen Huff said the company is not worried about customers switching to a different TV-service provider to get CBS. Programming fee disputes are common in the industry and could happen to other providers in the future, she said, adding that the number of such disputes has risen in the last few years.

Indeed, a competitor, DirecTV, came to Time Warner's defense on Saturday, issuing a statement that praised the cable company. "In trying to protect our won customers, DirecTV has certainly had its share of these battles, so we applaud Time Warner Cable for fighting back against exorbitant programming cost increases," the statement said.

The dispute may bring some government action. In New York, the City Council announced Saturday that it would convene hearings Thursday on the spat, demanding answers from both companies. "Television service should not be dependent on the whims of a bitter corporate standoff," said the council's speaker, Christine Quinn, who is also a leading candidate for mayor.

Time Warner is fighting to hold the line on costs as it struggles to keep subscribers. It lost 191,000 cable TV subscribers in the most recent quarter, ending with 11.7 million at the end of June.

Still, both companies posted healthy quarterly earnings this week. Time Warner Cable grew its net income 6 percent to $481 million, or $1.64 per share, as revenue rose 3 percent to $5.6 billion. CBS grew net income 11 percent to $472 million, or 76 cents per share. CBS's revenue also grew 11 percent to $3.7 billion thanks in large part to the fees that are in dispute with Time Warner Cable.

The CBS stations that went dark are WCBS and WLNY in New York; KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles; KTVT and KTXA in Dallas; WBZ and WSBK in Boston; KDKA, WPCW-CW in Pittsburgh; KCNC in Denver; WKBD-CW in Detroit and WBBM in Chicago.

About 2.5 million Time Warner Cable customers lost access to Showtime, the premium channel that carries shows such as "Dexter."

Time Warner said it would temporarily replace lost programming with shows from Starz Kids and Family.

___

Krisher reported from Detroit. David B. Caruso contributed from New York.

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Democratic governors nervous about health plan

MILWAUKEE — Democratic governors say they are nervous about getting the new federal health care law implemented but add they will be better positioned in next year's elections than many of their Republican counterparts who have resisted the far-reaching and politically polarizing measure.

Several of the 12 Democratic governors shared that sense of nervousness-veiled-by-optimism at the National Governors Association meeting Saturday in Milwaukee.

"There's some angst, and you can see that from the decision the administration made a couple weeks ago," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. "There's a lot of work to do."

By next Jan. 1, most people will be required to have insurance. States have to set up exchanges by Oct. 1, when uninsured individuals can start buying subsidized private health coverage that would go into effect Jan 1, and businesses with more than 50 employees working 30 or more hours a week were supposed to offer affordable health care to their workers or risk a series of escalating tax penalties.

But businesses said they needed more time, and on July 2, President Barack Obama's administration abruptly extended the deadline one year — to Jan. 1, 2015.

That caused some Democrats in Congress to worry the program would not be ready on time, as states are building online platforms for their residents to use to comply with the law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act in June 2012, the Republican-controlled House has voted 40 times since Obama signed the law in 2010 to repeal, defund or scale it back, most recently Friday.

As Congress prepared to head home for a five-week recess, Obama sought to calm jittery Democrats, assuring them that they are "on the right side of history" despite problems with the law's launch.

Republicans have stated openly they plan to use the slow economic recovery and the health care law to attack Democrats in the 2014 congressional elections.

But Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, said GOP governors could get blamed next year, even if they worked to meet its requirements, a situation that could be aggravated by Republicans in the U.S. House who continue to hold votes to attack it.

"My approach is not to complain about things, but to get it done best we can," said Branstad, who has been a vocal critic of the law. "It's our responsibility."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the governors' host and a possible 2016 Republican presidential prospect, said Obama delayed the employer mandate out of fear that voters would blame Democrats in the 2014 elections if the economy suffered as a result of the new law.

"A cynic would be right to say the reason they pushed back the employer mandate had little to nothing to do with policy and everything to do with politics," Walker said.

Most of the two dozen governors from both parties gathered at the conference expressed confidence that their states would be ready on time, especially Democrats, although they said the work is daunting.

"Any time you go and make this much change in this short a period of time, it does cause headaches," Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said.

But with that pain comes progress, Hickenlooper and others argued. And those Republicans who have resisted or delayed taking action will pay the price.

Long before election day, the philosophical debate over the bill will have turned into a practical reality for millions of newly insured voters.

"Choosing ideology over jobs and affordable health care is a false choice, and it's an example of the differences between Republicans and Democrats," Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, said.

Among the challenges states are encountering are the technological requirements to allow buyers to search for insurers, rates and benefits on the exchanges. Others are training state employees to administer the program and marketing it to millions of Americans, all during a time of strained state budgets. Marketing employees were often among the first to lose their jobs.

Despite the headaches, the alternative to the status quo is far worse, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said.

"Nothing could be more complicated than doing what we were doing before, which was to throw away more and more money on more expensive care for worse results," said O'Malley, a Democrat also mulling a 2016 White House run.

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Time Warner blackout of CBS continues

UNDATED — There's no sign of progress in talks aimed at resolving the dispute between Time Warner Cable and CBS over fees.

Time Warner dropped CBS on Friday in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and several other cities, leaving three million customers without the network's programs. The issue is fees that the cable company pays CBS to air its programs.

Each has accused the other of making unreasonable demands. On Saturday, the two sides even seemed to disagree on the status of negotiations. A Time Warner spokeswoman said Saturday afternoon that negotiations are ongoing. CBS said it expects talks to resume soon, but the decision rests with Time Warner.

Meanwhile, Time Warner's blackout of CBS and its cable networks Showtime, TMC, Flix and Smithsonian continues.

Late Friday night, Time Warner posted a message to subscribers on its website from CEO Glenn Britt saying that CBS has been "uncompromising" by making demands that are inconsistent with deals made with hundreds of other broadcasters. He said if Time Warner gives in to CBS' demands other programmers will ask for more as well.

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F-250’s check engine light keeps coming on

My 2003 Ford F-250 6-liter turbo diesel with 57,000 "babied" miles is a costly concern. For three years, the "check engine" light comes on while driving. Two-thousand miles back, the Ford dealer replaced the turbo (rebuilt) and EGR valve at a cost of $3,000. Recently I took it back for the engine light and was told that I need a new turbo and EGR valve. I was informed that the turbo was not performing to its peak as the variable vanes were possibly corroded due to lack of use. Frankly, it seems to be running fine, even though the engine light is on.

Did the dealer offer any help with the cost of replacing the turbo and EGR valve after just 2,000 miles? More to the point, in order to identify the problem, it is important to record the DTC fault codes that triggered the check engine light. Without the specific fault codes, we can only guess at the issue.

My Alldata automotive database pulled up TSB 09-16-5, dated August 2009, that addresses low performance/turbo issues. It describes the possibility of "coking" in the turbocharger. This can occur when oil that lubricates the turbo bearings bakes or "cokes" from residual heat after shutting down the engine. Over time these deposits can build up to the point of impeding the response of the variable vanes in the turbo, causing high or low exhaust pressure leading to under or overboost and inaccurate EGR function.

It seems unlikely that the vanes have corroded in just 2,000 miles, but the coking deposits may well be causing the issue. Ask the Ford dealer three things — the precise DTC fault codes downloaded, whether cleaning the vanes in your turbo would help, and finally, will they pay part or all of the cost of replacing a 2,000-mile-old turbo?

I live in Florida by the ocean and I took my 2007 Nissan 350Z to the dealership recently to have my oil changed. I received the invoice and checkup paper, which said the air filter needs replacing in the near future. What the heck does that mean? Shouldn't they have asked me and done it when I was there? And also, how long before I should have it changed out?

The answer to each of your questions can be found in the owner's manual for your vehicle. On my radio shows, I used to ask callers if they'd found the 10 dollar bill every carmaker leaves in the pages of the owner's manual. The "what?' response confirmed that they'd never read the manual. Good fun!

In this case, I think the dealer was being a "good guy" by reminding you of an upcoming scheduled maintenance item, specifically air cleaner replacement. Nissan recommends replacement at 30,000-mile intervals. Might your Z be approaching 30,000, 60,000 or 90,000 miles?

I have a 2009 Chevy Malibu LT. Since May my interior lights have been going on and off sporadically. When I go over bumps, they flicker. In the morning on my way to work, they are completely off. Then around lunchtime when it's hot, they are on — all day and night until I park it in a cool location. When it's 65 degrees or less outside, the lights are off. I feel like it's heat-induced, but am not sure how to fix the problem.

Since the illuminated entry system controlled by the body control module (BCM) turns on the interior lights when a door switch is activated, I'd focus on the door switches. When they close, the circuit in the BCM is grounded and the lights illuminate. Perhaps heat is expanding an involved component just enough to electrically trigger the switch. Check that the dimmer switch is not rotated to the point of turning on the lights and you could try switching the dome light to the "off" position. The BCM should turn off the courtesy lights after 20 minutes.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paul brand@startribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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FDA: Mimolette a mite risky

Boston-area cheese aficionados may have to bid adieu to Mimolette, an aged French cheese with a bright orange rind, as the Food and Drug Administration has put the tastes-like-Gouda treat on the firing line recently for unacceptable levels of "cheese mites."

"There are cheese mites in many, many cheeses," pointed out Peter Lovis, the proprietor of the Concord Cheese Shop in Concord. "Most people are not aware, but there have been cheese mites in cheese for a long, long time."

It's not the mites, but rather the number of mites in Mimolette that is raising the red flag. The FDA allows six mites per square inch of cheese, FDA spokeswoman Theresa Eisenman told the Herald, and more than 75 percent of Mimolette cheese sampled at import stations was found to exceed the FDA's standard. As a result, shipments of the cheese have been detained or destroyed.

"It hasn't been easy to get recently, it's not in stock right now," said Lovis, who estimated he last had Mimolette on shelves in May or June.

Formaggio Kitchen in South End is also fresh out.

"We're on the lucky side, as someone who imports small amounts often, we (only) had two cases destroyed (by the FDA)," said David Robinson, their cheese buyer. "There are importers who had hundreds of pounds destroyed. Distributors in Europe are not keen on sending it over (because of the risk the FDA will detain or destroy it) — it's a loss for everybody."

Eisenman stressed that the cheese hasn't been banned, but in some ways that is more frustrating for the cheesemongers.

"We don't really know what is acceptable or unacceptable," said Lovis.

"Six mites per square inch is weird and arbitrary," agrees Robinson.

And the health risk is murky: Neither Lovis nor Robinson can recall a customer complaining of feeling ill after eating Mimolette.

"I couldn't find a lot about what the FDA's reasoning for this is: what exactly prompted it or what the problem is from a food-safety perspective," said Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietitian and clinical associate professor at Boston University's Sargent College of Health.

Even the FDA admitted the reactions are unknown: "While the presence of (mites) does not necessarily mean there will be a negative health consequence if a product is ingested ... ingestion of mites can result in intestinal parasitic infection as well as allergic reaction," said Eisenman.

"It's unfortunate because it's a classic," said Robinson. "People will continue to ask for it even if it does get banned."

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Sensor tracks the elderly

A MassChallenge finalist has developed a wearable sensing platform that it says enables the elderly to age at home safely, alerting their loved ones to any problems.

Developed by a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, QMedic's wristband broadcasts to a base station, which is connected to a landline outlet in the home, and then into the company's server, monitoring behavior such as sleep, physical activity and extended periods outside the home.

"Because we're continually monitoring their behavior, we can learn what's typical for them and what's not," said Sombit Mishra, the company's CEO. "In this way, we can pre-emptively detect early signs of decline."

The wearer's loved one or caregiver can choose what kinds of deviations in behavior they wish to be notified about via text message, Mishra said.

In the case of a fall or other emergency, the wearer can press a button on the wristband to connect to the company's around-the-clock call center via a speaker on the base station.

If the call center can't hear the person, it will call the wearer's phone, and if no one picks up, it will dispatch an emergency medical technician and alert the loved one, Mishra said.

The wristband's durable, waterproof design allows people to wear it in the bath or shower, where falls often occur. The device also has a battery life of one year, and the company monitors the battery level and replaces the wristband when a new battery is needed, Mishra said.

The cost is $99 to activate the device and $40 a month after that. But for the rest of this year, QMedic is running a promotion discounting the monthly fee to $30.

Mishra and his co-founders, Dave Nelson and Fahd Albinali, originally came together at MIT in 2010 around the idea that they could help people make more informed decisions about their health, using sensing technology.

But it wasn't until 2012 that they decided to focus on sensors for the elderly, specifically, seniors who live at home.

According to AARP, there are 76 million baby boomers retiring, and 90 percent of them want to age in their own home.

"This creates an enormous need because people are living longer and with diseases and conditions that need to be managed at home," Mishra said. "The whole point is to create a fail-safe option to make sure they're OK."

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The Ticker

Apple gets U.S. reprieve for banned devices

Apple can continue selling its iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G in the United States after receiving a reprieve from an import ban won by Samsung Electronics Co.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman yesterday overturned the ban, imposed by the U.S. International Trade Commission on June 4 after it found that some older models of Apple devices infringed on a patent for a way data are transmitted.

Apple had been ordered to stop importing versions of the Chinese-made iPhone 4 and iPad 2 3G designed for networks run by AT&T Inc., T-Mobile US Inc. and two regional carriers in Texas and Alaska. Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple was counting on the Obama administration's increased interest in patent disputes to sway the president.

No president has overturned an ITC import ban since Ronald Reagan did it in 1987, in a case involving Samsung computer-memory chips.

TOMORROW

• Institute for Supply Management releases its service sector index for July.

TUESDAY

• Commerce Department releases international trade data for June.
• Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for June.
• CVS Caremark, Walt Disney and 21st Century Fox report quarterly earnings.

WEDNESDAY

• Federal Reserve releases consumer credit data for June.
• Time Warner reports quarterly earnings.

THURSDAY

• Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims.
• Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates.

FRIDAY

• Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for June.

Timothy Dailey has been named to the position of indirect lending sales officer at Bristol County Savings Bank. Dailey is responsible for managing the relationships of the bank's auto dealer customers.

Interactions Corp., a leading provider of natural language virtual assistant technology, announced that Elizabeth Lemons has joined the company as chief people officer. Lemons, who brings over 30 years of human resources experience, will be responsible for Interactions' workforce planning, talent acquisition, onboarding and human resources.

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Mass. municipal officials warn of water co. pitch

BOSTON — Municipal officials in Gloucester and Manchester-by-the-Sea say a direct-marketing mailer to residents that raises water quality issues is misleading.

Gary Zafron, president of Premier Water Systems, said he does not believe the mailers are misleading. He says his company has been selling water filtration and purification systems since 1989 and using the same marketing mailer for 21 years.

The Boston Globe reports that the headline says, "We are currently evaluating the water for residents." It asks residents to complete a survey and test a water sample.

In Manchester-by-the-Sea, samples taken last fall found elevated levels of lead in drinking water in several customers' faucets.

Officials say the elevated readings were due to small amounts of lead leaching from plumbing and fixtures, and that the town water does not have lead in it.

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