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OUR MOST UNDERRATED PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME
it. He stated that he “abhorred the institution and would not own a slave.” In the months leading up to the Civil War, Grant joined the Union Army and was soon appointed a brigadier general. Grant’s leadership during the Civil War was instrumental in the Union’s victory. He famously won the Battle of Shiloh, and his subsequent campaign along the Tennessee River was a major turning point in the war. He famously accepted the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House in 1865, effectively ending the Civil War. Unlike his counterparts, Grant rarely had a sword in hand and was often spotted wearing a civilian hat, mud-covered boots, and a soldier’s coat with his rank stitched on it. An observer noted that Grant had a “slightly seedy look, as if he was out of office on half-pay.” Grant’s leadership during the Civil War was not only decisive but also compassionate. He was known for his leniency toward Confederate soldiers, and his stance on civil rights was progressive for the time. After the war, Grant implemented the first civil rights legislation, the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which granted African Americans the same rights as other citizens. He also appointed several African Americans to federal positions, including Robert Smalls, the first African American congressman. President Grant’s administration fought the Ku Klux Klan’s violence and terror against Black Americans in the late-1860s by mobilizing the Justice Department and securing thousands of indictments against their leaders. In 1871, Grant oversaw the passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act, which authorized him to declare martial law and suspend habeas corpus in areas deemed to be in a state of insurrection. Grant used this law to send
troops into South Carolina, running thousands of Klansmen out of the state. Consequently, the hooded extremists were effectively subdued for the next few years, not resurfacing in force until the 1910s. Grant’s presidency was also marked by economic success. He signed the Public Credit Act of 1869, which provided for the repayment of the debt incurred during the Civil War. He also signed the Transcontinental Railroad Act of 1869, which connected the East and West coasts and allowed for more efficient transportation. But Grant’s presidency was marred by scandal. He was criticized for his handling of Reconstruction, and his administration was plagued by accusations of corruption. Despite these controversies, Grant’s legacy is one of progress and achievement. In recent years, Grant has been recognized as one of the most underrated presidents in American history. Ronald C. White’s book, “American Ulysses,” is an invaluable resource for understanding Grant’s life and accomplishments. White’s book demonstrates how Grant was a compassionate leader who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the Union and the protection of civil rights. Ulysses S. Grant was a visionary leader who was ahead of his time in terms of civil rights, and his accomplishments during the Civil War and Reconstruction are unparalleled. His story is an inspiring one, and his legacy should be remembered and celebrated.
As I sit down to write this article, it is Presidents Day, and in honor of the holiday, I thought I would cover my favorite U.S. president. It’s not Lincoln or Washington, although both were great presidents, but Ulysses S. Grant. In school, he was glossed over, and, other than his achievements during the Civil War, he is generally remembered as a subpar president who was plagued by alcoholism and corruption. After reading a fantastic biography by Ronald C. White called “American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant,” I developed an appreciation for this mild-mannered general who was a champion for civil rights during his political career. When it comes to American presidents, few receive as much criticism as Ulysses S. Grant. From his perceived lack of leadership during Reconstruction, to his penchant for corruption, Grant’s time in office is often overlooked. But in spite of his detractors, there is no denying that Grant’s accomplishments are remarkable, and his story is one of the most inspiring in American history. Ulysses S. Grant was born on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. His parents were Jesse Root Grant, a tanner, and Hannah Simpson Grant. Grant was the eldest of six children and was raised in an atmosphere of family devotion and religious faith. Grant attended West Point and graduated in 1843. After graduating, Grant was assigned to several posts, including Fort Vancouver, Oregon, and Fort Humboldt, California. In 1854, he resigned from the Army and moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he became a farmer and real estate investor.
It was in Missouri that Grant first encountered the issue of slavery and was shaken by the injustice of
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THE EFFECTS OF NEVADA’S HARSH MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWS They Only Serve Insurance Agencies and Dangerous Doctors
This is Amy Geiler. Amy suffers from a neurological condition called osmotic demyelination syndrome (ODS). ODS causes the brain to be unable to communicate with the body due to damage to the brain stem. This means Amy is in a locked-in state and has no voluntary muscle movement below her neck, leaving her unable to move her body, talk, eat, or otherwise take care of herself. What makes this locked-in syndrome so awful is that Amy is conscious, alert, and has cognitive abilities, but she cannot speak or meaningfully move her body. She can hear her son, Gabriele, talk to her but cannot respond verbally. Amy can only react by using her eyes or mouth, and even those movements are extremely limited. ODS usually results from rapid overcorrection of hyponatremia (critically low sodium levels). Medical experts agree that the safest approach to treating a patient with low sodium is to increase the sodium levels by four to six points over 24 hours, but absolutely no more than eight points in 24 hours. Amy’s sodium levels were raised by more than 17 points within 24 hours by negligent medical personnel. This is Amy’s story about Nevada’s failed medical malpractice laws. Amy fell in her house on New Year’s Day 2019 and broke her nose. She was taken by ambulance to the emergency room for treatment. The hospital staff ran blood tests, which showed Amy had a sodium level of 107. Normal sodium levels are between 135 and 145; anything below 120 is considered critically low.
The hospitalist decided to transfer Amy to Mountain’s Edge Hospital, which is more of a skilled nursing facility than a hospital. Mountain’s Edge does not have an ICU or on-site emergency department. It does not have a physician on-site 24/7 and lacks staff trained in hyponatremia, nor does it have an on-site working pharmacy, radiology lab, or an on-site laboratory. The staff could not perform emergency lab work. Amy was transferred and was not seen by a specialist until about 24 hours after she arrived at Mountain’s Edge. While Mountain’s Edge staff did run blood work, the critically low sodium levels were not reported to the correct doctors and were not acted upon.
As a result, Amy’s sodium level increased by more than 17 points in 24 hours, resulting in Amy’s locked-in syndrome.
The hospitalist who transferred Amy worked for a group of doctors owned by Dr. Amit Valera. Dr. Valera was also the chief medical officer at Mountain’s Edge Hospital and was responsible for the facility’s census — how many staff members were needed for the patients at Mountain’s Edge. When the hospitalist reached out to Dr. Valera about Amy, Dr. Valera sent a text message to the hospitalist asking them to transfer Amy to Mountain’s Edge. Dr. Valera was listed as the receiving physician at Mountain’s Edge for Amy. He did not see Amy until the following night after her admission. The hospitalist later admitted that he had no medical basis for transferring Amy. Amy’s mother filed a lawsuit on Amy’s behalf, and Amy recently had her day in court. A jury of citizens of Clark County, Nevada, determined that the hospitalist, the first hospital, Dr. Valera, Mountain’s Edge, and various doctors and nurses at Mountain’s Edge were all negligent in their care of Amy. The jurors determined that the negligence of Dr. Valera, Mountain’s Edge, and the doctors and nurses at Mountain’s Edge were the legal cause of Amy’s injuries. The jurors then determined that Amy’s damages equaled just under $47 million, with $1.4 million in past medical expenses and $10 million in future medical expenses.
“IT’S TIM NEVAD CHANG LAWS. T LAWS NOT PR PATIEN PROVID INCENT OFFER H MEDICAL
The emergency room doctor immediately ordered IV fluids, which caused Amy’s sodium level to rise three points in one hour and 21 minutes.
The hospital had a written policy that required patients with sodium levels under 110 to be admitted to the ICU. The emergency room doctor determined that Amy needed to be admitted. But because emergency room doctors are not allowed to admit patients at that hospital, Amy was assigned a doctor called a hospitalist. Within five minutes of assuming care, the hospitalist decided not to admit Amy and transferred her to another facility. The hospitalist told Amy that the hospital didn’t accept her insurance and that he wanted to save her from a surprise bill. This was untrue, and Amy’s insurance company had told the hospitalist on a recorded phone call that Amy could be admitted to the hospital under her health insurance. The hospitalist still decided to transfer Amy to another facility. In the transfer paperwork, he said Amy was stable for transfer and had no emergency medical condition.
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These types of damages, called economic damages, mean Amy can begin getting the treatment she needs. They don’t consider the pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life Amy suffered by being in a locked-in state. The jurors were also asked to determine this amount and returned a verdict of $7 million in past pain and suffering and $28 million for future pain and suffering. These damages are called noneconomic damages and are meant to recognize the things taken from Amy that can never be replaced. Under Nevada’s medical malpractice laws, the $35 million in damages for pain and suffering that the jurors determined was fair for what Amy suffered will be automatically reduced to the legal limit of $350,000. This legal limit is called a damages cap.
The law certainly had that effect. It has made it incredibly hard for those injured by medical malpractice and lawyers who handle those cases to file lawsuits. In addition to the cap on damages, which jurors are not told about during trial, the law shortened the time in which a lawsuit has to be filed (from the previous two years to one year) and requires an affidavit from an expert witness to be filed with the lawsuit (which increases costs before ever filing the lawsuit). Most medical malpractice lawsuits require multiple expert witnesses, and it’s not uncommon for the injured person to have to spend $50,000 to $100,000, if not more, in costs to bring a case to trial. In Amy’s case, we spent over $750,000 in fees to bring her case to trial. The lawyers pay those costs upfront, but with the cap on damages, lawyers must be very selective on which cases they can afford to take to trial, or they could face a scenario where costs exceed the $350,000 cap. We were all promised these medical malpractice laws would improve Nevada’s medicine. For the past 20 years, however, we have seen the opposite happen. Nevada has some of the worst-ranked hospitals in the nation, shortages of critical specialists, and doctors who have been forced to leave other states because they posed a risk to patients but can now practice in Nevada because the laws protect dangerous doctors. KODIN was based on a similar California law passed in 1975 called MICRA. MICRA placed a cap in California on noneconomic damages of $250,000 and was based on the same argument as KODIN that doctors’ malpractice insurance rates were too high. After MICRA was passed, doctor’s insurance rates continued to rise, showing that the story about insurance rates was invented. MICRA had nothing to do with lowering insurance rates for doctors and everything to do with reducing the amounts insurance companies were forced to pay for medical negligence. For 50 years, the cap in California was never raised. But, in 2022, lawyers representing injured persons fought for a revision to the law. With the countless stories of clients who never received true justice as support, these lawyers convinced legislators to amend MICRA to raise the cap on non-economic damages to $350,000. Over the next 10 years, the cap will incrementally rise to $750,000 for non-death cases and $1 million for cases involving a death. While this still hardly seems fair, it is a big win after 50 years of draconian laws and is an example Nevada should follow. When Amy was injured, her son Gabriele was 5 years old. At the time, Gabriele’s father, Lawrence, had been recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and was hospitalized during Amy’s incident. Lawrence died shortly after Amy suffered her brain injury. Gabriele was left fatherless and with a mother who cannot physically care for him. Thankfully, Gabriele has a loving family who has been caring for him while at the same time fighting on Amy’s behalf. We are honored to have been able to fight for Amy, and we are not done fighting to make sure she receives the money needed to be provided compassionate care for the rest of her life. We are also ready to fight to change KODIN. It’s time for Nevada to change its laws. These laws do not protect patients or provide any incentive to offer higher medical care. While we would love for the cap to go away completely, it needs to be increased at the very least. If you want to help in the fight, you can contact your state legislators and tell them how unfair these laws are. Nevada’s legislature meets every other year and is currently in session.
You may be asking yourself how that can be. In 2004, Nevada voters were asked to vote on a ballot initiative to amend the Nevada Constitution to
include reforms to medical malpractice laws. Those of you who lived in Nevada then may remember TV commercials asking voters to “Keep Our Doctors in Nevada” — or KODIN. The argument behind these laws was that medical malpractice lawsuits were making malpractice too expensive for Nevada doctors and that doctors would have to leave the state if reforms were not made to these laws. It was a compelling narrative, and voters believed it to be true, voting to pass the reforms. Those reforms placed a cap of $350,000 on noneconomic damages in all medical malpractice lawsuits. The problem with the damages cap is that they seriously impact cases with the most severe injuries. If the goal was to stop “frivolous” lawsuits, capping damages in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases isn’t the right solution. Under this cap, no matter how bad the injuries or the conduct of the person who caused the injuries, the maximum an injured party could receive is $350,000. This is true no matter how much a jury determines the damages are worth. And the cap remains no matter how many people were affected by the malpractice. For example, imagine a parent was killed due to malpractice and left behind a spouse and three children. If the family brought a lawsuit for wrongful death, the most the spouse and three children could recover is $350,000 for losing their loved one. Not $350,000 for the spouse and $350,000 for each child. $350,000 to split amongst all of them. That is the amount our laws say life is worth in Nevada. It is never adjusted for things like inflation (not that it would make the law any fairer), and the cap has not been raised since its creation almost 20 years ago. In reality, KODIN was legislation pushed by insurance companies. The idea of malpractice rates being too high and doctors fleeing the state was false. It was made up. Insurance companies saw a way to limit the amount they had to pay on malpractice claims. They strove to create an environment where injured persons and lawyers could not afford to file lawsuits on legitimate cases.
ME FOR DA TO GE ITS THESE S DO ROTECT NTS OR DE ANY TIVE TO HIGHER L CARE.”
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INSIDE
1 ‘American Ulysses’ Shows the President’s Achievements 2 The Truth About Nevada’s Medical Malpractice Laws 4 Want a Vitamin Boost?
SOAK UP THE SUNSHINE VITAMIN
Health Benefits of Vitamin D
It boosts your immune system. Vitamin D helps your body fight off sickness. In fact, it’s been proven that deficiencies in vitamin D are connected to an increased possibility of developing infections and autoimmune diseases such as the flu, heart disease, and diabetes. It counters osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, a loss in bone mass, is common as we get older. However, vitamin D is one of the key players in helping to slow down bone loss and prevent or treat osteoporosis so we can maintain a healthy skeletal system. It reduces the risks of depression. Studies have shown that those who are deficient in vitamin D become more prone to mood disorders and depression. To ensure that you support your mental health, step outside and get some happy, feel-good rays!
It’s possibly linked to weight loss. While it’s not fully proven that vitamin D helps with weight loss, many studies have found links between vitamin D supplements and shedding a few pounds. In one study, one group of people taking vitamin D and calcium supplements lost more weight than another group taking placebos. It prevents and helps multiple sclerosis. Not only is vitamin D proven to lower a person’s chances of getting this horrible disease, but for those who already have it, it can also reduce symptoms or slow down the disease’s progression. This spring, be sure to get outdoors and soak up some vitamin D; however, don’t forget to protect your skin, too! To avoid overexposure, only about 10–15 minutes a day of unprotected sun is recommended.
With spring on the horizon, we all will be able to get outdoors a little more and soak up some sun — and extra vitamin D! Bring on the picnics, pool days, hiking, sports activities, and leisurely walks through the park!
Let’s take a look at the many benefits this vitamin provides for our bodies.
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