The Raven

The Raven
Nevermore

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Nathanael West (born Nathan von Wallenstein Weinstein, October 17, 1903 – December 22, 1940) was a US author, screenwriter and satirist.[1]

Nathanael West (born Nathan Wallenstein Weinstein) was born in New York City, the first child of German-speaking Russian Jewish parents from Lithuania who maintained an upper middle class household in a Jewish neighborhood on the Upper West Side. West displayed little ambition in academics, dropping out of high school and only gaining admission into Tufts University by forging his high school transcript. After being expelled from Tufts, West got into Brown University by appropriating the transcript of a fellow Tufts student who was also named Nathan Weinstein. Although West did little schoolwork at Brown, he read extensively. He ignored the realist fiction of his American contemporaries in favor of French surrealists and British and Irish poets of the 1890s, in particular Oscar Wilde. West's interests focused on unusual literary style as well as unusual content. He became interested in Christianity and mysticism, as experienced or expressed through literature and art. West's classmates at Brown ironically nicknamed him "Pep" after a school trip where after only a few minutes of walking he quickly ran out of breath. West himself acknowledged and made fun of his lack of physical prowess in recounting the story of a baseball match where he cost his team the game. Wells Root, a close friend of West, remembers hearing this tale half a dozen times, recalling that everyone had placed bets on the game, which came down to the final inning with the score tied and the enemy at bat with two outs. At that point the batter hit a long fly towards West:



He put his hands up to catch it and for some inexplicable reason didn’t hold them close together. The ball tore through, hit him in the forehead, and bounced into some brush. There was a roar from the crowd and [West] took one look and turned tail. To a man, the crowd had risen, gathered bats, sticks, stones, and anything they could lay hands on and were in hot pursuit. He vanished into some woods and didn’t emerge until nightfall. In telling the story he was convinced that if they had caught him they would have killed him.


It is unclear whether this ever actually happened, but West later re-imagined this in his short story "Western Union Boy". Since Jewish students were not allowed to join fraternities, his main friend was his future brother-in-law S. J. Perelman, who was to become one of America's most erudite comic writers. West barely finished at Brown with a degree. He then went to Paris for three months, and it was at this point that he changed his name to Nathanael West. West's family, who had supported him thus far, ran into financial difficulties in the late 1920s. West returned home and worked sporadically in construction for his father, eventually finding a job as the night manager of the Hotel Kenmore Hall on East 23rd Street in Manhattan. One of West's real-life experiences at the hotel inspired the incident between Romola Martin and Homer Simpson that would later appear in The Day of the Locust (1939).


Career as author


Although West had been working on his writing since college, it was not until his quiet night job at the hotel that he found the time to put his novel together. It was at this time that West wrote what would eventually become Miss Lonelyhearts (1933). In 1931, however, two years before he completed Miss Lonelyhearts, West published The Dream Life of Balso Snell, a novel he had conceived of in college. By this time, West was within a group of writers working in and around New York that included William Carlos Williams and Dashiell Hammett.

In 1933, West bought a farm in eastern Pennsylvania but soon got a job as a contract scriptwriter for Columbia Pictures and moved to Hollywood. He published a third novel, A Cool Million, in 1934. None of West's three works sold well, however, so he spent the mid-1930s in financial difficulty, sporadically collaborating on screenplays. Many of the films he worked on were B-movies, such as Five Came Back (1939). It was at this time that West wrote The Day of the Locust. West took many of the settings and minor characters of his novel directly from his experience living in a hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.


In November 1939, West was hired as a screenwriter by RKO Radio Pictures, where he collaborated with Boris Ingster on a film adaptation of the novel Before the Fact (1932) by Francis Iles. West and Ingster wrote the screenplay in seven weeks, with West focusing on characterization and dialogue as Ingster worked on the narrative structure. RKO assigned Before the Fact to Alfred Hitchcock as the film later titled Suspicion (1941), but Hitchcock already had his own, substantially different, screenplay, written by Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison, and Alma Reville. (Harrison was Hitchcock's secretary and Reville was Hitchcock's wife.) West and Ingster's screenplay was abandoned and never produced. The text of this screenplay can be found in the Library of America's edition of West's collected works.


Death


On December 22, 1940, West and his wife Eileen McKenney were returning to Los Angeles from a hunting trip in Mexico to attend the funeral of his friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald, when he ran a stop sign in El Centro, California, resulting in an accident in which he and McKenney were killed. McKenney had been the inspiration for the title character in the play My Sister Eileen, and she and West had been scheduled to fly to New York City for the Broadway opening on December 26.[3] West was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, New York, with his wife's ashes placed in his coffin.


 His work


Although West was not widely known during his life, his reputation grew after his death, especially with the publication of his collected novels by New Directions in 1957. Miss Lonelyhearts is widely regarded as West's masterpiece. The Day of the Locust still stands as one of the best novels written about the early years of Hollywood. It is often compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon, written at about the same time and also set in Hollywood. If one were to draw a family tree of authors who employed "black humor" in their works of fiction, West could be seen as the offspring of Gogol and Poe, and the progenitor of Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov, and Martin Amis (whose use of movingly inarticulate e-mails in Yellow Dog is a 21st-century echo of the letters to Miss Lonelyhearts). A more direct and pronounced influence has been traced from West's work to that of his near-contemporary, Flannery O'Connor.

Some of West's fiction is seen as a response to the Depression that hit America with the stock market crash in October 1929 and continued throughout the 1930s[citation needed]. The obscene, garish landscapes of The Day of the Locust gain added force in light of the fact that the remainder of the country was living in drab poverty at the time. Though West attended socialist rallies in New York's Union Square, his novels have no affinity to the novels of his contemporary activist writers such as John Steinbeck and John Dos Passos. West’s writing style does not allow the portrayal of positive political causes, as he admitted in a letter to Malcolm Cowley regarding The Day of the Locust: "I tried to describe a meeting of the anti-Nazi league, but it didn’t fit and I had to substitute a whorehouse and a dirty film"[4]. West saw the American dream as having been betrayed, both spiritually and materially, and in his writing he presented "a sweeping rejection of political causes, religious faith, artistic redemption and romantic love"[5]. This idea of the corrupt American dream endured long after his death, in the form of the term "West's disease", coined by the poet W. H. Auden to refer to poverty that exists in both a spiritual and economic sense. Jay Martin wrote an extensive biography of West in 1971; a new biography of West and McKenney by Marion Meade was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2010.


 Published works


for a complete list of works see Bibliography of Nathanael West


Novels


The Dream Life of Balso Snell (1931)
Miss Lonelyhearts (1933)
A Cool Million (1934)
The Day of the Locust (1939)
Plays
Even Stephen (1934, with S. J. Perelman)
Good Hunting (1938, with Joseph Schrank)
Short stories
"Western Union Boy"
"The Imposter"
Posthumous collections
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. Nathanael West, Novels and Other Writings (Library of America, 1997) ISBN 978-1-883011-28-4
[edit] Screenplays
Ticket to Paradise (1936)
Follow Your Heart (1936)
The President's Mystery (1936)
Rhythm in the Clouds (1937)
It Could Happen to You (1937)
Born to Be Wild (1938)
Five Came Back (1939)
I Stole a Million (1939)
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
The Spirit of Culver (1940)
Men Against the Sky (1940)
Let's Make Music (1940)
Before the Fact (1940) (unproduced)
Notes
Obituary Variety December 25, 1940.
quoted in Martin, Jay. Nathanael West: The Art of His Life. New York: Hayden, 1971. 55.
New York Times, December 21, 2003
West, Nathanael. Novels & Other Writings. New York: The Library of America, 1997. Page 795.
Yaffe, David. “Go West.” Partisan Review, 66 (Fall 1999). Page 670.
Further reading
Martin, Jay, Nathanael West: The Art of His Life (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1970)
External links
Wikisource has original works written by or about: Nathanael West
Books and Writers: Nathanael West (1903-1940)
Literary Traveler: The California Dreams of Nathanael West
Nathanael West and the American Apocalyptic
Nathanael West's Photo & Gravesite
Library of America's notes on West's works
Works by Nathanael West
Novels: The Dream Life of Balso Snell • Miss Lonelyhearts • A Cool Million • The Day of the Locust
Short stories: "Business Deal" • "The Imposter" • "Western Union Boy" • "Mr. Potts of Pottstown" • "The Adventurer" • "Three Eskimos" • "Tibetan Night"
Poetry: "Rondeau" • "Death" • "Burn the Cities"
Plays: Good Hunting (with Joseph Schrank) • Even Stephen (with S.J. Perelman)
Screenplays
(in collaboration with others, unless noted otherwise)
Republic Pictures: Ticket to Paradise • Follow Your Heart • The President's Mystery • Gangs of New York • Jim Hanvey - Detective • Rhythm in the Clouds • Ladies in Distress • Bachelor Girl • Born to be Wild • It Could Happen to You • Orphans of the Street • Stormy Weather
Columbia Pictures: The Squealer • A Cool Million (a screen story; never filmed)
RKO Radio Pictures: Five Came Back • Men Against the Sky (solo screenwriting credit) • Let's Make Music (solo screenwriting credit) • Before the Fact (never filmed) • Stranger on the Third Floor
Universal Studios: I Stole a Million (solo screenwriting credit) • The Spirit of Culver
Bibliography of Nathanael West
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathanael_West"
Categories: 1940 deaths
1903 births
Jewish American writers
American novelists
Brown University alumni
Road accident deaths in California
Lithuanian American Jews

The Idiot Dentist of Bell Road and his Comic Stooge

I'm thinking of writing a play about a dentist and his office manager. Dentists have inferiority complexes because they see themselves as lower than doctors, so they try to build their weak  egos by making more money than the doctors do. 

Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A California Story (1901), and The Pit (1903). Although he did not openly support socialism as a political system, his work nevertheless evinces a socialist mentality and influenced socialist and progressive writers such as Upton Sinclair. Like many of his contemporaries, he was profoundly influenced by the advent of Darwinism, and Thomas Henry Huxley's philosophical defense.


Norris was particularly influenced by the optimistic thread of Darwinist philosophy taught by Joseph LeConte. Norris studied under LeConte while at the University of California Berkeley. Through many of his novels, notably McTeague, runs a preoccupation with the notion of the civilized man overcoming the inner "brute," or his animal tendencies. His peculiar, and often confused, brand of Social Darwinism also bears the influence of the early criminologist Cesare Lombroso and the French novelist of the naturalist school, Emile Zola.


Naturalism was a late nineteenth century movement in theater, art and literature that portrayed common values of the ordinary individual. Like its predecessor Realism, Naturalism describes the details of everyday existence, expressing the social milieu of the characters. Within the genre, writers such as Norris concentrated on society's seamier side and the travails of the lower classes. This became the focal point of their writing. In the nineteenth century, Naturalism was heavily influenced by Marxism and evolutionary theory such as Darwinism. As a means of criticizing late nineteenth century social organization, Norris and his contemporaries attempted to apply the scientific rigor and insights of those two theories to artistic representation of society.


Biography


Frank Norris was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1870, and moved to San Francisco at the age of 14. He studied painting in Paris for two years, where he was exposed to the naturalist novels of Emile Zola. He attended the University of California, Berkeley between 1890 and 1894 and then spent a year at Harvard University. He worked as a news correspondent in South Africa in 1895–96, and then an editorial assistant on the San Francisco Wave (1896–97). He worked for McClure's Magazine as a war correspondent in Cuba during the Spanish-American war in 1898. He joined the New York City publishing firm of Doubleday & Page in 1899.


During his time at the University of California, Berkeley Norris was a brother in the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. Because of his involvement with a prank during the Class Day Exercises in 1893 the annual alumni dinner held by each Phi Gamma Delta chapter still bears his name.


In 1900 Frank Norris married Jeanette Black. They had a child in 1901. Norris died on October 25, 1902 of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix in San Francisco.[1] This left The Epic of Wheat trilogy unfinished. He was only 32. He was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.


Writings


Norris's work often includes depictions of suffering caused by corrupt and greedy turn-of-the-century corporate monopolies, but Norris has been criticized for the apologetic stance his work seems to take, in the end, toward unbounded capitalism and corporate trusts. In The Octopus, for example, the Pacific and Southwest Railroad is implicated in the suffering and deaths of a number of ranchers in Southern California. At the end of the novel, after a bloody shootout between farmers and railroad agents at one of the ranches (named Los Muertos), readers are encouraged to take a "larger view" that sees that "through the welter of blood at the irrigating ditch, […] the great harvest of Los Muertos rolled like a flood from the Sierras to the Himalayas to feed thousands of starving scarecrows on the barren plains of India." Though free-wheeling market capitalism causes the deaths of many of the characters in the novel, this "larger view always […] discovers the Truth that will, in the end, prevail, and all things, surely, inevitably, resistlessly work together for good."


McTeague


Norris' most popular novel was McTeague the story of a simple man and couple undone by greed. McTeague has done very well for himself, particularly considering his upbringing in a poor miner's family. This all changes when he is introduced to Trina, the cousin of Marcus, McTeague's best friend. Initially, Marcus is courting Trina, but he steps aside after McTeague becomes infatuated with her while working on her teeth. McTeague begins to successfully woo Trina. Shortly after McTeague and Trina have kissed and declared their love for each other, Trina wins $5000 in a lottery. In the ensuing celebration McTeague announces his intention to marry Trina. Marcus feels jealous, knowing he would have gained from Trina's win had he not stood aside.

Trina and McTeague are married in May, and Trina proves to be a parsimonious wife. She insists they should never touch the principal of her $5000, instead relying on dividends, plus his earnings from his dental practice, plus what she earns carving "Noah's Ark" toys for her uncle's shop. Secretly, she accumulates savings in a locked trunk. Though the couple is initially happy, the friendship between Marcus and Mac deteriorates. Marcus demands "his share" of Trina's money, and a fight ensues in which he throws a knife at McTeague.


Catastrophe soon strikes the McTeagues when Marcus reports McTeague to the City for practicing dentistry without a license or degree. He soon loses his practice and the couple is forced to move into successively poorer quarters as the former dentist drifts through a series of jobs. Trina becomes more and more miserly, the couple's life deteriorates and, finally, McTeague leaves. Meanwhile, Trina falls completely under the spell of her money and withdraws it in gold from her uncle's firm so she can admire and handle the coins in her room, at one point spreading them over her bed and rolling around in them. When McTeague returns, she refuses to give him any money. An enraged McTeague beats her to death, takes the money and flees to the mining communities he left years before. Fearing he is being pursued, he makes his way south towards Mexico. Meanwhile, Marcus hears about the murder and goes after McTeague, finally catching him in Death Valley. In the middle of the desert, the two fight over McTeague's remaining water and Trina's $5,000. McTeague kills Marcus, but as he dies, Marcus handcuffs himself to McTeague. The book ends with McTeague helplessly stranded in Death Valley, handcuffed to Marcus's corpse.


Legacy


His short story "A Deal in Wheat" (1903) and the novel The Pit were the basis for the 1909 D.W. Griffith film A Corner in Wheat. Norris' McTeague has been filmed repeatedly, most famously as a 1924 film called Greed by director Erich von Stroheim, which is today considered a classic of silent cinema.[2] An opera by William Bolcolm, based loosely on this 1899 novel, was premiered by Chicago's Lyric Opera in 1992. The work is in two acts, with libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Robert Altman. The Lyric Opera's presentation featured Ben Heppner in the title role and Catherine Malfitano as Trina, the dentist's wife.


My Play Would be called the Idiot Barber of Bell Road and his darling assistant. Zootman would be played by someone who looked like Boris Karloff and his  assistant by Sarah Silverstein, who also was Monk's biggest fan and her look and sound alike, Jean Windsor, is Kootman's biggest fan.

Kootman's Pro Bono Work

Agenda Item No. 19 Case No. 270380




Dr. Jeffrey H. Kootman


Dr. Kootman was present, along with his surgical assistants Marla and Vivian. This case was the result of an adverse occurrence in which the patient ultimately died. Dr. Kootman stated that he self-reported the adverse occurrence and reported it timely. As far as the treatment is concerned, he still wondered what he could have done differently.


In response to intense questioning by the Board, Dr. Kootman testified that the patient presented to him as per his contract with the State Hospital to treat its patients. The patients sign their own consent forms for treatment. If they appear unable to understand the procedure, Dr. Kootman would not perform the treatment. Dr. Kootman did not immediately call 911 in this instance because the patient was breathing on his own; he was just slow to awaken from the anesthesia. He chose to call the State Hospital first to find out whether they wanted the patient transported back to them or to a hospital. He was told to make the decision and he chose to call 911. After the incident, the security guard who transported the patient from the State Hospital.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Re: Jewish mother to her son/daughter, Vy do'n you call anymore?

Dirty diabetic socks for free just write to jprich9231@aol.com
Alto recorder free
Lots and and lots of piano and violin music free,
Lots of old books free,
lots of DVDs and Music Tapes free'
Lots of old ideas free,
Free advice,Class action suit against Dr Kootman and United HealthCare
Class action suit against FTC and IT,
Class action suit against Joe Arpaio and Gov. Brewer Free,
Class action suits against anyone you don't like, Free


I am statrting work on a novel called The Idiot Dentist of Bell Road and his Girl Leftovers. It will be based on Dostoyevesky's,  The Idiot and his Family of Nitwits, which will include Area for Aging and Adultery, the Attorney General's office, various and sundry lawyers, and other groups which are designed to prey off the weak, sick, old, and mentally infirm. such as churches, synagogues and grave diggers.


Zootman will be portrayed as a modern day Prince Myshkin who could be portrayed by Mel Gibson in a movie and his girl Leftovers by Sylvia Silverstein. His brother Richard will be played by Woody Allen.


Prince Zootman in the story after many harrowing adventures decides to  turn over a new leaf and give back his ill-gotten gains from IT to Everyman portrayed by the diabetic 240 pound google bloggster who no one reads, called Everyman in the book.


Subscription and advance orders of the book should be sent to the Arizona State Mental Hospital.


Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google

Actually, the novel should be Based on Frank Norris's 1899 thriller McTeague where the Dentist McTeague is handcuffed to his arch enemy and rival after he kills him in a knockdown fight in Death Valley.

This novel is expecially recommended to incoming ASU student's who want to practice dentistry without a license.

Benjamin Norris writes about the travails of a dentist

Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. (March 5, 1870 – October 25, 1902) was an American novelist during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A California Story (1901), and The Pit (1903). Although he did not openly support socialism as a political system, his work nevertheless evinces a socialist mentality and influenced socialist and progressive writers such as Upton Sinclair. Like many of his contemporaries, he was profoundly influenced by the advent of Darwinism, and Thomas Henry Huxley's philosophical defense.




Norris was particularly influenced by the optimistic thread of Darwinist philosophy taught by Joseph LeConte. Norris studied under LeConte while at the University of California Berkeley. Through many of his novels, notably McTeague, runs a preoccupation with the notion of the civilized man overcoming the inner "brute," or his animal tendencies. His peculiar, and often confused, brand of Social Darwinism also bears the influence of the early criminologist Cesare Lombroso and the French novelist of the naturalist school, Emile Zola.


Naturalism was a late nineteenth century movement in theater, art and literature that portrayed common values of the ordinary individual. Like its predecessor Realism, Naturalism describes the details of everyday existence, expressing the social milieu of the characters. Within the genre, writers such as Norris concentrated on society's seamier side and the travails of the lower classes. This became the focal point of their writing. In the nineteenth century, Naturalism was heavily influenced by Marxism and evolutionary theory such as Darwinism. As a means of criticizing late nineteenth century social organization, Norris and his contemporaries attempted to apply the scientific rigor and insights of those two theories to artistic representation of society.


Biography


Frank Norris was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1870, and moved to San Francisco at the age of 14. He studied painting in Paris for two years, where he was exposed to the naturalist novels of Emile Zola. He attended the University of California, Berkeley between 1890 and 1894 and then spent a year at Harvard University. He worked as a news correspondent in South Africa in 1895–96, and then an editorial assistant on the San Francisco Wave (1896–97). He worked for McClure's Magazine as a war correspondent in Cuba during the Spanish-American war in 1898. He joined the New York City publishing firm of Doubleday & Page in 1899.


During his time at the University of California, Berkeley Norris was a brother in the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. Because of his involvement with a prank during the Class Day Exercises in 1893 the annual alumni dinner held by each Phi Gamma Delta chapter still bears his name.


In 1900 Frank Norris married Jeanette Black. They had a child in 1901. Norris died on October 25, 1902 of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix in San Francisco.[1] This left The Epic of Wheat trilogy unfinished. He was only 32. He was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.


McTeague


Norris' most popular novel was McTeague the story of a simple man and couple undone by greed. McTeague has done very well for himself, particularly considering his upbringing in a poor miner's family. This all changes when he is introduced to Trina, the cousin of Marcus, McTeague's best friend. Initially, Marcus is courting Trina, but he steps aside after McTeague becomes infatuated with her while working on her teeth. McTeague begins to successfully woo Trina. Shortly after McTeague and Trina have kissed and declared their love for each other, Trina wins $5000 in a lottery. In the ensuing celebration McTeague announces his intention to marry Trina. Marcus feels jealous, knowing he would have gained from Trina's win had he not stood aside.


Trina and McTeague are married in May, and Trina proves to be a parsimonious wife. She insists they should never touch the principal of her $5000, instead relying on dividends, plus his earnings from his dental practice, plus what she earns carving "Noah's Ark" toys for her uncle's shop. Secretly, she accumulates savings in a locked trunk. Though the couple is initially happy, the friendship between Marcus and Mac deteriorates. Marcus demands "his share" of Trina's money, and a fight ensues in which he throws a knife at McTeague.


Catastrophe soon strikes the McTeagues when Marcus reports McTeague to the City for practicing dentistry without a license or degree. He soon loses his practice and the couple is forced to move into successively poorer quarters as the former dentist drifts through a series of jobs. Trina becomes more and more miserly, the couple's life deteriorates and, finally, McTeague leaves. Meanwhile, Trina falls completely under the spell of her money and withdraws it in gold from her uncle's firm so she can admire and handle the coins in her room, at one point spreading them over her bed and rolling around in them. When McTeague returns, she refuses to give him any money. An enraged McTeague beats her to death, takes the money and flees to the mining communities he left years before. Fearing he is being pursued, he makes his way south towards Mexico. Meanwhile, Marcus hears about the murder and goes after McTeague, finally catching him in Death Valley. In the middle of the desert, the two fight over McTeague's remaining water and Trina's $5,000. McTeague kills Marcus, but as he dies, Marcus handcuffs himself to McTeague. The book ends with McTeague helplessly stranded in Death Valley, handcuffed to Marcus's corpse.


Legacy


His short story "A Deal in Wheat" (1903) and the novel The Pit were the basis for the 1909 D.W. Griffith film A Corner in Wheat. Norris' McTeague has been filmed repeatedly, most famously as a 1924 film called Greed by director Erich von Stroheim, which is today considered a classic of silent cinema.[2] An opera by William Bolcolm, based loosely on this 1899 novel, was premiered by Chicago's Lyric Opera in 1992. The work is in two acts, with libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Robert Altman. The Lyric Opera's presentation featured Ben Heppner in the title role and Catherine Malfitano as Trina, the dentist's wife.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Here's My Problem

Article: United Health Care: Huge Fines & Scandals




United Health Care, Inc. (UHC) has seen better days. Insurance Commissioners from California and Texas have slapped the health care provider with huge fines and its former Chief Executive Officer was replaced in 2006 over a stock option scandal.


Fines & Scandals


Many states have sanctioned the Minnesota based insurer for poor claims handling processes over the past five years and it has recently been hit with several very large fines. In November 2007, the Texas Department of Insurance imposed a $4.4 million fine against UHC for prompt payment violations. In January 2008, California’s Department of Managed Health Care fined PacifiCare, which was acquired by UHC in 2005, $3.5 million for poor claim handling. In the same action, California’s Insurance Commissioner, Steven Poizner, cited UHC for over 130,000 claim handling violations and said that the insurer may be subject to $1.3 billion in penalties.


Fines aren’t the only problem the insurer has been facing. In late 2006, UHC’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. William McGuire, left the company after a scandal broke out over backdated stock options allegedly worth over $1.5 billion. McGuire, and several dozen others in UHC’s senior management team, resigned or were terminated around the same time for similar issues.


Insurer blames acquisition process


UHC has blamed much of its current claim handling problems on recent acquisitions and has admitted that the transition process has been more difficult than expected. According to the company’s website, www.uhc.com, it acquired the following companies in 2004 and 2005:


2005:


PacifiCare


Neighborhood Health Partnership


John Deere Health Care


2004:


Oxford Health Plans


Definity Health


Golden Rule Health Plans


However, industry analysts don’t necessarily agree. They claim that UHC should have had a process in place before making acquisitions.


Resulting problems


Whatever the reason for UHC’s claim handling issues, the problems that have resulted are not doing anything to improve the insurer’s image. Here are some examples from two California news agencies that show how the company’s actions have affected doctors and patients alike:






From the Sacramento Bee:


A Sacramento-area surgeon couldn't schedule surgeries for more than six months because the insurer simply took too long to enter his contract in its computer system.


A policyholder reportedly spent 11 months trying to get his claims paid for his family and their autistic child. His wife, who needed an EKG, had to keep postponing the test because they feared that they would never pay their claims.


From the San Francisco Gate:


PacifiCare patients of a pediatrician in Modesto received letters erroneously telling them the doctor was no longer in their network, when he really was.


A San Diego area doctor reported that PacifiCare simply could not keep track of claims information or adequately respond to his complaints.


Insurance companies need to have processes in place to care for their policyholders. If your insurance company has denied your valid claim or acted in bad faith, contact an attorney whose practice focuses on insurance issues. To contact a qualified attorney for a free, no-obligation consultation, please click here.


Articles & Information:
Allstate’s Secret Documents Revealed in $1.4B
Trial lnsurance Companies May Be Sharing Your Personal Information
Insurance Rescissions: A Damaging Practice
WA State Passes Tough Bad Faith Insurance Referendum


Vew articles


Port of New Orleans Sues Insurer over Unpaid Katrina Claims
Louisiana Sues Insurers for Bad Faith over Katrina Claims
State Farm Loses First Federal Katrina Case
Allstate Must Reveal Secret Documents
Teen Dies after CIGNA Refuses To Pay for Transplant
Allstate Paying $25,000 a Day for Not Producing McKinsey Report
California Insurers Will Pay $7.2M for Scamming Seniors
Consumer Legislation May Limit Mandatory Arbitration
Suing HMOs for Denying Care: The Controversy Continues
Texas Mutual Accused of Fraud
$8M Punitive Damages Award against State Farm Upheld
Allstate Suspended From Doing Business in Florida
New Study Accuses Insurers of Overpricing and Underpaying
PacifiCare Faces $1.3 Billion in Penalties for Over 130,000 Violations
California Coming Down On Insurers ‘Like A Ton Of Bricks’
Florida’s Governor Believes Allstate Is Gouging Residents
Mississippi AG Moves Forward With New State Farm Investigation
American Fidelity Ordered To Pay $10M in Punitive Damages
Allianz Life Agrees To $10M Settlement for Deceiving Seniors
NY Attorney General Accuses Nation’s Largest Insurers of Fraud
AIG & General Re Insurance Executives Found Guilty Of Fraud and Conspiracy
Allstate Releases 150,000 McKinsey Documents
Fireman’s Fund Hit With $5.3M Bad Faith Insurance Verdict
Can Insurance Companies Fund and Administer Health & Disability Plans?
Insurer Unum Group Reverses 42% Of Previously Denied Disability Claims
Central United Life Insurance Class Action: Policyholders Have Until June 3rd to Opt Out
Insurer Balance Billing: A Practice That Leaves Policyholders in the Dark
Insurers Ordered To Pay $60M in Bad Faith Disability Claim
Texas Bad Faith Insurance Lawsuit Awards Restaurant $4.2M
Big Insurance Companies Vs. You: Tipping The Scales In Your Favor
Insurance Company's Bad Faith Tactics: You Simply Won't Believe This One
South Carolina Cancer Patients Awarded $7.8M For Bad Faith Insurance Practices
Senate Investigates Health Insurers’ Use Of “Reasonable & Customary” Payments


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Are you a Lawyer?  List your name and number here on the Coronado Review to help out the small people, the John Does who never pass a phone box without looking to see if there's a nickel in the slot, as Gary Cooper when he played John Doe. Anything to do with real estate or medical or business and family problems are always in demand. Where are the Good Wives?


AttorneyPages® is America's Preferred™ attorney directory and lists lawyers and law firms nationwide. AttorneyPages is not a lawyer referral service and never receives any portion of any attorney's fees. We welcome feedback from visitors but are not responsible for any attorney's advice. Use of AttorneyPages® is subject to our disclaimer, conditions of use and privacy policy. Use for marketing or solicitation is prohibited. AttorneyPages®, ExpertPages® and FreeAdvice® are trademarks and units of Advice Company, Copyright 1997 to 2010 - All Rights Reserved - For feedback or listing information only, contact us.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Your Medical Billing Complaint Here

Since the doctors have the privilege of submitting their so-called unpaid or late bills to a pack of collection hyneas before anything is actually adjudicated, why not let us have the public view the patients's side of the story since we are not hyneas, just sheep!


Just send your problem to jprich9231@aol.com whether you reside in Singapore or Phoenix, London or Montreal, Tel Aviv or Brooklyn, Coney Island or Fifth Avenue, etc...


Here is one for openers on guess who? Dr. Kootman


My husband went here to have an impacted wisdom tooth removed. Dr. Kootman was one of 2 oral surgeons on our plan. When I called for an appointment, the office manager informed me he was the only oral surgeon on our plan and quoted me a price of $546.00 on our dental plan. Well, an impacted tooth is covered under medical. Our copay was $25.00. She said, oh yes, well the price will be $137.00. I questioned her and she gave me a litany of resons why we had to pay all these extras even though they are contracted with out HMO. She said we had to pay for medication and anesthesia etc. Having worked in insurance, I know that these items are covered as part of the procedure and it also stated such in our plan book. The insurance company agreed with me and even called the provider more than once and the provider told them to read their contract and hung up. Finally, after the procedure, I sent in my receipts to the HMO and was reimbursed the extra I had paid by the HMO. The doctor continued to balance bill me until the insurance company called them and told them they would be flagged and the contract possibly revoked. The doctor himself hung up, but later called back and agreed I was correct. The insurance company told me I was not the first with this issue with this provider. Also, the dental board told me the same thing. This provider tried to strong arm us into paying money we didn't owe and had a history of doing such. It was clear they knew what they were doing. If you ever have to see this provider, make sure they are following your insurance contract and if they don't, call your insurance company right away.




PROS: they didn't commit malpractice


CONS: very dishonest billing practices


Here is another complaint:


★☆☆☆☆ Dental Rip Off!


Anonymous 1 Windsor Jean - Valley Oral Maxillofacial Sug


My foster daughter recently transferred to an art school in Arizona. Her mouth swelled up and she sought dental care. When the office was asked for a quote, they scribbled some information on a piece of paper and then told my daughter it would be $800 for her share of the bill. My insurance covers up to $1,000, so I was quite suspicious. The quote was for a root canal, but it they ended up doing an extraction.


I watched for the insurance claims to clear. In the end, there were a total of three claims totalling $1430. The insurance I have does have a contract with Dr. Kootman and discounted the claim for a little over $500. Here's the kicker though, my daughter's portion of the charges as per our insurance was to be $195.20. That's 20% of what was covered plus the $50 deductible.


I contacted Dr. Kootman's office and left a message with no response. When I finally got through, I was placed on hold for 10 minutes. I finally was so irritated I just asked for a fax nunber and faxed them a letter stating they had over charged my daughter and that they owed her a refund of $600 on her credit card that she used to pay for the services.


I asked for a response, but to date, no response has been given. I can only assume at this point that this is the dental office general practice in billing and that it will likely take a trip to court to recover the fees. It looks as if they have billed my daughter for the portion of the bill that the insurance did not pay due to the fact that it was over the amount charged for their contracted fee. That is not legal and they could lose their contract with the dental office.


I am hoping for a good resolution to this, but am doubtful that they will make this right. If you live in Arizona, stay away from this guy. My insurance carrier told me that they are always discounting his fees to the contracted amount and that those fees are typically high. See someone else if you need dental care in Phoenix.


I wrote an essay on these complaints and Kootman's response to them but it did not come through. I will save it for another time.
 
Jordan Richman

Richman vs Kootman and AARP Medicare Complete

Medical billing fraud is committed when a medical facility or office intentionally bills procedures that may not have happened or misrepresents procedures that did happen in order to increase the amount processed, thereby deceiving insurances and patients into paying more for services. Medical billing fraud costs insurances, providers and patients millions of dollars each year.


UnitedHealth Group


Attn: Appeals and Grievances
P.O. Box 6106
Cypress, CA 90630
Mail Stop: CY124-0157


Subject: Grievances against Dr. Jefrrey Kootman and AARP/Medicare Complete


On April 23rd I saw Dr. Jeffrey Kootman, an oral surgeon, to look at a lesion in my mouth before I was to have a crown put on a back tooth that was near this painful lesion. Even though there were several other oral surgeons nearer to where I live, I was told by an AARP phone representaive, that I had to see Dr. Kootman, but I was given an explanation for why it had to be Dr. Kootman that I still do not understand. When I saw his name on page 30 of the 2010 AARP Physician Provider list that had been sent to me in February, naturally I assumed that AARP Medicare would cover my visit, since he was listed along with several other oral surgeons on AARP’s Physician Provider’s List.


His receptionist photocopied my AARP/Medicare Complete card, (0235765-01) and assured me that their sevices are included in your plan. When I offered her my co-pay she said that would not be necessary because, to quote her, “They pay for everything.” I then asked if she would like to see my referral and she said that would not be necessary because she would call my primary care physician.


A month later, in May, I got a notice from my previous insurance company, Evercare, which I had left for AARP eight months ago. The letter stated they were not going to pay a $295 bill from Dr. Kootman because I was no longer with them.


I called the doctor's office about this mistake and the receptionist said they knew they had sent it to the wrong company by mistake and that 3 days before my call the claim had been sent to AARP.


A month later, in June, I got another refusal to pay the $295 claim from Evercare. I again called Dr. Kootman’s office and the same receptionist took my AARP insurance number and said she would take care of it.


On July 24th, I received my FIRST bill from Dr. Kootman saying I had to pay $295 by August 15.


In checking up Dr. Kootman’s record on the internet I have noticed many complaints against him made by other patients who have had similar billing difficulties from his office. There are also recordings of complaints to the Arizona Dental Board from many other patients. His physican’s record appears to be blemished by numerous complaints to the Dental Board on more than just billing problems.


After receiving this first bill from Kootman’s office I immediately called AARP. The phone representative said that Dr. Kootman is on their list but there is no record of his ever filing a claim with them for the $295 he now was billing me.


Just today, August 25, I have received a second bill for $295 from Kootman warning me that he is going to put finance charges on my bill and that he has sent it to collections.


The lesion had disappeared just before my visit to him. All he did was look at it and said that it was gone and that I should continue with the Ibprufen which I had started myself just before it disappeared. The whole visit took about three minutes, so that means Kootman is charging $100 a minute!


I would like to make it clear that I hold AARP responsible for the Kootman pickle that I am in for having demanded that I see him and even having him listed in their directory. I have been informed about a week ago, again, from another AARP phone representative, that he is no longer listed as a provider with AARP.


One lawyer I spoke to about my problen, suggested that your company send me the reinbursement for his services. I could use your check to either send to him or pay him his bill but get paid by you for the liability that I have incurred merely by doing ALL the “right things” such as having insurance and obeying your command to see Kootman in the first place.


Kootman never seems to ever contact your claims department but keeps harassing me along with other victims of his weird confabulations which he has worked out along with his collaborator, Jean Windsor. I sent him an e-mail telling him that his operation reminded me of an earlier melodrama called “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”


In the Dental Association to which he belongs, he boasts about the discounts in anesthesia he gets from his supplier and the credit collection company he uses to keep his patients in line. IT is the name of his collection company and it has just about the blackest record in the business for harsh strong-arm methods, rude and abusive language and violation of FTC standards of proper policies credit collection companies ought to use for the sake of fair trade and the barest semblance of ethical and humane values that are supposed to be the treasured inheritance of American society.


What do you think?


Sincerely,
Jordan Richman
jprich9231@aol.com
602-256-2830

Medical Billing Fraud

Medical Billing Fraud costs Insurances and Patients Money




finanzen, dollar image by mbs from Fotolia.com


Medical billing fraud is committed when a medical facility or office intentionally bills procedures that may not have happened or misrepresents procedures that did happen in order to increase the amount processed, thereby deceiving insurances and patients into paying more for services. Medical billing fraud costs insurances, providers and patients millions of dollars each year


How to Report Medical Billing Fraud






1. Read all health care bills carefully, including insurance explanation of benefits statements to properly determine if all the procedures happened that were billed by the medical provider. If you do find something that looks suspicious, contact the medical billing department to make certain you are reading it correctly and verify what the service or procedure entails.






2. Call your insurance provider to let them help you decipher any discrepancies in your billing from the medical provider. Insurance offices are equipped to handle medical billing fraud and will review the procedures and services carefully to make sure they were properly processed.






3. Ask for copies of your medical records from the medical provider, along with complete billing statements. Medical records and billing statements can help you determine what procedures and services were provided and at what cost.






4. Contact your state's Department of Insurance office either online or with a letter and documentation of any medical billing discrepancies you have found. Department of Insurance offices also have a toll-free hotline available to report insurance fraud, however eventually you will need to furnish them with copies of any paperwork you have that pertains to the services in question. The Department of Insurance website also has a fraud reporting form available that can be printed out and mailed along with your medical documentation of the service in question.






5. Contact the National Insurance Crime Bureau either online or with a letter to report any fraudulent medical services or procedures. The National Insurance Crime Bureau is an organization that was started to prosecute any fraudulent medical services by any medical facility or office.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Real Estate Agents Wanted for Coronado Review

If you are a Real Estate agent specializing in sales of homes in the Coronado Neighborhood I will gladly post your names and information as a New Post press release. Send your press release to jprich9231@aol.com

Thursday, August 19, 2010

From Maureen Rooney, The Coronado News Digest

From: coronado.news-request@gcna.info
Subject: Coronado.News Digest, Vol 46, Issue 12
To: coronado.news@gcna.info
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:00:15 -0700
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than "Re: Contents of Coronado.News digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. FW: HP Accepting Exterior Rehabilitation Grant Applications
Now (Maureen Rooney)
2. Re: FW: HP Accepting Exterior Rehabilitation Grant
Applications Now (Don Mertes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:50:50 -0700
From: "Maureen Rooney"
To:
Subject: Coronado.News: FW: HP Accepting Exterior Rehabilitation Grant
Applications Now

REHABILITATION GRANT APPLICATIONS FOR HISTORIC HOMES AVAILABLE


The city of Phoenix Historic Preservation Office is now accepting applications for its Exterior Rehabilitation Assistance Program. The grant application deadline is Wednesday October 6, 2010 at 5:00p.m.
Owners of historic homes that are either in city-designated historic districts or are individually listed on the city's historic property register are eligible to apply. The program funds critical structural stabilization, repair and rehabilitation of historic exterior features such as roofs, exterior walls, porches, and windows, as well as reversal of previous inappropriate alterations. Repair is always preferred over replacement of historic architectural features and materials. If replacement is necessary use matching or compatible materials and repeat the design.
The program reimburses owners on a 50/50 matching basis for pre-approved work requests, with grant funding from $2,000 to $10,000 per project. In exchange for receiving financial assistance, the property owner agrees to
sell the city a 15 year conservative easement to protect the historic character of the property's exterior.
For more information, or to download an application, visit:
phoenix.gov/historic/hprehab.html. Application packages may also be picked up in the city's Historic Preservation Office at 200 W. Washington St., 17th floor. Please call (602) 261-8699 or Liz Wilson at (602) 262-6883.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Downtown Phoenix Sights

Downtown, also dubbed "Copper Square," has become an increasingly exciting place with museums, restaurants, entertainment venues, stadiums, and shopping centers. The Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau (125 N. 2nd St., Suite 120, Phoenix, AZ 85004, 602/254-6500 or 877/225-5749, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri.) provides much helpful information at its central location.

Arizona Center, at Third and Van Buren Sts., offers an oasis of palms, waterfalls, and pools with a variety of restaurants and specialty shops, a 24-screen movie theater, and some night spots. Two blocks south you'll find the oldest and the newest in Phoenix—Heritage Square and Science Park, home of the 1895 Rosson House, Phoenix Museum of History, and Arizona Science Center. Continue two blocks farther south and you'll be at the huge Bank One Ballpark with its retractable roof. Turn west two blocks and you'll reach America West Arena, another major sports center. Other attractions in the heart of downtown include Symphony Hall, Herberger Theater, and the Orpheum Theater—a 1929 Spanish Baroque Revival building restored to its original elegance. Look west down Washington Street and you'll see the copper dome of the old state capitol, where much of Arizona's past has played out.


Arizona State Capitol

With its winged figure of victory atop a shiny copper dome, the old state capitol (1700 W. Washington St., 602/542-4675, http://azcapitol.lib.az.us, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., except on state holidays, free) dates from 1900, a dozen years before statehood. The Arizona Legislature outgrew this structure in 1960 and moved into adjacent new quarters. The old capitol then became a museum, carefully restored to look as it did when Arizona became a state in 1912. The Senate and House chambers and other rooms contain period furnishings, historical photos, and tales of frontier days. A lifelike statue of former governor George W.P. Hunt sits behind his desk in the old governor's office. Permanent and changing exhibits occupy four levels; at the top one you can look through the dome's skylight at the winged figure of victory, which turns with the wind. On the lowest floor, a memorial room of the battleship USS Arizona displays the ship's silver service, photos of the crews, a scale model of the ship, a piece of the superstructure, and other memorabilia of the ship sunk at Pearl Harbor in 1941. A gift shop, also on the lowest floor, sells Arizona books and souvenirs.


You can also join free guided tours at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; groups of 12 or more must schedule tours in advance. To dig deeper into the state's past, drop into the research library, Room 300, where you'll see the 1930s' murals Pageant of Arizona Progress by Jay Datus. You can view many historic photos from the archives on the capitol's website, http://azcapitol.lib.az.us, or you can see what the legislature is up to at www.azleg.state.az.us.


Free parking is available in front of the capitol at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza; turn in from Adams Street. The Plaza features many commemorative monuments and an anchor and signal mast from the USS Arizona.


Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum

In this large collection (1502 W. Washington St., 602/255-3791, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat., closed Sun. and state holidays, $2 ages 18 and up, www.mines.az.gov), you'll see examples of the minerals that drew many prospectors to Arizona. Specimens of copper minerals—azurite, malachite, chrysocolla, cuprite, and chalcanthite—sparkle in brilliant hues. Fluorescent lights make otherwise undistinguished-looking minerals glow in bright colors. Lapidary exhibits display the art of gem cutting and polishing, while old mining tools, lamps, assay kits, photos, and models reveal how miners worked. A cave exhibit illustrates how wondrous features formed deep in the earth. Fossils trace the evolution of life beginning with cyanobacteria more than a billion years old. Step outside to see the diminutive Arizona Copper Co. locomotive, a headframe, and a stamp mill; the mural on the museum's outside back wall makes a great background for photos. The Rose Mofford Collection, an eclectic assemblage of mementos from Arizona's first woman governor, is in a separate gallery.


The museum staff can tell you of upcoming lapidary and jewelry classes, family programs, and rock and mineral shows (most are held during the winter), as well as put you in touch with local rock shops and clubs. A gift shop sells specimens, gold pans, handcrafted jewelry, and an excellent selection of rockhounding books. Look for the museum's unusual Moorish architecture on the corner of W. Washington Street and 15th Avenue; parking is available behind the museum.


Wells Fargo History Museum


An 1868 Concord coach forms the centerpiece of this Old West collection (Adams St., between 1st and 2nd Aves., 602/378-1852, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri., free). You can experience a recreated Wells Fargo office, admire gold nuggets from Wickenburg, see antique guns, and take in the Western art gallery. It's in the high-rise Wells Fargo building.