My wife accuses me of being a wimp when I have an appointment with one of the various doctors who come and go in my life. “Why don’t you speak up,” she asks me? I just don’t feel comfortable discussing all my aches and pains. She thinks otherwise. So now my bride goes with me to my doctor’s office and as you can imagine, it’s embarrassing for a guy. 

You’d think after years of producing stories about bad medical practices, I would know doctors are not a superior life form; they have feet of clay just like you and me, only in nicer shoes.

Still, I come from an age where doctors were considered god-like. All that knowledge, all that training. If you can’t trust your doctor, who can you trust? Apparently not all doctors.

That’s what I concluded after reading the latest report from the Medical Board of California.

Let me give you examples:

Dr. Quince Lee Mabry of La Mesa “committed acts of dishonesty or corruption;” the doctor broke the law by “issuing prescriptions for a companion and then diverting the drugs for self-use.”

La Jolla Dr.Igor Strugatsky’s license is revoked after a “Felony conviction for devising and engaging in a scheme to obtain false payments for services.” (He was a doctor of podiatric medicine.)

Dr. Can Quoc Bui of San Diego never admitted he did anything wrong but the medical board found he did. The doctor “violated drug statutes in the care and treatment of six patients” with “repeated negligent acts, prescribing dangerous drugs without an appropriate …examination.”

The above doctors, or should I say FORMER doctors, are the worst of the bunch. The rest are placed on probation for their misdeeds. Maybe their appearance in this blog will encourage them to rethink the path they are on.

Dr. Michael Dean Berger of Valley Center is on seven years probation for repeated negligence.  If you want more information about this doctor’s negligence, you can see it for yourself by clicking on his name which will lead you to the legal findings of the Medical Board.

Dr. Kevin Lee Metros of Escondido failed to keep adequate and accurate records. The Medical Board did a public spanking in Dr. Metro’s case called a “public reprimand” but not a lot of people heard about the reprimand. I hope this is public enough.

I plan to continue to blog on doctors whose tickets have been yanked by the state. I’m hoping it makes me a little less old school and a little more assertive around my doctors.

Now, I just have to convince my wife I am no longer a wimp, so she won’t have to go with me to the doc’s office now.

The I-Team story on Dec. 14 is about a home remodeling company that broke laws and left several customers with nightmare experiences.

The scary thing about embarking on a home improvement project is that you’re putting your trust in people to create what you envision and do it right because if things go wrong, it will require time and money that you may not have.

There is a lot that a homeowner should know before starting any type of home improvement. If you’re hiring a contractor, you can’t just sit back and hope it all goes well. You need to do some homework before and during the project. And you need to know the laws.

In California, anyone who contracts to perform work on a project that is $500 or more for labor and materials needs to have an active license with the Contractors State License Board (CSLB). CSLB has 43 different license classifications…from general contractors to landscapers to electricians and more.

The CSLB website has a wealth of information. The section on Guides and Pamphlets has great advice for consumers on a range of topics: tips for seniors hiring contractors, filing small claims court construction claims, etc.

First, check out your contractor. Check the CSLB website to verify if he/she is licensed and if there are any complaints. Ask for three references and call them. Look at court records and see what kind of litigation the contractor has been involved in. Check the Better Business Bureau if it’s a company you’re hiring.

Know what should be included in a home improvement contract. The CSLB recommends that a contract be as specific as possible:

For example, the contract should say “install oak kitchen cabinets, manufactured by Company XYZ, model 01381A, as per the plan,” not just “install kitchen cabinets.”

The contract should include the start and end dates of the project, or each phase of the project. Specific dates are better than writing, “project to be completed over 30 days,” because that could technically be interpreted as 30 separate days over a year for instance.

If you are required to pay a down payment before work starts, the law (California Business and Professions Code section 7159) states that for a home improvement project or swimming pool, the down payment cannot be more than $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less, excluding finance charges. There are no exceptions for materials that are special orders.

A representative of the CSLB explains more about the requirements of that law (section 7159) to the I-Team:

Also, the contractor cannot require the homeowner to make any other payments before either services are rendered or materials are delivered. For example, you aren’t allowed to ask them for money to buy materials. You should pay them at the time those materials are delivered to site, or to reimburse them when you’re given receipts. Or, when they complete a certain portion of the job to the homeowner’s satisfaction, a payment should be made. This should all be spelled out in the contract. These are called “progress payments.”

Payments should never get ahead of the work. The CSLB advises, “Make sure the contract provides for a ‘retention’ — a percentage of each payment or of the total job, ordinarily 10 percent, which you retain until the job is completed.”

Protect yourself from liens. Even if you’ve paid the contractor, a subcontractor might not get paid and the subcontractor can file a lien on your home because of that. This is definitely something you don’t want. According to the CSLB:

Even if the contractor is paid in full, unpaid subcontractors, suppliers, and laborers involved in the project may record a mechanics’ lien and sue the property owner in court to foreclose the lien. A property owner could be forced to pay twice or have the court sell their home to pay the lien. Liens can also affect a consumer’s personal credit along with the ability to borrow and refinance.

Consumers can protect themselves from liens. One way is to get signed unconditional lien releases. You do this be getting a list of all subcontractors and material suppliers from the contractor and the dates of when they will start — better yet, have this typed up in the written contract. Then after you’ve paid for materials or work, get a signed unconditional lien release from the subcontractor/supplier.

Prime contractors are required to get releases for you if you ask for it, but you should contact the subcontractor/supplier to verify it. While researching the I-Team story about Sunco Construction, clients told us about liens on their homes. In one case, the client was given a signed release, but the subcontractor is denying having signed it.

Another way to avoid liens is to pay with a joint check. Consumers can write a joint check made out to both the contractor and subcontractor or material supplier.

The CSLB website has more on liens, including sample release forms, what you can do if you don’t get a signed release, why you shouldn’t panic if you get a Preliminary 20-Day Notice, etc.

These are just some highlights of what consumers need to know before starting a home improvement project. I highly recommend that you check out the CSLB website.

Another great resource for home remodeling tips is a website from a San Diegan called contractorsfromhell.com. It was created in 2000 by a local couple after enduring a truly horrific home renovation nightmare. The website has great tips including questions to ask potential contractors and what to do when there are problems.

Educate yourself. Don’t let someone take advantage of you.

I’ve been watching the e-mail traffic coming into the 10News room since Monday afternoon. There are many theories swirling around about what caused the F/A-18D to crash.  Experts and others are offering up opinions on why the plane went down. Questions from viewers who are wondering why the plane didn’t just get dumped into the Pacific or why the pilot didn’t head to San Clemente or North Island?

This morning an e-mail came into anchor Bill Griffith from a long time 10News viewer. Bill sent the note onto the editors and managers for our review. After I read that mail from Donald Park I wanted to make sure others saw it. Mr. Park and I talked and came to the same conclusions about the investigation taking place. The military will take long time to unwind the facts in the inquiry  and when they do make their determination,  the public’s interest usually has faded. We both thought the community should keep this story alive as long as possible.

Here is Donald Park’s letter to 10News, where he lays out what he believes took place.

These photos come from a source working on the accident scene:

An I-Team exclusive story breaks tonight at 11pm.

It’s about Dr. Sam Dubria’s trial for murder back in 1992. The 10News investigative unit raises some questions after our exclusive interviews with Dubria’s family and his attorneys.

The story tonight reveals some shocking holes in the prosecutors theories which lead to Dubria’s sentence of life in prison without parole. There is also a major shift in this story as a court has now agreed to look at new evidence turned up by Durbria’s attorney.

Click here to read the I-Team’s first story.

This November, the Consumer Product and Safety Commission posted two recalls on window coverings.

Both of the products are a strangulation danger for children who can accidentally get tangled in the cords.

Most people know that the the pull cords from various window shades and blinds hang free when the shades or blinds are drawn up, and that they should be looped and anchored up out of reach of children. 

There is another danger with certain window coverings:  children can get tangled in the cords of some roman shades and roll-up blinds when they are lowered.  In the case of some of these roman shades, the cords that are dangerous are not readily apparent…you don’t see them from the front of the shade, because they are on the back.

In one terrible case, a one-year-old girl died in April after becoming entangled in the inner cord of a fully-lowered roman shade that was located above a portable playpen that she was in.  That prompted a recall of IRIS and ALVINE roman blinds sold exclusively at IKEA.

In another case in June, a two-year-old girl was rescued by her five-year-old brother when she almost strangled from a window shade cord around her neck.  That prompted a recall of insulated black-out roller shades and insulated roman shades by Green Mountain Vista, Inc.

CPSC reminds people to examine roman blinds and roll-up shades in their homes.  I would add that especially during the holidays when many people have guests, you should check your home even if you don’t have young children. 

CPSC published guidelines about what to look for in these types of shades.  You can read it here.

In fact, CPSC has issued voluntary standards for window blind cords in general.  It’s an issue that the agency has been following for years because of the fatalities involved.  If you have older window coverings or any type of window coverings with cords, the agency explains the different types of dangers and safety features that are now available.

Law enforcement officers perform the difficult and demanding job of protecting the public, while putting themselves in harm’s way.  We appreciate their work and their sacrifices.

In every profession, there are examples of bad behavior.  From teachers to doctors to journalists to coaches to politicians….no profession is exempt, including peace officers. 

In the case of law enforcement, the public entrusts them with awesome powers.  Those powers include using various means of force…up to and including deadly force. 

The public deserves transparency and accountability when it comes to use of force.  If an officer makes a mistake, or deliberately breaks the rules, those actions need to be evaluated and addressed.  Communities need to trust that bad behavior will be called out and that it will not be tolerated.

With that in mind, we attempted to gather information on how local law enforcement agencies use force.  Jerry Brown, California Attorney General, offered an opinion in May that we thought would help provide some transparency.  The opinion included this conclusion:

In response to a request made under the California Public Records Act for the names of peace officers involved in a critical incident, such as the one in which lethal force was used, a law enforcement agency must disclose those names unless, on the facts of the particular case, the public interest served by not disclosing the names clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosing the names.

 We wrote to seven local law enforcement agencies and asked, under the California Public Records Act, for use of force reports or internal investigations regarding use of force for the past ten years – including settlements paid by tax dollars.  It’s not unprecedented…The San Francisco Chronicle used the Public Records Act to obtain records of over 8,000 uses of force logged by officers in the San Francisco Police Department from 1996 to 2004.  You can read about their findings here.  

We were not so fortunate.  Each agency (or rather, their respective attorneys) responded and cited the government codes and penal codes that they interpreted as shielding the majority of our request from public disclosure.  In the end, the only information that we were able to obtain regarding use of force were the ones that related to settlements.

Some agencies were more forthcoming than others. 

San Diego County Sheriff’s Department provided us with settlements and the claims related to the settlements.  The claims described the use of force incidents (from the claimant’s point of view), and included the names of deputies and claimants.

Because of its size, the most effective way for the San Diego Police Department to fulfill our request was to draw upon a database of claims kept by the risk management department.  We were told that the database only goes back five years, and that it does not contain a field for the officers’ names.  If we wanted the officers’ names, a physical search of each individual record would have to be conducted.

We agreed to receive a summary of the available records and review it to see which claims we wanted to request additional information on.  We received a list of 213 claims that cited the name of the claimant, the incident date, the general location of the incident, a few brief remarks about the claim, and the payments made.  Of those 213 claims, 43 resulted in financial settlements; and 26 claims are still pending. 

When we requested additional information for some of the claims, it was provided in a timely manner and contained a description of the use of force incident from the claimant’s point of view, and the names of officers and claimants.

Carlsbad Police Department also used its city’s risk management database to give us a summary of five settlements related to excessive or improper use of force, and asked us if we wanted the files pulled from storage.  The summary included the claimant’s names, the amount and dates of the settlements; two of the claims indicated the type of force.

When we requested that all five of the claims be pulled from storage, we received additional information promptly (except for one because we were told that the case file had been destroyed, according to the city’s record retention schedule).  The claims contained a description of the incident from the claimant’s point of view, and the names of officers and claimants.

El Cajon Police Department only provided the “settlement agreement and mutual release” documents for its two settlements involving use of force.  These agreements/releases provide the names of claimants and officers and the amount of the settlements, but they do not include a description of the incident.

Escondido Police Department also only provided the “general release and settlement of claim” documents for its two settlements involving use of force.  One of the settlements did not include the names of any officers.  Again, there was no description of the incident.

Oceanside Police Department also only provided the “settlement, release and waiver agreements” for its five settlements involving use of force.  The names of claimants, officers and the amount of the settlements were included.  No descriptions of incidents were provided.

Chula Vista Police Department gave us a list of its nine settlements.  A tenth settlement was added when it was recently reported in the news (Christian Morales settlement for $400,000).  This list only contained the names of the claimants, the date and amount of the settlements, and a few words on the type of force used in the incident.

Gift cards are big business. According to Bankrate.com, Comdata predicted that during the 2007 holiday season, the average gift card buyer would spend $203 on cards, compared to $180 the year before. The National Retail Federation’s 2007 Holiday Consumer Survey reported 54 percent of consumers wanted to receive a gift card during the holiday season.

Gift cards seem like the perfect gift during the holiday season. You don’t have to worry about getting the wrong size or color and the recipient can use the card anytime she wants, well maybe, as Kathy from El Cajon found out.

She emails the 1-News I-Team about a problem she has with a gift card:

“My son bought me a VISA gift card last year for my birthday.  He lives in Northern California which is where he bought the card.  I took it out of the package tried to use it today…and was told that it was no good because it was purchased February 27, 2007.  The company assesses $4.95 monthly fee if the card is not used within 6 months.  I told Alex Casas from Austin, TX that you cannot deny a gift card because it was purchased in California.  Mr. Casa told me that the card originated from Texas so therefore the California gift card law does not apply.  I was outraged to learn of such practice and asked to have the money reinstated on the card so that I could use it today.  He said “NO”.  This happened a few months ago too when I tried to use an American Express gift card but the money was reinstated that day and we used the card.  I am so upset be this ‘so called’ discrepancy.  My son had no idea that the card came from Texas and not California.  Is there any way that you can check this out? Please?”

The 10News I-Team researches the matter and finds out: California gift card law says gift certificates and gift cards can’t expire when they’re for a specific service or store. For example, a Costco gift card can’t expire. But there’s an exception to the law: if the gift card can be used at many places (like restaurants, movies, stores) such as a Visa gift card or an American Express gift card, the card can legally expire. Those cards are supposed to have an expiration date. This is one of the loopholes in California gift card law.

Here’s a brief explanation from the California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA): “A gift card that can be used with multiple unaffiliated sellers of goods or services may contain an expiration date. If so, the expiration date must be printed on the card.”

Here’s what the DCA website says about fees:

Q:   Can a gift certificate or gift card contain a service fee?

A:   No. A gift certificate or gift card cannot contain a service fee, including a fee for dormancy (non-use). However, there is an exception from this general rule for a gift card where:

“The value remaining on the gift card is $5.00 or less each time the fee is assessed; and The dormancy fee is $1.00 per month or less; and The card has been inactive for 24 consecutive months (for example, no purchases, “reloading,” or balance inquiries); and The holder may reload or add value to the card; and The card has printed on it a statement in at least 10-point type stating the amount and frequency of the fee, that the fee is triggered by inactivity, and at what point the fee will be charged. This statement may be on the front or back of the card, but must be visible to the purchaser prior to purchase.”

Gift card policies are better now than they’ve ever been, but clearly there are still loopholes in the law that can drive a consumer crazy. So the next time you give or receive a gift card, know what you’re getting yourself into.

Consumer Reports offers the following gift card advice:

• Register it. Some cards must be registered with the issuer, especially if the card is used for purchases online or by phone.
• Spend it quickly. Use the card as soon as possible, especially if it expires or has a monthly maintenance fee.
• Spend it to the last penny. If the card balance gets so low that there’s nothing to buy, ask a merchant to do a split-tender transaction. That involves using the remaining card balance for part of the transaction and another form of payment for the rest.
• Hold on to it. Don’t throw out the card when the balance is zero. Some merchants require it for returns.