Medical Negligence A Growing Problem For Baby Boomers

When going to the doctor we expect to find treatment and cure for our pain, injuries or illnesses. Such is the nature of the medical practitioners, to bring relief and diminish or eliminate the source of pain which is causing discomfort to the body. But what happens when the ones in charge of our health make the wrong decisions and therefore cause injuries or illnesses to patients who required their assistance? 

Medical negligence should be avoided at all costs and when it does occur, legal actions should be taken in order to obtain support and compensation. Neglect could be the result of the following actions: 

• Incorrect or late diagnosis 
• Errors and mistakes performed by doctors during surgery 
• Lack of appropriate post surgical care and treatment 
• Administration of medication which is not correct and might lead to complications 
• Lack of sterility in the environment where the patient is located before, whilst and after surgery 

These factors will lead to complications, occurrence of temporary or permanent injuries and life threatening illnesses. In the unfortunate situation when a friend or family member finds himself in such a position, it is crucial to ask personal injury lawyers for help and advice. These people have dealt with similar situations in the past and will surely know what should be done next in order to obtain compensation and full recovery. One of the most important things to consider is the time limit: it should be no longer than 3 years starting from the moment you notice the neglect. Proof of wounding as a result of medical malpractice should be evident and well articulated, so that the patient does not lose his right to compensation due to lack of evidence. 

Bolt Burdon Kemp is one of the companies which deal with such matters and their team of professionals is highly trained so that they can offer only the best of advice and support to the client. Their website offers accurate information on anything related to the topic and people in search of help will surely find answers to all the questions they might have. If that does not happen, they can always get into contact with the lawyers via telephone or email.

5 Things You Should Know Before Investing In Diamonds

Buying diamonds can be a good way to invest your money, but there are several things you should be aware of before entering the jewelry and precious gems market, particularly when buying diamonds. You may have heard of the three ‘C’s, well we've come up with five:

Color

Diamonds vary greatly in color  and there are hundreds of different hues that you can choose from. This often makes individual stones more valuable, as a buyer may be looking for a specific color. You can choose from yellow, blue, pink, and black among others! 

Cut

This is not the same as the diamond’s shape, so we’re not talking pear, square or oval here. The cut of the diamond is a measure of the stone’s reflective qualities. If you are planning to invest in diamond jewelry, an ‘ideal cut’ diamond can make a great buy. The ideal cut means that light can enter the stone, reflect from both sides inside the diamond, and then back out. This reflection of light is what causes diamonds to flash and sparkle, and a poorer cut can make a stone look dull.

Clarity

This refers to the amount of flaws or ‘inclusions’ that are present within a diamond. Because diamonds are formed naturally under intense heat and pressure, the vast majority of diamonds have flaws. Artificially made diamonds are as close as you can get to a flawless stone: a natural stone with very few inclusions can fetch a high price, due to its rarity. 

Carat Weight

A carat is a unit of weight used to measure diamonds, but is not to be confused with karats, which is the method for determining the purity of gold. One carat is equal to around 200 milligrams (0.2 grams), and obviously, the larger the stone, the pricier it will be. The famous Taylor-Burton diamond worn by actress Elizabeth Taylor weighed an incredible 241 carats (48 grams!) when it was discovered, and was bought for a record $1, 050, 000 in the 1960s by Cartier. The current owner has had the diamond cut to a more modest 68 carats (13.6g). Princess Margaret famously commented on Taylor’s ring at a formal dinner, calling it “very vulgar”; Taylor invited the Princess to try the well known diamond on and quipped, “Not so vulgar now, is it?” 

Certificates

Any diamond should be certified to validate its quality and value. The certification process should be completed by a reputable governing body within the gem industry, such as the GIA – the Gemological Institute of America. A certificate is essential for insurance purposes, and to ensure that you pay and receive a fair price when you are buying and selling your diamond. Jewelers are often known to under-pay, so certification can help you to wrangle a good deal!

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Sending a Parcel to USA? Your Courier Can Make it Easy.

Figures released by the World Trade Organisation in 2011 showed that the US remained the world’s largest importer of both merchandise and commercial services. If your business needs to send parcels or documents abroad at any stage then there is a good chance that, at some point, you’ll find yourself needing to become familiar with US import restrictions in order to avoid falling foul of them. 

The majority of items on this list, maintained and enforced by US Customs and Borders Protection (CBP), will be self-explanatory: alcoholic beverages, biological and firearms for instance. Some can be a bit of an eye-opener, though. Take this for example: since November 2000 it has been “illegal in the United States to import, export, distribute, transport, manufacture or sell products containing dog or cat fur”. One wonders how prevalent the problem of dog and cat fur entering the US was prior to November 2000.

Of course, the US is not the only country enforce restrictions on the import of certain goods, each nation has its own specific interests and protects them whenever, and however, possible. This is why it can be important to make yourself aware of a country’s particular customs regulations whenever you’re thinking of sending any kind of parcel there. If your business needs to send items to many different countries, though, it can be all too easy to become lost in a maze of commercial invoices and conflicting national priorities.

Any good online courier, though, will be well versed in the intricacies of everything needed to send any parcel to USA, or any other country for that matter. Whenever you find yourself unsure about whether the contents of a certain package will incur any kind of import restriction a quick call to your chosen courier ought to clear the matter up fairly easily.

As trade between nations has grown, and as cheap courier services have become available to more and more people, global parcel services have gone to great lengths to ensure they remain fully up to date on the finer details of sending parcels between countries. Why not let your courier worry about the details? They are the experts after all.

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Smokers and Unhealhly Will Pay Healthcare Penalty

Smoking (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many employers are asking that workers who smoke, are overweight or have high cholesterol pay a larger percentage of their healthcare costs, what some insurance companies call a healthcare penalty. It's a shift toward penalizing employees with unhealthful lifestyles instead of rewarding good habits.
Policies that enforce financial penalties on employees have doubled within the last two years to nineteen percent of 248 major American companies recently surveyed. 

Next year, The practice among employers with at least 1,000 workers was expected to double again.

Additionally, a survey released by Mercer, which advises companies, indicated that about a third of employers with 500 or more employees were attempting to coax them into wellness programs by extending financial inducements, like discounts on their insurance. 

As yet, companies including Home Depot, PepsiCo, Safeway, Lowe’s and General Mills have fought decisions to seek higher premiums from some workers, like Wal-Mart’s recent addition of a $2,000-a-year surcharge for some smokers. Many point to the higher healthcare costs related to smoking or obesity. 

Many even describe the charges and discounts as an approach to get workers to take more responsibility for their well-being. Regardless, it means that smokers and others pay more than co-workers who meet a company’s health goals.

But some benefits specialists and wellness experts say plans billed as inducements for wellness, by providing discounted health insurance, can become punitive for people who suffer from health problems that are not entirely under their control. 

Nicotine addiction, for instance, could hinder smokers from quitting, and serious obesity might not be easily overcome.

Present-day rules allow for companies to demand workers who fail to conform to specified standards to pay up to 20 percent of their insurance costs. The federal healthcare mandate raises that amount to 30 percent in 2014 and, possibly, to as much as one-half the cost of a policy.

When Wal-Mart Stores, the nation’s biggest employer, recently sought the higher payments from some smokers, its decision was considered unusual, according to benefits experts. 

The amount, reaching $2,000 more than for nonsmoker, was a good deal higher than surcharges of a few hundred dollars a year imposed by other employers on their smoking workers.

The only way for Wal-Mart employees to avoid the surcharges was to attest that their doctor said it would be medically inadvisable or impossible to stop smoking. Other employers accept enrollment in tobacco cessation programs as an automatic waiver for surcharges.

Some labor experts argue that employers can charge workers higher fees only when they're bound to a broader wellness program, while federal rules don't define wellness programs.

Employers cannot discriminate against smokers by demanding them to pay more for their insurance unless the surcharge is part of a broader endeavor to help them quit. Numerous programs that ask employees to fulfill certain health targets offer rewards in the form of lower premiums.

At the start the system also rewarded employees who fulfilled cholesterol and blood sugar goals, but after workers complained that those hurdles looked punitive.

Workers who don't meet the weight targets can be eligible for lower premiums if a doctor shows they have a medical condition that makes the goal excessive.Some benefits advisers say companies may be increasingly willing to test the boundaries of the law because there has been little enforcement, even though there is a provision calling for employers to admit workers with medical conditions restricting their ability to meet certain standards. 

But some have observed already that they are not being charged premiums when they are vaping. I guess this vaping is a loophole for some insurance companies. Although not entirely true, using those vaping devices (Go to http://www.davincivaporizer.com to see the most advanced vaporizer) could just be a solution not only to your health's advantage but to your work too.

However, the employer is going to win not by cost-shifting but by getting people to stop smoking. Some critics say the surcharge may have the effect of forcing people to opt for less expensive plans or persuade them to drop coverage totally.

Scholarship Searching Made Easy With Scholarshipsonline.org

English: Graduation hugs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships are forms of aid that help students pay for their education. Unlike student loans, scholarships and fellowships do not have to be repaid. Hundreds of thousands of scholarships and fellowships from several thousand sponsors are awarded each year. 

Generally, scholarships and fellowships are reserved for students with special qualifications, such as academic, athletic or artistic talent. Awards are also available for students who are interested in particular fields of study, who are members of underrepresented groups, who live in certain areas of the country or who demonstrate financial need.

The best way to search for scholarships and fellowships is to use a personalized search, like Scholarshipsonline.org, a scholarship search website, that compares your background with a database of awards. Only those awards that fit your profile are identified as matches.

There are several free scholarship databases available online. With more than 1.5 million scholarships worth more than $3.4 billion, the Scholarshipsonline.org scholarship search is the largest, most accurate and most frequently updated scholarship database. If you supply an email address, they will notify you when new awards that match your profile are added to the database. You can even submit an electronic application to some of the scholarships listed in the Scholarshipsonline.org scholarship database, saving you time and money. Scholarshipsonline.org also includes a college search and numerous other student resources.

In addition to the Scholarshipsonline.org scholarship search, you may want to search one of the other free scholarship search sites. It doesn't take much time to search and it's free. To find small local awards that aren't listed in any book or database, look for notices posted on bulletin boards at your school's guidance office, the public library and outside the financial aid office at nearby colleges and universities.
You can also search for scholarships using your favorite web search engine by including the word "scholarships" with your search keywords.

College alumni and other private scholarship sponsors occasionally establish scholarships with esoteric eligibility requirements, such as a scholarship for left-handed students. Although there aren't many of these unusual scholarships, they often attract a lot of attention because of their slightly offbeat nature.

The most prestigious scholarships and fellowships also attract a lot of attention because they are among the most lucrative and competitive awards. Many colleges also offer full tuition academic scholarships.

Average students often ask whether there are any scholarships available to students who don't have a 4.0 GPA. There are many scholarships for average students that focus on qualities besides academic merit, as well as a variety of less competitive scholarships. There are also many community service scholarships and scholarships for Hispanic and Latino students.

Don't waste your money on fee-based scholarship matching services. You won't get any better information than you can get from the free services available on the Web.

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Business Invoicing Made Easy With Online Software

Example of invoice. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a business owner I find one of the most difficult tasks, that I need to do on a regular basis, is to send out business invoices. Hunting down customers and actually  performing the work is never really a problem. It's finding the time to send out my invoices. 

There are many ways to produce your invoices. The old fashion way of manually creating your invoices allows you to only produce just so many in a certain time frame. But manually doing it can lead to error. Then there is invoice software you can install on your computer and lastly, there is online invoice software.

Having a dedicated invoice software solution to manage your billing today is a must. I have tried many invoice software packages, one of them is Zoho Invoice. Zoho Invoice is a flexible and high-powered office program that’s more than capable of keeping the bills straight.

Features of Zoho Invoice

Zoho Invoice lets business owners create professional invoices for customers and track payments at the same time all from one easy and intuitive interface. Business owners can either use Zoho’s own templates to create invoices or they can create custom forms using their online invoice software. Zoho Invoice also features zPost integration for sending U.S. mail invoices, payment management with PayPal and Google Checkout, an iPhone app for mobile billing and more.

Manage Invoices Online

Create, track and export your invoices online. Automate recurring invoices and design your own invoice using our invoice template and brand it with your business logo.

Track Expenses

Get an accurate picture of your financial position by recording expenses. Invoice the reimbursable expenses such as travel to your clients and get them reimbursed.

Project Time Tracking

Manage time sheet entries online. Log staff hours, add tasks for a project and start tracking time using our timer. View time sheet breakdown by project, by task or by staff.

Maintain Business Contacts

Seamlessly maintain all your business contacts. Import/export your contacts and contact persons. Track the invoice e-mails you have sent to your contacts.

Transact Globally

Zoho Invoice has multi-currency and multi-lingual capabilities. Create and send invoices/estimates to your clients in their native currency and language.

Accept Payments Online

Receive online payments from your clients using popular gateways like Paypal. Track customer over-payments and advances by creating credit notes.

Dashboards And Reports

Gain critical insights into how your business is doing. See what sells most, who are your top paying customers and the average time your customers take to pay.

Invite, Share And Collaborate

Invite users and share your workload as Zoho Invoice supports multiple users with different permissions. It helps your business to be more productive and efficient.

Who is This Online Invoicing Software For?

For anyone who needs competent expense billing software, Zoho Invoice is the perfect solution to the problem. Thanks to their various levels of service and pricing, Zoho is used by solo freelancers, corporate employees and everybody in between. The platform is designed from the ground up to be scalable, so it can handle anything you throw at it.

Plans and Pricing

With three different pricing plans from Free to Professional, Zoho has something for everyone:

• The Free account features unlimited invoices for up to 5 separate customers.
• The Standard plan is a mere $15 per month and allows up to 3 users to deliver unlimited invoices to as many as 500 customers.
• Zoho’s Professional package is $30 per month but boasts support for unlimited customers, user accounts, invoices and projects.

Is Zoho Invoice Easy to Use?

Whether you’re configuring a payment gateway, sending off a snail mail bill or tweaking a template to design a custom invoice form, Zoho Invoice couldn’t be easier to use. Even users who’ve never worked with an invoice management program before have been quite vocal about how easy it is to get started with Zoho. Despite its power and flexibility, Zoho has a fairly shallow learning curve as far as invoice software is concerned.

Customer Service

Aside from its stellar performance and reasonable pricing scheme, Zoho Invoice is best known for its comprehensive customer service and technical support. Their online help guides, FAQs and API documentation are second to none. Furthermore, their live technical assistance staff can be reached toll-free at any hour during the business week.

Final Word

When it comes to invoicing software, you’ve got a lot of options. Zoho Invoice makes the decision fairly simple by delivering what is arguably the best invoice management suite on the market. It’s not often that one finds a program that’s a true “no-brainer”, but Zoho appears to be the real deal. For all of your invoice management needs, Zoho is your best bet.

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