N.W.A (also known as Niggaz With Attitude) was a Compton, California-based hip hop group widely considered one of the seminal acts of the gangsta rap sub-genre. Active from 1986 to 1991, the group endured controversy due to the explicit nature of their lyrics.
They were subsequently banned from many mainstream U.S. radio stations and even at times prevented from touring yet the group has still sold over 9 million units in the U.S. alone.
Their second album, "Straight Outta Compton", marked the beginning of the new gangsta rap era as the production and the social commentary in their lyrics were revolutionary within the genre.
Rolling Stone ranked N.W.A 83rd on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
Although largely unknown at the group's inception, rappers Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella would all go on to be Platinum-selling stars as solo artists.
President Barack Obama was put on the defensive over oil Friday – as a fast-growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico forced the White House to reassure the public that Obama’s plans for expanded offshore drilling won’t proceed without a full review of this accident.
The spill gives fellow Democrats and environmentalists who objected to Obama’s plan a vivid piece of evidence to use against it, as Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said the notion of expanded drilling is “dead on arrival” on Capitol Hill.
But Republicans who are usually quick to criticize Obama have barely raised a peep over his handling of the crisis – even as the White House scrambles to deflect questions over why it took nine days to understand the full extent of the spill.
The Republican reticence is a sign that the political danger over the oil spill cuts both ways, especially for a party that made “drill baby drill” a chant at its presidential convention.
Several Republicans on Friday reiterated their support for offshore drilling – and even Obama said the spill doesn’t change his support for oil exploration in the United States, as a way to replace offshore supplies.
But right now, it’s Obama who could face more short-term political trouble, experts said, since just weeks ago the president was announcing plans for greater use of offshore drilling – and dismissing the risks of a disaster.
“I wouldn’t want to be in Obama’s spot here,” said Rick Kurtz, a professor of political science at Central Michigan University who has studied the response to oil spill disasters. “From Obama’s standpoint, you’re in a lot of hot water. You came out and said you’re for more offshore drilling and then you have this happen. You’ve got a lot of potential political egg on your face.”
Just a few weeks ago, Obama downplayed the idea of a leak like the one that is currently unfolding in the Gulf. “Oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced. Even during Katrina, the spills didn’t come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore,” Obama said during a Q-and-A session in North Carolina on April 2.
White House adviser David Axelrod said Friday that no new drilling would go forward until the causes of the current spill were thoroughly examined. However, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said no new drilling rights were set to be granted in the 30 days Obama has set for an initial investigation.
“Nothing is immediately impacted by the president’s review. There is nothing stopped,” Gibbs said Friday. “That review will affect everything we take into account about our next offshore policy.”
Obama has already taken fire from Nelson, who called for a moratorium on new offshore drilling.
Nelson said Friday that the spill has undercut any support for expanding offshore drilling on Capitol Hill. Knocking that provision out of an upcoming climate change measure might also strip it of the Republican support it needs to clear the Senate.
"If the idea was that Senator Graham put this offshore oil drilling provision in the draft climate change bill in order to attract Republican votes, while he himself has now walked way from the negotiations, I can't imagine that there is a snow ball’s chance in hell that it is going to survive," said a senior Senate Democratic aide.
"Senator McCain's 'drill baby drill' comments during the campaign are going to come back to haunt him,” the senior aide said, “and give him another reason to wish that he had never heard of Sarah Palin.”
But Republican strategist Mark McKinnon said the incident will cause both Democrats and Republicans to reconsider their positions on drilling as well as the energy legislation more broadly.
“The new political battle cry is ‘Spill Baby Spill,’ and everyone is scrambling,” McKinnon said. “This potential environmental disaster is changing the equation on energy politics overnight…Members of both political parties are trying to adapt.”
On the Republican side, no major figure came forward to criticize Obama – though several reiterated their support for drilling.
Among the GOP leaders keeping their powder dry was House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who favors more aggressive offshore drilling than Obama.
“Our position is we support an all-of-the-above energy strategy,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said, adding that Boehner supports an “investigation into what went wrong in this situation.”
“Even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen,” Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.
She added: “How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell maintained his support for offshore drilling, although he said he wouldn’t want the BP spill off the coast of Virginia Beach. “Every time there's an airplane crash, we don't say, ‘Well, we don't fly airplanes anymore,’” McDonnell said on WRVA during the monthly “Ask the Governor” program. “We find ways to improve public safety, make it better and contain any environmental impact.”
A later statement from McDonnell’s office stressed that while he still favors new drilling, he understands that the spill’s environmental toll could be severe.
Republicans in the region directly affected by the spill, but also heavily dependent on the oil industry, were also reluctant to predict the political consequences of the breach.
“We support oil drilling but obviously we support responsible drilling. Obviously, it’s a huge spill and we don’t know what the damage is going to be yet,” said Louisiana GOP Chairman Roger Villere.
Villere said he wouldn’t support a moratorium on new drilling, such as that being proposed by Nelson. “To go slow and figure out what’s going on here is important, but not to stop drilling,” the GOP leader said. “It’s not good for what we need to make America free.”
"My sense is that the big negatives because of the immediate environmental impact will lead Texas leaders to lay low in the short term,” said James Henson, a politics and government professor at the University of Texas.
“If the postponement of expanded drilling holds, well there are very few people in the current Texas political leadership, given their temperaments and political affiliations, who will pass up on any opportunity to criticize the Obama administration.
And if it involves appearing to stick up for the oil and gas sector here, [then it’s] all the more likely they’ll take a turn taking shots at the administration."
Earlier this week, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida cited the “horrific” oil spill as he retreated from his tentative support for some drilling far off the Florida coast.
And McKinnon said of Obama, “Questions will be asked and need to be answered about why the threat wasn’t taken more seriously early on.”
But one Democratic strategist said any GOP leader who pursues that tack is going to face trouble.
“The Republicans commenting on this has the credibility of Fat Albert discussing weight loss,” said former Al Gore spokesman Chris Lehane. “It’s a pretty significant stretch for the Republicans to try to score points on an issue that was arguably at the core of their message in the 2008 campaign….
It’s difficult for Republicans to get any real traction on it because they’re so tied to the idea of opening up offshore drilling.”
Still, the White House is trying to head off criticism that it was slow to recognize the gravity of the spill, which was formally designated to be of “national significance” on Thursday, some nine days after an explosion on the rig killed 11 workers and sent crude oil spewing from pipes thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface.
“The federal response has included anticipation and planning for a worst case scenario from day No. 1,” one official said Thursday.
One of the White House’s strategies to deflect any blame for the spill or failings in the response is to stress that the onus is on the well’s owner, British Petroleum, to plan for and react to this kind of incident.
“We will continue to push BP to engage in the strongest possible response,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday.
Some say the Obama Administration’s claim that BP is in charge and federal officials are just aggressively monitoring is absurd, given the magnitude of the crisis.
“That’s nuts,” said Zygmunt Plater, a Boston University law professor who has studied the federal response to oil spills. “I don’t think they’ve thought it through enough….It’s horrific that 20 years after the Exxon Valdez this is still not something we have really planned adequately for, even though it’s inevitable.”
Lehane said he expected that the public would not hold Obama responsible for the spill itself but that in the long term he will be responsible for how it is cleaned up. “You at least get an initial pass, but ultimately this stuff is going to be a problem for the government,” he said. “People don’t trust private corporations to do the right thing.”
John Temperilli, a disaster response specialist with Witt Associates, praised the response efforts so far, but said that Obama is sure to face sharp criticism if the spill spreads from Louisiana’s shores to beaches as far away as the Florida panhandle.
“I know those folks are just petrified because of what we may be facing as we run into the tourist season. A lot of folks around the Gulf Coast are going to be very unhappy regardless of who’s taking action,” he said. “People will blame somebody. Why not the White House?”
The Governor of Florida, now running an Independent bid for senate, says sour grapes didn't lead him to leave the Republican primary.
Gov. Charlie Crist told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley that he is aware of criticism that he withdrew from the primary only after his political fortunes fell against former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is expected to win the Republican nomination handily.
"That's what parties do and that's part of the biggest problem … all they're going to do is attack each other all day long. People like this, they go home and watch cable television, watch broadcast television and they see those kinds of arguments and it breaks their hearts," Crist said in an interview to be aired Sunday on CNN's State of the Union. "They see bickering, and they see nobody standing up and saying, 'We're all Americans, we've gotta to work together.,'"
Crist will face off against the party nominees – likely Rubio and Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek - in November. Several other candidates have qualified for the election without party affiliation, but none are expected to seriously contend for the seat.
The campaign committee of former North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley has run out of money and owes $210,000 for legal bills and a penalty imposed by the State Board of Elections last fall.
A campaign finance report filed last week by The Mike Easley Committee shows it has yet to pay more than $116,000 in legal fees to two law firms.
The committee also had yet to pay nearly $95,000 of the $100,000 penalty ordered by the board because the campaign failed to report dozens of private airplane flights piloted by an Easley political ally.
Most of the expenses incurred by Easley's committee since last year have been for legal expenses, including those for the election board investigation.
So much for Tiger Woods wanting the attention to return to his Golf game.
In a shocking meltdown Friday at the Quail Hollow Championship, Woods matched the worst nine-hole score of his PGA Tour career and wound up with a 7-over 79 to miss a cut for only the sixth time in his 14-year career.
He had three-putt bogeys on consecutive holes. He hit a flop shot that ran over the green and into the water. And he bottomed out on the 15th green with a four-putt double bogey from just over 30 feet.
"It is what it is," Woods said when asked if rust or mechanics were the culprit. "Whatever it was, it wasn't good enough."
Not even close.
Making the performance even more surprising is that Woods was coming off a tie for fourth at the Masters three weeks ago, a remarkable performance considering it was his first competition since a five-month break after being caught cheating on his wife.
This was a big step back.
The 79 was his second-worst score as a pro behind an 81 that Woods shot in the wind-blown third round of the 2002 British Open at Muirfield when he was going for the Grand Slam. His 43 on the back tied his worst nine-hole score on tour; he also shot 43 at the Bay Hill Invitational three years ago, and the 1996 Tour Championship.
"He's obviously got things in his mind other than what's going between the ropes right now," said British Open champion Stewart Cink, who played with Woods. "You've got to learn how to balance what's going on in your life with your golf. And if you're not in a great place mentally, then it sometimes shows up out there."
This was his first time playing at a regular PGA Tour event with public ticket sales, and the crowd was gracious as ever with a few exceptions. Two fans, including a woman, held thumbs-down as Woods walked off the 15th green. Police also escorted away a fan who apparently heckled Woods as he left the 17th green. A friend of the fan, who declined to give his name, said the fan only said, "No red shirt for you on Sunday."
Otherwise, it was clear over the last two days the fans were more interested in Woods as a golfer than anything to do with his personal life. He just didn't give them much to cheer. And he won't be around for the weekend.
Billy Mayfair was the leader through 36 holes. At 8-under 136 after a 68, he had a one-shot lead over two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, who played in Woods' group.
For Woods, it was the first time he had missed a cut since the British Open last summer at Turnberry, and the first time at a regular PGA Tour event since the Disney Classic at the end of the 2005 season.
"Give this guy a chance, though. He'll bounce back," Mayfair said. "We all know that. Everyone on tour knows that. By him missing a few cuts here and there, it's just going to make him come back even stronger. I don't think anyone out here is worried about Tiger, and I'm sure Tiger is not worried about it right now, either."
One shot over the projected cut going to the back nine, Woods bogeyed the next three holes before it really turned ugly. He hit driver on the 329-yard 14th hole well to the right on a hill, leaving him a downhill shot to a green sloping toward the water. His flop shot came out too hot and went into the water for a double bogey.
He had little chance of making the cut at that point, though more drama followed. He four-putted the 15th, missing a 30-inch putt.
"I've seen him struggle like that off the tee," said Cink, who also missed the cut. "But he's usually the magician that gets the ball up and down from everywhere, hits some miraculous shots out of the trees and stuff. But you've got to remember, he hasn't played a lot of golf since about November. It's hard to just come back and be the magician instantly."
For days, as an oil spill spread in the Gulf of Mexico, BP assured the Government the plume was manageable, not catastrophic. Federal authorities were content to let the company handle the mess while keeping an eye on the operation.
But then Government Scientists realized the leak was five times larger than they had been led to believe, and days of lulling statistics and reassuring words gave way Thursday to an all-hands-on-deck emergency response.
Now questions are sure to be raised about a self-policing system that trusted a commercial operator to take care of its own mishap even as it grew into a menace imperiling Gulf Coast nature and livelihoods from Florida to Texas.
The pivot point had come Wednesday night, at a news conference at an oil research center in the tiny community of Robert, La. That's when the nation learned the earlier estimates were way off, and an additional leak had been found.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama set in motion a larger federal mobilization, pledging to deploy "every single available resource" to the area and ordering his disaster and environmental leaders to get down there in person. Only a few days after the Coast Guard assured the country there was "ample time" to protect the coast if oil came ashore, warnings from the government were newly alarming.
"I am frightened for the country, for the environment," David Kennedy, assistant chief of the National Ocean Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press. "This is a very, very big thing, and the efforts that are going to be required to do anything about it, especially if it continues on, are just mind-boggling."
The next Katrina?
The political subtext of the crisis was clear and increasingly on people's minds, whether from a federal office deploying oil-containment booms or from a Louisiana parish awaiting yet another sucker punch from the sea.
Will this be Obama's Katrina? Should the federal and state governments have done more, and earlier? Did they learn the lessons of the devastating hurricane?
Political calculations vied with the increasingly scary Gulf reality — hundreds of thousands of oil and its progression to landfall as soon as Thursday night.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who also is in a hot campaign for the Senate, flew over the slick and commended the federal actions to date but wondered if anyone, really, could be doing enough in this situation. "It appeared to me," he said, "that this is probably much bigger than we can fathom."
The crisis began with a massive explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon on April 20, more than 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. The search for 11 missing workers overshadowed environmental concerns until they were given up for lost.
Rear Adm. Mary Landry, chief of the Coast Guard in the region, said at the outset that most of the oil was burning off, leaving only a moderate rainbow sheen on the water and no sign of a major spill.
"Both the industry and the Coast Guard have technical experts actively at work," she said. "So there's a whole technical team on both sides of the aisle here to ensure we keep the conditions stable."
Two days later, the Deepwater Horizon sank and crews spotted a 1-by-5-mile sheen with a dark center that appeared to be a crude oil mix. Obama got his first briefing on the accident.
Landry said the following day that no oil appeared to be leaking from a well head at the ocean floor, nor was any leaking noted at the surface.
At the White House, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said that sometimes accidents happen, and the loss of the Deepwater Horizon was no reason to back off on the president's recent decision to support expanded offshore drilling.
On Thursday, that policy was challenged by some Democratic lawmakers, now that the fuller extent of the spill was known, and Gibbs acknowledged that details might be revisited.
Throughout last week and into this one, the government was deferring to BP on what was being done at the site and on assessments of progress.
The Coast Guard was not doing its own independent, firsthand assessment of the seabed rupture. Landry repeatedly asserted that BP was the responsible party and would shoulder the costs and organizational duties associated with the cleanup effort while the Coast Guard monitored things and approved the numbers of vessels working the scene and the methods of control.
On Monday, Landry offered assurances that the Gulf Coast should be safe. "This is ample time to protect sensitive areas and prepare for cleanup should the oil impact this area," she said. And at sea, BP officials were "doing their best."
On Wednesday night, she reported the findings of federal experts that up to 5,000 barrels a day were leaking from the well. BP had estimated only 1,000. As well, the company told the Coast Guard a new leak had been found. Obama was briefed on these developments on Air Force One while returning at night from the Midwest.
The equation had changed, like a hurricane setting a new course.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist has declared a state of emergency in six Panhandle counties due to the continuing threat of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Gulf counties are under the order, which activates the National Guard and the state's comprehensive plans to deal with the emergency. It also clears the way to get funding for any necessary cleanup.
The executive order signed by Crist states: "The oil slick is generally moving in a northerly direction and threatens Florida's coast."
Officials say the oil from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico could hit northwest Florida beaches by Monday.
Michael Sole, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said Friday morning to expect Florida landfall from the leaking spill. The spill is about 125 miles wide and 40 miles long.
Sole made the comments at a news conference with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida to discuss the growing environmental danger.
Nelson, using satellite images provided by NOAA, said Florida waters could become polluted by Monday.
President Barack Obama on Friday directed that no new offshore oil drilling leases be issued unless rigs have new safeguards to prevent a repeat of the explosion that unleashed the massive spill threatening the Gulf Coast with major environmental damage.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, meanwhile, declared a state of emergency in the state's Panhandle coastal counties because of the threat.
"The oil slick is generally moving in a northerly direction and threatens Florida's coast," Crist said in the order declaring the emergency in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Gulf counties.
Obama ordered Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to report within 30 days on what new technologies are needed to tighten safeguards against oil spills from deepwater drilling rigs.
"We are making sure any leases going forward have those safeguards," said Obama at a White House Rose Garden event.
Obama's declaration is not expected to have any immediate impact. Under the expanded leasing plan Obama announced a month ago, the first offshore leases would be issued off the Virginia coast in 2012 at the earliest.
It is still unclear what caused the explosion on the BP rig more than 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. About 5,000 barrels of oil a day, 0r 210,000 gallons, are estimated to be spewing from three well leaks on the ocean floor.
Obama said supports domestic drilling for oil and natural gas but that it "must be done responsibly for the safety of our workers and our environment."
Senior adviser David Axelrod earlier defended the administration's response to the April 20 accident, saying "we had the Coast Guard in almost immediately."
He deflected comparisons with the government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, telling ABC's "Good Morning America" that such speculation "is always the case in Washington whenever something like this happens."
Axelrod said "no additional drilling has been authorized and none will until we find out what has happened here."
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sally Brice-O'Hara also faced questions on all three network television morning shows Friday about whether the government has done enough to push oil company BP PLC to plug the underwater leak and protect the coast.
Brice-O'Hara said the federal response led by the Coast Guard has been rapid, sustained and has adapted as the threat grew since a drill rig exploded and sank last week, causing the spill.
She said crews would be unable to skim oil from the surface or burn it off for the next couple of days because of the weather.
Billions in Damages possible
BP, for its part, said Friday it would compensate all those affected by the leak.
"We are taking full responsibility for the spill and we will clean it up and where people can present legitimate claims for damages we will honor them. We are going to be very, very aggressive in all of that," BP CEO Tony Hayward told Reuters.
The cost to the fishing industry in Louisiana could be $2.5 billion while the impact on tourism along Florida's Paradise coast could be $3 billion, Neil McMahon, analyst at investment firm Bernstein, said in a research note on Friday.
The spill could also hit Obama's plans to open some offshore areas of the U.S. where oil exploration is currently barred, to drilling, Hayward acknowledged.
"There may be an industry issue around what may or may not be opened," he said.
However the CEO hopes an effective response to the spill, including a flotilla of around 80 vessels and several aircraft, would reassure people about the risks from drilling.
"It would be bizarre to say it shouldn't influence the debate. How the debate will come out, I think ultimately will be judged by the success we have in dealing with this incident."
Regulations on drilling safety will also come under scrutiny, Hayward predicted.
"Rightly, there will be a reaction. Whenever you have something of this significance, it's right that regulators should look very hard at what they can do to further ensure that something like this never happens again," he said.
He said possible changes could relate to testing of equipment like the blow-out preventer on the ocean floor which failed to operate correctly and shut off the flow of oil, although he added it would be impossible to say how testing could be improved until the cause of the accident was known.
Failures of blow-out preventers are extremely rare and the equipment is regularly tested.
The scale of the disaster could also lead to changes in the rules on who is allowed to operate licenses in the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico, analysts said.
The government could limit operating licenses to larger companies, like BP, which have the deep pockets and operational capability to mount large cleanup operations.
The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez in scope. It imperils hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life.
The leak from the ocean floor proved to be far bigger than initially reported, contributing to a growing sense among some in Louisiana that the government failed them again, just as it did during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Obama dispatched Cabinet officials Thursday to deal with the crisis.
Members of Congress on Thursday had also issued new calls for Obama to reconsider his plan to open vast stretches of U.S. coastline to oil and gas drilling.
The 3 main N.C. Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Friday morning said the oil spill in the Gulf Coast reinforced their opposition to oil and gas exploration off of North Carolina's coast.
Appearing at a taping of WRAL TV's "On The Record," the Democrats said there were too many risks and too little benefits to off shore exploration, Rob Christensen reports.
In doing so, they broke with the Obama Administration which has taken the first steps to opening up sections of the east coast to exploration.
"I don't think off shore drilling is the right answer for North Carolina," said former state Sen. Cal Cunningham. "Based on all the experts estimates there is not meaningful oil or natural gas off the coast of North Carolina to meet the natural security and economic challenges this country faces."
Ken Lewis, a Chapel Hill attorney, said "there is no compelling evidence" there are large oil or natural gas reserves off the North Carolina coast. Lewis said the country should be focusing on energy alternatives and ways to reduce the carbon foot print.
Secretary of Sate Elaine Marshall said she is also skeptical about the value of drilling off the coast. But she said if the federal government required off shore exploration, that North Carolina would get the best deal in terms of revenue for the state and environmental protections.
"North Carolina needs to drive a hard bargain," Marshall said. The program will air Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
Phyllis Wingate-Jones, president of Carolinas Medical Center-Mercy, has been promoted to division president of CMC-NorthEast in Concord. In the new position, she will also be responsible for operations at CMC-University.
Spencer Lilly, president of CMC-University, will move to CMC-Mercy as president.
Martha Whitecotton, administrator of Levine Children’s Hospital, has been named president of that facility.
Laura Thomas, who has been administrator at CMC-Randolph, the county’s behavioral health center, will become its president and will report to Wingate-Jones.
Curtis Copenhaver, who has been interim president of CMC-NorthEast, will serve as interim president of CMC-University while a replacement is found for Lilly.
Dr. Brent Lambert will become vice president and chief medical information officer, a new position .
Wingate-Jones joined CHS eight years ago as chief operating officer of Carolinas Medical Center and has served as president of CMC-Mercy for the past three years.
Lilly has had a long career within CHS, serving for 16 years as president of CMC-University.
Thomas came to CHS in 1994 and has directed the behavioral health division since then.
Whitecotton has also served in a number of positions at CHS, starting as a staff nurse. Levine Children’s Hospital opened under her direction in 2007.
Copenhaver previously served as president of CMC-Mercy and Carolinas Rehabilitation.
Lambert comes to CHS from Carilion Clinic, an eight-hospital system headquartered in Roanoke, Va., where he was vice president of medical informatics.
According to North Carolina General Statute Chapter § 122C-55 Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Act of 1985...
Carolinas Medical Center staff had a Legal Duty to cooperate and warn other coordinating agencies about Kenneth Jermaine Chapman's reports of desiring to harm himself and others, however they INTENTIONALLY didn't.
In addition as illustrated in U.S. Supreme Court case Columbia Medical Center of Las Colinas v Bush, 122 S.W. 3d 835 (Tex. 2003), "following orders" may not protect Nurses and other Non-Physicians from Liability when committing Negligent acts.
Relying on Vicarious Liability or Direct Corporate Negligence, claims may also be brought against hospitals, clinics, managed care organizations or medical corporations for the mistakes of their employees.
Doesn't this all amount to a clear case of Medical Malpractice and GROSS Negligence?
Uh-oh! I believe it does.
I smell a FAT lawsuit brewing with a HUGE settlement for Kenneth Jermaine Chapman's surviving relatives, especially his Child and Mother.
Ching! Ching!
To Kenneth Jermaine Chapman's surviving relatives I suggest you hire a New York Lawyer who is also licensed to practice in North Carolina, than SUE Carolinas Health Care System/ Carolinas Medical Center and Charlotte-Mecklenburg County for Medical Malpractice, Gross Negligence, Mental Distress & Racial Discrimination!
Charlotte I guess it doesn't pay to continue practicing Racial Discrimination.
I told you Charlotte-Mecklenburg is an Extremely Racist region with "Leaders" who don't know what the heck they are doing.
Check out the articles below and learn what Licensed Psychiatrists from across the country had to say about how CMC staff bungled Chapman's care.
Kenneth Jermaine Chapman should have been hospitalized when he showed up at a local emergency room saying he wanted to kill his wife and displaying obvious signs of mental illness, four psychiatrists told the Observer.
Psychiatrists from around the country say they probably would have hospitalized Chapman - even against his will - if they had been called on to treat him.
Chapman twice sought help at CMC-Randolph, once in February and once on March 16 - the same day he killed his wife and two of his children.
Chapman told CMC Clinicians at the Billingsley Road psychiatric hospital that he had access to firearms and wanted to kill his wife, according to records obtained by the Observer.
He later backed away from his threat, saying he would not hurt his wife, Nateesha. But he also told staff he was hallucinating, had a history of alcohol abuse and depression, and had a volatile relationship with his wife.
Both times, CMC Clinicians released Chapman from the emergency room within hours, giving him prescriptions and instructions to call back for an appointment.
CMC Records show no attempt to hospitalize him.
"There's no question" that Chapman should have been hospitalized, says Dr. Janet Taylor, a New York psychiatrist and former clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harlem Hospital. "He's definitely a danger to himself and others."
Officials at Carolinas Medical Center, which runs the Psychiatric hospital for the county under a $16 million contract, say confidentiality laws prohibit them from discussing Chapman's case.
But hospital officials are reviewing how staff at CMC-Randolph handled Chapman's treatment.
The 33-year-old Fed-Ex package handler ultimately killed himself, two weeks after the initial killings.
Chapman's mother, Ruby Cosby, says she's outraged that her son was allowed to leave the hospital when he needed help.
"I lost my son and granddaughter, and other lives were taken because the hospital was Negligent," she says.
"That Negligence cost a lot of lives. What do you have to do or say before anyone pays attention to you crying out?"
Psychiatrists nationally say the decision about hospitalization hinges on whether they believe a patient is dangerous to himself or others. They use a variety of tools to evaluate the risk - including interviews and observation of the patient, consultation with family, and a review of patient medical and behavioral history.
But doctors say they can't be certain who will turn violent, and the decision is ultimately a judgment call.
Five psychiatrists interviewed by the Observer said they couldn't determine whether Chapman should have been hospitalized because they didn't personally evaluate him.
But four other Psychiatrists, recommended by professional associations and well-known medical schools, agreed they would have hospitalized Chapman, based on a detailed description of his hospital visits.
The Doctors did not review Chapman's medical records. And, to avoid influencing their answers, the Observer didn't mention Chapman's eventual killings until they had offered opinions.
The four Psychiatrists agreed that the toxic combination of risks in Chapman's case - Depression, Alcohol Abuse, Threats of Violence and Access to guns - suggested a need for immediate Intervention.
"If the person is depressed, angry with his wife and wanting to kill her, and has access to firearms, I'd certainly be inclined to hospitalize," said Dr. Bernadette Cullen, director of the Johns Hopkins Community Psychiatry Program.
It's not unusual for patients to threaten suicide, psychiatrists say, but explicit homicidal threats are rare and always get their attention.
Dr. Anil Godbole, chairman of Psychiatry at Chicago's Advocate Illinois Medical Center, says patients threaten homicide two or three times a month at his psychiatric emergency department, which sees about 250 patients monthly.
Godbole, who served on President George W. Bush's Commission on Mental Health, said if a patient like Chapman refused to enter the hospital voluntarily, "I would insist ... if he likes it or doesn't like it."
Growing calls for help
Like other mental health facilities in North Carolina, Charlotte's Psychiatric hospital is under stress. With calls and visits steadily climbing, the hospital's 44-bed adult inpatient unit has been above capacity for more than a year.
It's unclear whether any beds were available on March 16. CMC couldn't provide a daily patient count last week. But the occupancy rate for March overall was 105 percent.
Area Mental Health Director Grayce Crockett won't discuss Chapman's treatment. Her department manages the county's mental health care providers, including CMC-Randolph, although the hospital has its own leadership team.
Crockett says even when all of the hospital beds are filled, patient care isn't compromised. If a patient needs to be admitted, she has said, the hospital can transfer him to the state Psychiatric facility in Morganton.
CMC also can send patients to the psychiatric units of general hospitals.
But experts nationally say psychiatrists may hesitate to order an admission if a hospital's beds are full.
"It undoubtedly casts a shadow on the decision-making," says Dr. William Sledge, medical director of the Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital.
The number of psychiatric beds nationally has declined, experts say, and insurance companies increasingly refuse to cover inpatient care except in the most severe cases.
Chapman first went to CMC-Randolph's emergency room on Feb. 28. During the two-hour evaluation, he told clinicians he had been fighting with his wife and thinking about harming her, records show. It was a "chronically volatile" relationship with "verbal and physical conflicts," a doctor wrote. He was previously treated for depression, and had a history of alcohol abuse.
He also had guns.
But Chapman later told staff he wouldn't hurt anyone. Clinicians sent him home with a prescription for medication to treat anxiety and depression. Those medications probably would have taken effect on Chapman within a few days or weeks, psychiatrists say.
Two weeks later, on the morning of March 16, Chapman again appeared at the emergency room.
He had a shouting match with his wife, and he told staff he wanted to kill her, records show. He also reported seeing "shadows of people every day." But later in the visit, Chapman told a nurse and a doctor he wouldn't harm anyone.
A doctor thought Chapman had a "Depressive Disorder" and increased the dosage of Anti-Anxiety medication, records show.
The hospital released Chapman around 6 a.m.
Later that day, police say, Chapman suffocated his wife and 1-year-old daughter and fatally stabbed his 13-year-old stepdaughter.
He spent the next two weeks living in his south Charlotte home with his two surviving children, ages 10 and 2 - while the bodies of his two dead daughters were locked in a bedroom.
When police came to Chapman's home on March 29, they say he shot at them and then took his own life.
'Recipe for disaster'
Under N.C. law, doctors can involuntarily commit mentally ill patients they judge to be a threat to themselves or others.
Chapman's professed change of heart about killing his wife would have complicated a doctor's decision on whether to hospitalize him, Psychiatrists say.
Dr. Marvin Swartz, interim chair of Duke University's psychiatry department, says he couldn't judge whether Chapman should have been admitted without evaluating him.
But he says Clinicians may have concluded they had adequately addressed Chapman's problems in the emergency room.
"If you feel you've turned it around during that visit, sometimes you have to take that risk," he says, "because you can't admit them all."
But Taylor, the New York psychiatrist, says she puts more weight on a patient's initial statements because later comments can be influenced by fears of being committed.
"People start getting nervous about what's going to happen, and they change their tune," she says.
S.C. psychiatrist Gariane Gunter called Chapman's risk factors "a recipe for disaster." A resident at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Gunter says she would not have been persuaded by Chapman's later claims that he wouldn't hurt anyone.
"I don't know what else you need to be really scared for his wife," she says. "He was reaching out".
It's unclear whether hospital staff made any effort to warn Chapman's wife. But the records show no indication that contact was made.
Several of the Psychiatrists interviewed say Clinicians, often by state law, have a duty to warn the targets of such threats. North Carolina has no such law.
Chapman's parents say they wish the hospital had alerted them about their son's troubles. The hospital failed their family, they say.
"He was reaching out," says Chapman's mother, Ruby Cosby, "and they didn't reach back."
The two surviving children are in the custody of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Department of Social Services, temporarily placed with relatives until officials assign the kids a permanent home - or possibly separate homes.
Chapman's 10-year-old daughter keeps in touch with her grandparents with a cell phone the Cosbys gave her when she went to New Jersey for her father's funeral. Chapman's 2-year-old son doesn't yet understand death, says Chapman's stepfather, James Cosby.
"All he knows is that he misses his mother and father."
Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System has been previously sued on numerous occasions by several African-American families for Racist Medical practices leading to premature, medically preventable deaths.
Many of those lawsuits were quietly settled with families of those Black patients who died due to intentional improper care or NEGLIGENCE.
Such lawsuits and bad reputation is the reason why Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System now exist instead of Charlotte Memorial Hospital, the old CMC.
Thus its safe to say Carolinas Medical Center and Charlotte Memorial Hospital are one in the same.
How do I know this?
I always do my research and I talk to people personally affected by what I post on my Blog.
People will tell me things they might not disclose to the Charlotte Observer because the Charlotte Observer has a history of practicing Biased reporting and Discrimination in its publication of articles.
Kenneth Jermaine Chapman was an African-American Charlotte citizen who recently killed three members of his family and later himself.
Prior to his destructive actions he desperately sought Mental Health Care assistance from Charlotte's Carolinas Medical Center.
In fact he sent out an S.O.S. which was intentionally ignored.
Mr. Chapman clearly, verbally expressed to CMC Staff he had thoughts of hurting others and killing himself.
Did CMC Staff report his thoughts to Charlotte DSS even though they knew this man had minor children in the home?
NO!
They didn't give a darn because Ken Chapman was Black and wasn't an affluent citizen.
Now if Ken Chapman had connections with an Affluent, Politically-connected Black Charlotte citizen, than of course they may have taken Mr. Chapman's situation more seriously, but because he was just a poor Black man they didn't give a darn!
The result?
A Black Man who killed his wife, two of his children and than later himself.
If you think Jennifer Roberts (board chair) and the other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Commissioners are seriously concerned about this matter or seriously concerned about investigating Mr. Chapman's case...DON'T BET ON IT!
If you think Charlotte's weak, scared Black Leaders are going to speak up...DON'T BET ON IT!
The only two Charlotte-Meck. County Commissioners who really do care Harold Cogdell Jr. & Vilma Leak (both African-Americans), will be blocked from doing anything constructive by Jennifer Roberts (board chair), "Ms. N.C. Corruption" herself.
This tragic incident helps to further demonstrate how Racism is deeply woven into all facets and levels of Charlotte, NC's community, including the Health Care System.
Charlotte's other main Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital isn't much better.
Its a private facility where Blacks go in but don't come out.
Presbyterian Hospital also has a long history of Black Patients needlessly dying but that's a story for another day.
As I was saying Carolinas Medical Center's staff intentionally did NOT prevent Mr. Chapman's death, nor did they help protect his family however.....
I'll bet Mr. Chapman's surviving relatives receive a huge bill for his so-called "treatment".
In fact thousands upon thousands of African-Americans within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Region have Carolinas Medical Center Medical Bills on their Credit Reports.
Many of those bills are decades old.
Many of those bills are due to Billing errors from Carolinas Medical Center.
Many of those bills are due to Carolinas Medical Center INTENTIONALLY overbilling Black patients.
How does Carolinas Medical Center skirt Federal Law as it relates to Medical Bills which are older than 7 years old?
Carolinas Medical Center pays Equifax, Experian and Trans Union Credit Reporting agencies to sell those old Medical bill accounts to Debt Collectors, who create new account numbers for those decades old bills and continue screwing up the Credit Ratings for hundreds of thousands of North Carolina's Black citizens.
Is this really Racism you ask??
Yes!
For White Patients treated by Carolinas Medical Center staff everything is handled entirely different.
White Patients who visit Carolinas Medical Center for treatment receive proper care regardless of their situation and...
They aren't intentionally overcharged, neither are their Credit Reports damaged even if they don't possess Medical Insurance because NOT every White patient has Private Medical Insurance, just like there are many Black patients treated at CMC who DO possess Private Medical Insurance.
I'd say its time for the Federal Gov't including the FTC, to take a look at how Carolinas Medical Center intentionally provides inadequate treatment to its Black patients, how they consistently & intentionally overbill Black patients and how they are paying big bucks to 3 major Credit Reporting agencies (mainly Equifax) for the sole purpose of selling Medical Bill Accounts which are decades old to Debt Collectors.
Just watch the Levine Family, (old Charlotte money and one of Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System largest contributors), use their big bucks to help defend CMC in any possible lawsuit.
The Levine Family is Charlotte's "Savior".
They often come to Charlotte's aid in a crisis, however ONLY after the crisis occurs.
They run Charlotte's so-called Leaders including Jennifer Roberts and Anthony Foxx.
The Levines are most likely indirectly involved in most of Charlotte's Racist activities being carried out however, because they are super rich everyone is afraid of them.
If Ken Chapman were a White Man residing in Charlotte, NC neither he nor his family members would be dead today.
Or at least his family members would be alive today.
Both Carolinas Medical Center/ Carolinas Health Care System, Charlotte DSS and quite possibly the Levine Family are ALL legally Responsible for the Chapman Family's death stemming from total GROSS NEGLIGENCE.
If I were related to Mr. Chapman's family I would most definitely SUE and demand a Federal Probe be conducted.
Sadly enough Kenneth Jermaine Chapman's relatives are probably uneducated or too afraid of Charlotte's Racist, Unfair systems to take legal action.
Charlotte's Racist, Scared Leaders are aware of this which is why nothing will probably change.
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