http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/27/n...l/27atkins.html


if "journalists'" know that this is a lame attempt to draw some negative publicity towards atkins why do they fall into the trap? with this particular author i know the answer. if this gets widely reported it's plain ridiculous!

Its a BS publicity thing by PCRM and now my email box is filled with stupid news alerts about this nonsense!

I don't believe a word of it. The suit should be dismiss if it really exists.

Well, for a start how can anyone PROVE this guy has been on the Atkins diet anyhow and secondly - who knows if he's been doing it properly??

I'm sorry folks, no offence intended - but the "lets sue everyone" mentality in the US SUCKS!! If that kind of law suit was presented in the UK it'd be laughed out of court!!

My thoughts: If he was on the diet for two years, even tho his cholesterol #'s went up to "dangerous" levels, then it sounds to me like he willingly ignored the blood levels, so he's responsible, not Atkins Inc. If he wasn't on the diet for that two year period, then how can he blame it on the plan?

As others have said, this is just PCRM making noise. It won't hold up in court....or in the minds of most intelligent people.

This guy popped up a while ago in relation to the PCRM, one of the few they tried to use to demonstrate how bad LC is. Personally, the association with PCRM screams one thing to me. This guy is a liar, and I doubt he was even on a LC plan. I'd have to say I'm 99% convinced he is a stooge for the PCRM and I hope they both get caught in a big lie and someone goes to jail. I could be wrong, but it is just too fishy to ignore.

Yeah. I believe this is the same poor guy that Barnard and his crackpots tried to exploit for his 'impotency' problems a while back.

10 million people on Atkins, and all they can find is this one half-baked publicity stunt

At least they printed the Atkins comments including the description of PCRM as a vegan group out to convince everyone not to eat meat of any kind. I felt the article was pretty balanced. And it ended well stating that the suit was probably done for publicity.

Why hasn't Veronica Atkins sued these the Dr. in Nebraska and others for using false pretenses to get Dr. A's medical records and then the people that released his death weight?

Agreed that this suit is nonsense. From The Scotsman:

Lawsuit Seeks Block on Atkins Diet

By Mark Sage, PA News, in New York

A businessman is suing the estate of the late diet guru Dr Robert Atkins, claiming that the popular eating plan clogged his arteries and left him needing surgery.

Jody Gorran claimed in a lawsuit that his cholesterol level rocketed after going on the high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet.

After following the plan for two years, the 53-year-old from Florida, needed surgery to open a clogged artery.

Atkins Nutritionals hit back at the lawsuit saying science “has repeatedly reaffirmed the safety and health benefits of Atkins”.

It claimed that the suit was a publicity stunt because Mr Gorran is backed by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which promotes a vegan diet.

Under the Atkins plan, dieters are able to eat meat and other proteins but cut out carbohydrates. Critics claim that a diet rich in red meat can cause cholesterol levels to soar.

Mr Gorran, a wealthy owner of a manufacturer of solar panels for swimming pools, claimed in his lawsuit that his own cholesterol shot from 146, within the normal range, to a dangerous 230 while he was on the diet.

In October 2003, after suffering chest pains, doctors found one of his major arteries was almost totally blocked.

Surgeons performed an angioplasty and inserted a stent to keep the artery open.

Mr Gorran, of Delray Beach, claims that before he went on the diet tests had shown that his arteries were clear.

His lawsuit, lodged yesterday, seeks over £15,000 and an injunction on Atkins Nutritionals promoting the diet.

Mr Gorran was not immediately available for comment.

But he told the New York Times: “I contend there ought to be a warning on this diet.

“I’m seeking an injunction to prevent them from selling their products, books, or having their Web site without a warning.”

He admitted that he was seeking publicity: “The whole thing is based on getting the word out.

“Even if the suit never gets anywhere, we’ll be out there and people will start to think,” he said.

Atkins Nutritionals said in a statement that the Physicians Committee for Responsible Nutrition was “a well-known vegan and animal rights group, (which) has a long history of initiating these kinds of scare tactics that are designed to convince the American public to stop eating animal protein of any sort”.

"Mr Gorran, of Delray Beach, claims that before he went on the diet tests had shown that his arteries were clear."

Yeah, how many people even bother getting lipid tests before starting Atkins, let alone pay for test to show that your arteries are clear. It's too perfect to believe.

[More background info on this Gorran dude. - gotbeer]

Man On A Mission To Put Teeth In Negligent Employment Law

http://www.thecrier.com/archive/features21Feb2003.htm

A former Wellington resident instrumental in helping parents obtain background checks on those entrusted with the safety of their children is now on another important mission — he is seeking reform of a state law which relieves employers of the responsibility of doing background checks on their employees.

Jody Gorran, who now resides in Delray Beach, founded the National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse in 1996. He is now focusing on a 1999 state law regarding negligent hiring. “In December, the First District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling on the constitutionality of the overall tort legislation regarding negligent hiring,” Gorran said. “Basically, negligent hiring no longer exists in Florida. For instance, a moving company can now higher someone who has a criminal history of rape. This person could attack a housewife in her home, and the family can no longer sue the moving company.”

Gorran noted that by changing an and to an or in a section of an amended State House bill, employers are no longer required to do a background checks on their employees. Gorran said that he will hold a press conference in Tallahassee at the end of February to seek legislative support to change the wording.

“What I’m hoping to do,” Gorran said, “is to create enough interest in this so that in the current legislative session, a senator or representative has enough guts to amend a current piece of legislation to change the law from or to and.”

Gorran was instrumental in the creation of the Volunteers for Children Act, which he worked on with Congressman Mark Foley (R-West Palm Beach) in 1997. The bill was signed into law a year later by President Bill Clinton. The Volunteers for Children Act allows organizations that work with children, the elderly, or individuals with disabilities the right to request criminal history background checks of their volunteers and employees from the FBI.

Gorran said he first became involved in the issue seven years ago when he served on the Home Safe Board of Directors (now the Children’s Place at Home Safe). Home Safe is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children who have been sexually abused.

“This got me to thinking that something should be done to prevent these situations from occurring,” Gorran said. “Forty-six percent of child molesters are known to the victim’s family. It seemed to me that it would be nice if persons with a criminal history were kept away from kids in the first place.”

In a NFPCSA press release, Gorran wrote that his aim is to “empower parents to take responsibility for the protection of their children by helping them demand FBI fingerprint checks of the coaches, Scout masters, and group leaders to whom they willingly turn over their kids on a daily basis without having any idea what may lurk in their past.”

“I want to see all Little League teams do fingerprint-based background checks of coaches through the FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] and the FBI,” Gorran said. “If an organization chooses not to do that, then it is the responsibility of the parent.”

Gorran added that his web site explains how any parent can go up to any coach to request a fingerprint-based background check. By paying a certified check or money order of $18, the subject can send a request for a “report for personal review” to the FBI. In two to three weeks, the applicant will receive either a rap sheet or notification that the person in question has no criminal record, which he is at liberty to share with interested parents.

Photo of Gorran:



from http://showideas.com/First/NA-1_child_abuse.htm

http://home.businesswire.com/portal...836&newsLang=en

May 27, 2004 12:05 AM US Eastern Timezone

Florida Millionaire Announces Lawsuit vs. Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.

for Thursday (May 27)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

Florida Millionaire Announces Lawsuit vs. Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.

"Atkins Diet Caused Heart Disease" Says Plaintiff in Personal Injury Suit; Seeks Warning Label on all Atkins Diet Products

WHAT: Florida businessman Jody Gorran will announce that he has filed a personal injury lawsuit in Palm Beach County, FL, County Court against Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., and the estate of the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins, claiming that following the Atkins diet regimen led to near-fatal heart disease requiring cardiac surgery to save his life. He is asking for damages and seeking to have health-risk warning labels placed on all Atkins products.

WHO: Jody Gorran. Plaintiff, Chairman of the Board, Aquatherm Industries, Inc.

Neal Barnard, M.D., President, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Dan Kinburn, Esq., Sr. Counsel, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

David T. Nash, M.D., President, Syracuse Preventive Cardiology Center, NY

WHEN: Thursday, May 27 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: National Press Club (Zenger Room),
529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC

To listen to and participate in the press conference, media
can call 888-793-1728 for two-way teleconferencing.

Conference code: 52704

WHY: Six months prior to embarking on the Atkins diet regimen, Gorran, 53, a prominent Delray Beach, Florida, businessman, underwent a heart scan that revealed he was in excellent health. No plaque or occlusions were found. He followed the high-fat, low- carbohydrate Atkins Diet for 2 1/2 years, from May 2000 to October 2003, at which time he was overcome with severe angina. A cardiac work-up revealed that he had 99 percent blockage in one of his coronary arteries. Gorran's doctors performed an angioplasty to open the blocked artery and implanted a drug-coated stent to keep it open. He was advised by his doctors to go off the Atkins regimen immediately because of the high amounts of saturated fat allowed on the diet.

Contacts

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Jeanne McVey, 202-686-2210, ext. 316
415-509-1833 (cell)
jeannem~pcrm.org
or
Colleen Young, 202-686-2210, ext. 330
202-258-0566 (cell)
cyoung~pcrm.org

Nope! I don't think it was balanced -- however, as a Californian you probably aren't that familiar with the Times, so I offer this post with a spoonful of cauliflower cheese casserole, just from the oven. Because I am a conservative living in New York City for 20 years, I am very familiar with the Times and their balance and enjoy spotting their little tricks.

Marian Burrios knows this group is bogus, so she offered us the Atkins people quote for balance. But smack in the middle of the piece (which annoyingly ran with a picture of the man staring at us during my morning's soft boiled egg) she was able to quote Havard's Dr. Sacks -- a low carb critic. She's simply using this fake lawsuit to promote her own anti-low carb bias.

What I've missed seeing her write about in the Times (I may be in error here, because I'm not that careful of a Times reader) is any reporting on the two most recent studies, yet which yet again show low carb's effectiveness and safety.

The twists and turns the Times took admiting that a drink of booze a day had any health benefits was fun to watch. It had long been reported elsewhere. For what it's worth, I keep my copy of the Times with the granulated sugar, and far away from the gin.

Show me a successful company/person and I will show you a bunch of lawyers drooling for them to make a mistake.

Anyone that has made a large public successes WILL BE sued in the US. End of story.

Bye bye.

Tom.