Hospitals are supposed to be places where critically ill or injured people can receive constant care and attention. They cost millions to build, are equipped with the latest technology, and offer access to healthcare professionals 24/7. Yet, you would be hard-pressed to find someone – anyone – who likes hospitals, and we bet there is [...]
Two incredible stories came across our desks this week with regards to medical malpractice. The first dealt with a doctor at Yale Hospital in Connecticut, who removed the wrong rib of a patient during a surgical procedure, and left metal coils inside the patient’s body. According to Medical Daily, the doctor added insult to injury [...]
For years, scientists and doctors have studied Alzheimer’s as a (sometimes genetic) condition affecting the brain. The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease with no cure and no way to determine whether or not a person will develop it, unless it is one of the rare genetic forms. A person with [...]
A power morcellator is a tiny device that allows surgeons to remove uterine fibroids and perform hysterectomies laproscopically. By using this device, a surgeon can perform a procedure in a minimally invasive way, which means faster recovery times and less pain for women patients. A power morcellator may also be used in nephrectomies or splenectomies [...]
The country’s largest medical malpractice insurer is called The Doctors Company, and they have released new data indicating that electronic health records, or EHRs, are becoming increasingly common in medical malpractice claims. In fact, they say that claims involving EHR errors or problems have essentially doubled over the last year. These errors are affecting patients’ [...]
When we are ill and prescribed a medication, we expect that our doctors will prescribe the right one – and we trust our pharmacists to fill that prescription correctly. But a new report out of NBC New York finds that “an estimated 30 to 50 million prescriptions are filled incorrectly each year,” which amounts to [...]
President Obama’s State of the Union Address on January 20th referenced a Precision Medicine Initiative, which the President hopes will bring American scientists and doctors closer to discovering a cure for diseases like diabetes and cancer. The term “precision medicine” refers to the targeting of diseases caused by specific factors or mutations in a smaller [...]
Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, is one of the most common hospital acquired infections (HAI). It spreads easily and recurs in about 20% of patients. The C. diff bacterium inflames the colon (a condition known as colitis), and usually takes hold because patients on antibiotics cannot fight off the bacterium. We have discussed the seriousness [...]
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer, who manufactures and distributes Lipitor, is facing a class-action lawsuit with more than 4,000 plaintiffs – and more lawsuits are filed every day. These suits alleges that some women who used Lipitor to help control their cholesterol have developed Type 2 diabetes as a result, and that Pfizer was aware of [...]
We recently spoke about a case regarding a man named Charles Williams who suffered an apparent mental break, which led to his being shot to death by police officers. On November 21, 2014, the Court of Appeals ruled that “Health care providers are immune from liability both when they evaluate and involuntarily admit an individual [...]
