Making healthcare safe sounds like a reasonable idea, doesn't it? Of course it does! Why in the world is it so hard to make healthcare safe to begin with? We have all heard about the Institute of Medicine report that says that medical mistakes are a serious problem in our healthcare system. The real question [...]
Hospital errors that lead to serious preventable medical injuries occur at alarming rates. Communication between various caregivers is frequently the cause of these preventable medical errors. I have previously written about a case I tried where the patient's injury was entirely preventable if the handoff from one doctor to the next had been improved. See [...]
Speak up and stay alive is all about your healthcare and the need for you to be an active participant in your healthcare. I recently met Pat Rullo, an author, speaker and trainer on health care issues and surviving hospital care. Her story is not unique. What is unique about her is that she is [...]
I recently published an article entitled "Think Before You Sue" It was published in a local monthly magazine called the Beachwood Buzz, a monthly magazine circulated to all homes and businesses in the eastside suburb where my office is located. In that article I addressed some of the topics and concerns that many people have [...]
For attorneys in Ohio, it is rare to encounter an uninsured physician who provides care in a hospital setting. This is rare because every Ohio hospital that I am familiar with requires staff physicians to obtain professional liability insurance as a condition of staff membership. However, on occasion, the staff physician will terminate his/her staff privileges and not obtain [...]
Communication errors in the setting of a doctor's office, nursing home or hospital can lead to devastating, yet preventable medical errors. Despite all the talk about changes being made in the healthcare field to improve patient safety, the medical-legal team at Mishkind Kulwicki Law continues to see medical errors due to communication deficits on an [...]
In Ohio, hospital negligence remains a common source of medical malpractice claims. AARP's Bulletin recently published an article about the dangers of hospital admissions, entitled "Hospitals May Be the Worst Place to Stay When You're Sick." The article notes that little has changed since the Institute of Medicine published "To Err is Human" in 1999, which [...]
As a medical negligence lawyer and healthcare advocate, I am frequently critical of healthcare providers for medical errors that have caused grievous harm or wrongful death to my clients. Recently, my father was hospitalized at a large Ohio hospital and, sadly, passed away during the hospitalization. The experience afforded me a rare opportunity to watch physicians, nurses [...]
A recent article in the AARP Bulletin, summarized what many of us have known for a long time. Hospitals are not safe, especially when you are sick! While we know about the world class care that certain hospitals advertise you will receive, what we don't hear about enough is how the healthcare system is broken. As [...]
The use of dirty surgical tools -- scalpels, trocars and other instruments contaminated with bodily fluids or tissues -- is an obvious source of hospital infection. A new study suggests that this problem is more widespread than previously thought. Read more here: http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10471434-today-investigates-dirty-surgical-instruments-a-problem-in-the-or. Worse yet, surgeons and hospitals are essentially unregulated when it comes to these foul [...]