Delay in diagnosis of lung cancer is a common basis for medical malpractice claims in the State of Ohio. Results of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) published recently in the journal Cancer show that screening of smokers for lung cancer saves lives. In fact, screening of all eligible heavy smokers has the potential to prevent about 12,000 deaths each year [...]
For treatment of stroke, "time is brain." This means the sooner that treatment can restore blood flow to the brain, the more likely the patient will have a good outcome. I have previously written about one such treatment: clot busting medications. Clot busters, such as tPA, must be given within 4.5 hours of the onset [...]
A delay in diagnosis of cancer can spell disaster for young women with breast cancer. Physicians often miss a breast cancer diagnosis in young women because of a simple bias that the disease usually affects only older women. This is just not true. It is well-known that breast cancer can afflict younger women (usually defined as women [...]
When the diagnosis of stroke is unnecessarily delayed, the patient's treatment options become critically limited. Thromboembolic strokes, i.e., those caused by blood clots (thrombus) that travel (embolize) through blood vessels to cut off blood flow to the brain, can be treated by clot busting medications (thrombolytics such as tPA), but only if treatment is commenced within a certain [...]
Surgical errors are often preventable. Clearly, wrong side surgeries are preventable. In 2002, the National Quality Forum published a list of 28 Serious Reportable Events (SREs) "to increase public accountability and consumer access to critical information about healthcare performance." The list includes a number of common preventable surgical errors, including wrong site surgery (e.g., an operation performed [...]
When we write about birth injuries, our focus is typically on the newborn. Injuries such as cerebral palsy or brachial plexus injury, such as Erb's palsy, are common sources of medical negligence litigation in Ohio. But we also know that preventable injuries can happen to a mom as well. Today, I would like to discuss one complication [...]
For patients, trusting your physician to put your interests first is taken for granted. But what happens when the physician is influenced by gifts from pharmaceutical companies to push a patient toward a particular medication irrespective of the patient's best interests? We see the influence of pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers on physicians' practices growing all the time. [...]
New guidelines published by the American Heart Association (AHA) urge administration of clot busting medications, called tissue plasminogen activator (or, TPA), within 60 minutes of arrival at a hospital. TPA dissolves clots. It can be given intravenously or applied directly to the clot through a catheter in a procedure performed by an interventional radiologist. TPA can only be [...]
A type of brain injury, called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), can occur as a result of complications from use of Tysabri (natalizumab) by patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). PML was first identified in immunocompromised patients, such as AIDS and cancer patients. However, it can arise when Tysabri reactivates a dormant viral illness called JC Virus (also known [...]
Caregiver fatigue can result in hospital negligence. A recent study shows that hospitalists are being overworked to the detriment of patient safety. There has been an increasing trend toward the use of hospitalists to provide primary care services to hospitalized patients. Hospitalists are typically internists or family practice physicians who provide general medical care but restrict their [...]