A recent study in Neurology shows that stroke rates are increasing among younger patients. This is concerning, not just a trend in public health, but also in terms of a risk for substandard medical care and medical malpractice claims. When diseases and medical conditions that are typically seen in older patients begin affecting younger patients, [...]
I recently read a great article about surgical errors, 10 Red Flags in General Surgical Malpractice Cases, by another medical malpractice lawyer, Todd Hendrickson. The article lists 10 post-operative developments that can be overlooked by busy surgeons, but should raise concerns. When a surgeon ignores a red flag, there may be grounds for a medical negligence claim [...]
Hospital infections are an increasing problem in the U.S. According to a study published in Gastroenterology, the number of deaths from one such infection, Clostridium difficile infection (also called c diff or c. difficile), have increased from 2195 in 2002 to 7251 in 2009 - a 230% increase. C. Diff is now the 9th leading cause of [...]
I predict an increase in medical malpractice cases arising out of failure to undertake proper suicide prevention measures. My prediction is based on recent trends in suicide rates and the medical community's typical failure to keep pace with such societal trends. We have all heard the PSA that goes "suicide is preventable and its causes are [...]
Victims of medical errors typically experience a range of emotions, including confusion, disbelief, grief, guilt, betrayal and anger. In the aftermath of this emotional rollercoaster, many people have a burning desire to hold the responsible parties accountable. People often feel strongly that they don't want this catastrophe to happen to anyone else. While this sense of injustice [...]
Mishkind Kulwicki Law recently settled a case involving medical errors that occurred when a patient was transferred from one facility to another. We often see mistakes made at this critical time. In fact, physicians have a name for this common type of error: "hand-off error." Typically, the error occurs when key information about the patient is not communicated [...]
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) acknowledges what advocates for consumers of healthcare have long known: caps on damages in medical malpractice claims do not work. The NEJM article, titled "A Systematic Approach to Containing Healthcare Spending," explains that "[s]trategies to control costs associated with medical malpractice and defensive medicine must be responsible [...]
The Archives of Internal Medicine reports that a simple blood test can accurately rule in or rule out heart attacks in three-quarters of patients with acute chest pain. The test looks for a byproduct of heart attacks, called troponin, that appears in the patient's blood. This test is a promising new addition to the various studies [...]
Medication errors happen all too often, usually due to misfilling mistakes made by a pharmacist, mistakes made at the time of administration by a nurse or inadequate followup by a physician. As horrifying as negligent medication errors are, consider something worse: an intentional medication error. That's exactly what the US Department of Justice found when investigating [...]
One of the primary functions of a hospital is to provide adequate nursing staffing to monitor and treat patients. Both for-profit and not-for-profit hospitals have long attempted to cut costs by understaffing and, thereby overworking, their nursing staff. This cost-cutting (and corner-cutting) practice often has dire consequences for patients. A recent study points out one less-than-obvious consequence [...]