Transfer of hospital patients can spread MRSA! Source: BBC Health; PloS Medicine. In our continuing education on antibiotic resistance and its impact upon patient care the Dutch medical journal PloS Medicine has published a study spanning 26 European countries
Breast Cancer Mammography Recommendations Confuse
Sources: New England Journal of Medicine; American Cancer Society THE LATEST study on the the controversial guidelines for mammography in the U.S., issued in 2009, calling for screening every two years rather than annually for women over 50 years old, suggests that breast cancers may be missed. The study assessed the impact of revised guidelines issued [...]
Hospital Malpractice 1 in 10 Patient’s Readmitted in 30 Days
Source: Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Volume 215, Issue 3 , Pages 322-330, September 2012 Hospital Malpractice Hospital Malpractice continues to be a problem. An article published recently in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons sheds some rare light on hospital care and legislation aimed at reimbursing Medicare and Medicaid for [...]
Hospital Malpractice -Medicare Penalties
Sources: Kaiser Health News; Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Is Hospital Malpractice a problem? The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services thinks so. It wants hospitals to curb its patient re-admissions starting this fall, or pay the price, Kaiser Health News reported. CMS will hope to recoup about $280 million in payments from about 2,200 [...]
Tort Reform -The Big Lie
Source: Public Citizen Report -Congress Watch Division (Public Citizen is a national non-profit consumer organization with more than 300,000 members and supporters). Medical malpractice payments were at their lowest level on record in 2011 In contrast to the hundreds of thousands of annual avoidable adverse events (and tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths) that [...]
Liver Cancer May Not Be Your Primary Cancer
Sources: National Cancer Institute; American Cancer Society; PUBMED THE LIVER is one of the largest organs in the body. It has four lobes and fills the upper right side of the abdomen inside the rib cage. Among it's important functions are: Filtering harmful substances from the blood; Making bile to help digest fats from food; and, [...]
You are Not Too Young to Have a Stroke -or to be Misdiagnosed
Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases Volume 20, Issue 6 , Pages 523-527; Wall Street Journal Health Blog THE vast majority of strokes will occur in people over the age of 65, however, 10-15% of the stroke victims in the United States are of age 45 and younger! A study of 57 young stroke victims published [...]
Cut Ureter -a Serious Complication of Obstetric and Gynecologic Surgery
Sources: Danish Medical Journal -Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica; MEDLINE; Years of Medical Malpractice Litigation Experience with Women's Health Issues URETERAL injury is one of the most serious complications of obstetric and gynecologic surgery. Injuries to the urinary tract, particularly the ureter, are the most common cause for legal action against obstetric and gynecologic surgeons. Iatrogenic [...]
Surgical Malpractice Ureteral Injury From Obstetrical/Gynecologic Surgery Common Cause of Lawsuits
Source: Danish Medical Journal -Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica DANISH researchers, in connection with the Department of Anesthesia of the University of Copenhagen and the Insurance Association of Denmark, have studied reports of 136 ureteral injuries which constitute surgical malpractice in gynecological and obstetrical surgeries which resulted in litigation and insurance claims. Their findings? Failure to dissect and identify the [...]
$350,000 Settlement for Ureteral Injury Following C-Section
Injury: Injured ureter during obstetric surgery resulting in multiple surgeries to repair, chronic urinary difficulty and urinary tract infection and pain and discomfort Age of Patient at Injury: 37 years old Result: $350,000 Settlement Court: Lancaster County, PA Comment: Our client was a young mother who had a c-section with her second child. During the [...]
Almost 30% of ICU Patients are Misdiagnosed!
Sources: Johns Hopkins University; MEDLINE Researchers at Johns Hopkings University's School of Medicine have recently made their long-term review of autospy case studies known. According to their extrapolation, "Our data suggest that as many as 40,500 adult patients (1 in 4) in an ICU in USA may die with an ICU misdiagnoses annually. Despite this, diagnostic errors [...]