Hospital Malpractice

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

Novel Approach, Say You’re Sorry.

Sources: sorry works! coalition; Healthcare Providers Insurance Exchange; National Institutes of Health; National Institute of Medicine It seems obvious to most of us but the importance of making an early an honest disclosure to a patient could mean the difference between no litigation at all or an expedient an amicable settlement.  Contrast that with the lack of [...]

Men Over Age 50 are being Victimized by Overly Agressive Surgery!

Sources:  Duke Medical School, International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, Vol. 82, Issue 5, 1 April 2012, p. 781; NCCN Guidelines for Prostate Cancer; National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence; James Buchanan Brady Institute at Johns Hopkins Memorial Hospital; Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital  Editorial After 30 years of Medical Malpractice Litigation, I have come to recognize that medicine has patterns [...]

Physican Group Advocates Less Testing for Patients.

Sources:  Choosing Wisely.org (An Initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation) Press Release; NY Times Health Blog Under the "educational initiative" of Choosing Wisely, led by the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation and involving 8 other specialty boards are recommending less routine testing for their patients.  The thought process is that unnecessary [...]

New Jersey Same Day Surgery Center's Reviewed

Source:  NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (NJ DHSS) What are Ambulatory Surgery Centers? Ambulatory Surgery Centers or "Same Day Surgery Centers" are facilities where patients can undergo certain types of surgery or medical procedures, recover and go home the same day. Eye, knee and shoulder surgery, cosmetic surgery, and procedures such as colonoscopy screening for [...]

Prostate Cancer -Get the Facts

Sources: US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Cancer.org Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer Amercian men will face.  1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.  The American Cancer Society 2012 estimates for prostate cancer in the United States are: 241,740 new cases of prostate cancer will [...]

How Healthy is your County in New Jersey?

Sources:  The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the Dartmouth Health Atlas, the U.S. Census Bureau The 2012 County Health Rankings report, the third annual, is out today and measures each of the 3,005 counties in the U.S.  The report, which draws on data from the CDC, the Dartmouth Health Atlas, the U.S. [...]

How healthy is your County in Pennsylvania?

Sources:  The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the Dartmouth Health Atlas, the U.S. Census Bureau The 2012 County Health Rankings report, the third annual, is out today and measures each of the 3,005 counties in the U.S.  The report, which draws on data from the CDC, the Dartmouth Health Atlas, the U.S. [...]

A Cheap Plastic Ring May Prevent Premature Birth

Sources:  The Lancet online, BBC Health They aren't entirely new, however, in one of the first radomised and controlled studies, women with a short cervix (identified by transvaginal ultrasound at 20-23 weeks) had a simple silicon pessary device inserted to determine if this might reduce the risk of preterm labor.  A Brief Background Being born [...]

Hospitals Are More Dangerous on Weekends

Sources: BBC Health News; Dr. Foster Intelligence Hospital Guide 2001-2011; Journal of the American Medical Association A British research company, Dr. Foster Intelligence, has studied hospitals in the UK from 2001 to 2011 and noticed that there was a "worrying" 10% spike in deaths compared with weekdays across 147 British Hospitals.  The researchers concluded that some of those [...]

$30 Million Jury Verdict for Incorrect Medication Dosage

Injury: Severe brain injury from incorrect administration of medication to a 5 year old boy in a Pediatric Hospital Age of Patient at Inury: 5 years of age Result: $30 Million Jury Verdict Court: Philadelphia County, PA Comments:  Our clients suffered greatly from the incorrect administration and incorrect dosing of medication at a well-known Pediatric [...]