For many businesses, workplace safety is a constant balancing act. Managers seek to find the point at which the money they are willing to invest in employee safety balances against the costs of a worker’s injuries. After that point, many businesses draw a line and refuse to invest any further.
A Missouri woman has filed a lawsuit against a hospital and neurosurgeon after an operation was performed on the wrong side of her brain, according to the complaint. Regina Turner, 53, claims that she was admitted for a “left-sided craniotomy bypass” but received the operation on the right side of
According to research that is beginning to come to light, veterans of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are dramatically more likely to find themselves involved in a serious and potentially fatal car accident. For some veterans, the risk of dying in a fatal car crash is 76 percent higher
According to statistics released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission last week, nearly 400 kids die in swimming pools in America every year. Most of these victims are below age 5, suggesting that a lack of basic supervision likely played a role in many of the fatalities. This report
Our last post introduced a survey from Childbirth Connection. Based on responses from 2,400 new mothers, the researchers concluded that far too many doctors are using potentially dangerous intervention procedures that may not be medically necessary. One big concern that emerges from this research is that one unnecessary intervention can
Neurosurgeons are an elite group, featuring some of the most brilliant minds in the medical profession. They are brain surgeons, after all. While intelligence is a definite requirement, neurosurgeons need other important attributes, including a willingness to tackle tough surgeries where a good outcome is unlikely. While self-confidence is crucial
One of our posts from last week dealt with new data that show the persistent dangers associated with drowsy driving. Fatigue-related crashes killed at least 11,000 Americans in the last decade. As we discussed in that post, a number of obstacles prevent law enforcement authorities from effectively deterring or reducing
Last week, we discussed recent evidence that medical malpractice litigation has a consistently positive impact on American healthcare. This post picks up where we left off last time. Another important factor is that doctors and hospitals are using information from lawsuits to identify problem areas in patient safety and make
In some motor vehicle accidents, the important questions are easy to answer. For example, when witnesses or videotapes show one car driving through a red light and hitting another car, it is simple to prove that the first driver is responsible for what happened. Other cases are not as clear
Federal authorities are warning of a danger that most people have probably experienced at some point in their life: driving while drowsy. Statistics show that many Americans readily admit to coming perilously close to falling asleep behind the wheel. An even more troubling statistic shows that many people actually do