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.
Swimming Pool Dangers: Supervising Adults May Be Liable
Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Improve Patient Safety, Part 2
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.
Workplace Safety: Should Employers Provide Safest Equipment?
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.
Elective Deliveries: On The Outs At Hospitals, Risks Remain, Pt. 2
Our last post introduced a developing trend at American hospitals. More facilities are responding to a growing consensus that elective deliveries are unreasonably dangerous for mothers and infants-hospitals around the nation are beginning to outright ban these procedures.
Obama Administration Plans To Improve Day Care Safety
In what will likely be a welcome move for countless Ohio families, the health officials in the Obama administration are working to implement stricter safety requirements in child-care facilities around the nation. The proposals include background checks for employees and guidelines for more comprehensive safety training.
Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Improve Patient Safety, Part 1
A recent editorial in the New York Times spotlights the benefits to patients and consumers that result from medical malpractice litigation. Advocates of so-called tort reform have been mounting a strong campaign that has been successful in many states.
Elective Deliveries: On The Outs At Hospitals, Risks Remain, Pt. 1
As many of are readers already know, obstetricians in Ohio and around the nation often allow or even encourage elective delivery procedures. Elective procedures include everything from early inductions to voluntary (read: unnecessary) c-sections.
Veterans Face Higher Car Crash Risks
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 than for drivers in the general population.
Cascading Complications: One Wrong Step Can Unexpectedly Harm Patients
One of our recent posts looked at the high rate of unnecessary intervention procedures that American doctors often use in the birthing context. That post explained some of the reasons for why it is important to carefully consider whether a procedure is truly necessary - and this week a sad case is offering a timely example of what can go wrong.
Malpractice Reform: Payments To Victims Not A System-Drain
When legislators, politicians and lobbyists talk about "medical malpractice reform," they usually have in mind strict limits on the amount of money that hospitals and doctors have to pay to compensate victims. In many states, these "reform" efforts result in caps on recovery. Victims who suffer medical malpractice-related injuries in those states after a doctor's mistake can only recover as much as the statute allows.
Inspiration: Doctor Overcomes Cerebral Palsy To Help Other Patients
Despite the growing awareness of the challenges that face children and families who struggle with the effects of cerebral palsy, it is hard for many people to truly understand what these people face. An inspirational doctor from Saint Louis offers a striking exception: she fought her own battle against cerebral palsy.
More On Drowsy Driving: FDA Changes Ambien Warnings
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 the numbers of these wrecks.
Drowsy Driving And Motor Vehicle Safety
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 doze while driving.
Survey Warns Of Unnecessary Delivery Interventions, Part 2
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.
Survey Warns Of Unnecessary Delivery Interventions, Part 1
According to a recent survey conducted by a nonprofit maternity and childbirth-focused organization, many pregnant women undergo unnecessary, invasive and potentially dangerous procedures. This research has troubling implications for expecting mothers in Ohio and around the nation - another indication that the medical profession needs to continue refining care standards.
Most Common Cause Of Medical Malpractice: Negligent Diagnosis
When we think of medical malpractice, our first thoughts often race to the most shocking kinds of mistakes. For example, surgical errors, mistaken amputations and prescription overdoses are horrific, headline-grabbing scenarios. According to new research, however, the most common situation in which medical malpractice injures American patients may be the initial diagnosis.
Fatal Ohio Motorcycle Accident Could Require More Investigation
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 and it can take an experienced and resourceful advocate to determine what went wrong and who is to blame.
FMCSA Shuts Down Truck Driver Who Killed Child Near School Bus
Drivers know that you stop when you see a school bus with its lights flashing. Yet, truck driver Johnny Allen Spell ignored the important law, even as children exited the school bus he was illegally passing. Tragically, a child was killed because of Spell's foolish actions. Cowardly, Spell fled the scene, rather than trying to help save his young victim's life.
Poor Neurosurgery Outcomes: Malpractice Or Mere Misfortune?
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.
Woman Files Suit After Operation On Wrong Side Of Brain
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.
Charter Bus Crashes On I-70 In Columbus, 15 Children Injured
On Sunday, 16 students and three adults were riding in a bus when it crashed in Columbus. The bus was travelling from St. Louis to New York when the driver lost control while exiting Interstate 70 toward Interstate 270.
Brachial Plexus Nerve Transfers: What 10 Years Of Data Tells Us
On Tuesday, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) held its annual meeting. The AANS event featured a group of researchers who studied more than 10 years of data on nerve transfers in brachial plexus injury patients. Their findings bring a wealth of important information regarding treatment of this birth injury.
