The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia issued a statement last week to address new research about the risks of anesthesia for infants and small children. Although many newborns require surgeries early in life to correct dangerous conditions, new studies linked anesthesia at young ages to
Ohio mothers may enjoy relatively good healthcare compared to many parts of the world. A new study from the federal Centers for Disease Control, however, concluded that the rate of severe post-delivery complications has increased dramatically in Ohio and the rest of the United States in the past decade. With
Our last post introduced alarming new research from the Centers for Disease Control. This data showed sharp increases in the rates of life-threatening maternal complications, both during and after delivery. With this data in hand, hospitals and health experts are taking a new look at ways to prevent complications from
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued an opinion with a surprisingly simple way to help raise the chances that premature babies will develop healthily. Based on a number of studies, the organization recommended waiting between 30 seconds and a minute before clamping an umbilical cord. After a premature
As many Ohio parents know, life with cerebral palsy is often filled with difficult obstacles. Physical impairments can turn even everyday tasks into frustrating challenges. For one young boy with cerebral palsy, a heartfelt request for help with one of the most basic of everyday activities turned into a national
Hospitals use the term “never event” to refer to unacceptable surgical mistakes. “Never events” include mistakenly forgetting a surgical instrument inside a patient’s body (known as a “foreign retained object”), performing the wrong procedure, or operating on the wrong body part. These errors are simultaneously serious and completely preventable –
Our last post introduced the story of a young man with cerebral palsy. After years of struggling with the everyday obstacles that affect cerebral palsy sufferers in Ohio and throughout the country, this boy wrote a letter to Nike. His letter explained the frustration of being unable to tie his
One of the big findings from the Centers for Disease Control’s new research on the sharp rise in delivery complications in the United States involves mothers who give birth via c-section. With more mothers either choosing or requiring c-sections, the chances of dangerous complications have increased dramatically. According to the
Our society often equates age with competence – when it comes to surgery and medical malpractice, that may be a fair assumption. A new study from a surgical journal looked at young surgeons and found a disturbingly high rate of serious errors in simulated procedures. While any surgical error can
Sepsis has evaded hospital attention for far too long. Although it kills more people than breast cancer, strokes and lung cancer combined, hospitals often miss early sepsis warning signs and respond too late to save patients. As a result, sepsis is a leading cause of hospital deaths. Finally, it seems,