A recent study from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University indicated that a stunning sixty percent of paid caregivers made mistakes when they were sorting medications for people in their care. It also indicated that a third of the caregivers had trouble reading directions for medications. The study was a small one, examining one […]
The family of a man who died as the result of medical malpractice has been awarded $1.7 million in damages. The man was 42 years old when he went to a clinic complaining of chest pain. After an examination, a physician at the clinic determined the man’s pain was the result of a simple torn muscle. As […]
Dr. Melvin D. Levine was once one of the most prominent pediatricians in the country. He is the author of best-selling books on learning disabilities, and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2009, though, he surrendered his license to practice medicine after complaints about his conduct in South Carolina, where he currently lives. Dr. […]
A toddler who was brought to an emergency room in Sacramento was forced to wait for five hours before being seen, despite her parents’ begging staff for treatment. The girl grew visibly sicker as the parents waited. The tragedy is that the girl was forced to wait while Streptococcus A ravaged her blood and organs. As […]
Last week, a pharmacist gave a woman the wrong medication. As is so often the case, the patient did not realize that an error had been made until after taking the medication — and potentially suffering the consequences. In this case, the woman was pregnant, and the drug the pharmacist gave her is sometimes used […]
Cameras have proliferated to an extent no one would have expected just ten years ago. Now it is common for many people to carry a camera at all times. Not just a camera, but a camera capable of taking a high-quality photo or of taking video footage. As cameras have grown in capability and shrunk […]
During surgery two years ago to remove a woman’s gallbladder, a surgeon cut the woman’s hepatic duct by mistake. The patient suffered unnecessary pain from the cutting, and had to have additional surgery to correct it. Now she has been awarded $250,000 in damages by a California court after suing the board-certified surgeon for medical malpractice. The hepatic duct drains […]
A study in the latest issue of the Journal of Pain has found that a large number of medication errors that take place in American hospitals are caused by the proliferation of drugs that have sound-alike or look-alike names. The study concluded that the medication error rate was around three in every thousand hospital prescriptions, and that […]
