Many of us never heard of “compartment syndrome” until wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Antonio Brown, was taken to the hospital after a direct blow to his lower leg while trying to make a catch last season. Doctors wanted to make sure Brown didn’t have compartment syndrome, an orthopaedic emergency.
There are now about 9 million epidural injections performed annually in the United States and the number of procedures appears to be growing. In 2014, the FDA warned that injection of corticosteroids into the epidural space of the spine may result in rare but serious neurological events, such as “loss of vision, stroke, paralysis and […]
In Pennsylvania, among other states, a new wave of healthcare is upon us. Many of us are seen by physician assistants (P.A.’s) and nurse practitioners (N.P.’s) in our primary care offices, specialty offices and even in the hospital. The healthcare industry often refers to this group of providers as “physician extenders.” Physician extenders may see […]
If you could ask for anything from your doctor, hospital or other healthcare provider, what would it be? I can name one thing you should be entitled to without question: patient safety. Recently, efforts have been made in Congress to pass laws that will limit non-economic damages like pain and suffering in medical malpractice […]
The majority of hospitals and doctors in this country never admit that their conduct resulted in patient injury or death. This lack of transparency and accountability is a lost opportunity to improve patient safety and prevent medical errors. Recently, a few hospitals have started to admit mistakes, apologizing and attempting to fix what went wrong. […]
Attorney Veronica A. Richards has been appointed to the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority. The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority is an independent state agency that is charged with taking steps to reduce and eliminate medical errors by identifying problems and recommending solutions that promote patient safety in Pennsylvania’s healthcare facilities. The Authority […]
Septic shock is a drastic bodily response to an infection that causes organ failure and death if not timely diagnosed and treated. Statistics show that one in every five cases of sepsis ends in death. There are over 1.5 million cases of sepsis per year in the United States, of which over 300,000 end in […]
Patients put their trust in medical professionals, day in and day out. They trust that their medications are properly prescribed for their needs. Far too often, however, a patient will suffer an adverse reaction to prescribed medications. While these errors should be caught early on, it helps for a patient to double check what they’re […]
A Miami nurse with breast cancer has been awarded 21.6 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The 47-year-old nurse has devoted her life to medical mission trips, bringing medical aid to distressed areas. What she did not know was that she herself had cancer while teaching others how to detect possible cancers within them. When […]
The family of an Albany man recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the emergency physicians, as well as the medical group that failed to provide him with proper medical care, resulting in his death from a flesh-eating bacteria. The man visited Holzer Clinic of Athens in April, 2016, but allegedly wasn’t properly diagnosed and […]
