There is no empirical evidence to support the much-publicized notion that the tort system amounts to a lottery for injured plaintiffs, as President Bush and others have long maintained, writes Philip G. Peters Jr. in the May edition of the Michigan Law Review. If anything, the system appears to be biased against injured plaintiffs.
To read more about the fictional medical malpractice crisis, click here.
Common Cases Due to Dental Malpractice:
According to the World Health Organization, healthcare errors affect one out of every ten patients worldwide. Based on this alarming trend, the World Health Organization prepared patient safety checklists to help professional healthcare providers avoid simple medical mistakes. By following the “Nine Patient Safety Solutions,” the organization hopes to see substantial medical error rate reductions. The the nine safety solutions relate to the following:
1. Look-alike, sound-alike medication names;2. patient identification;
3. communication during patient hand-overs;
4. performance of correct procedure at correct body site;
5. control of concentrated electrolyte solutions;
6. assuring medication accuracy at transitions in care;
7. avoiding catheter and tubing misconnections;
8. single use of injection devices; and
9. improved hand hygiene to prevent health care-associated infection.
Continue reading “World Health Organization Reports that Medical Errors Affect One in Ten Patients”
Last week an Illinois woman died from a heart attack after waiting to been seen by a doctor at the emergency room. Here in Connecticut, emergency room doctors believe that it is just a matter of time until such a tragedy occurs in a Connecticut emergency room hospital.
According to the Hartford Courant report: Michael Carius, chairman of the department of emergency room medicine at Norwalk Hospital, does not know of any deaths in Connecticut due to emergency room delay but has witnessed too many close calls. The largest contributing factor to this serious problem appears to be overcrowding. A task force has been established to seek remedies to this serious problem. Until then, sick people arriving at Connecticut emergency rooms may be waiting too long – exposing themselves to greater injury and possible death.
When someone is diagnosed with having gallstones or disease of the gall bladder, it is usually necessary to remove the gall bladder. The most common method now used is laparoscopic gall bladder removal or what is now as a laparoscopic cholycystectomy. During a laparoscopic cholycystectomy, a surgeon and an assistant use a laparoscopic instrument inserted through small holes in the abdomen to remove the gall bladder. The procedure for a laparoscopic gall bladder is no different than an open laparotomy. The gall bladder needs to be identified, as well as the structures leading into it, which are the cystic duct and cystic artery. Once those structures are identified, they are clipped and transected and the gall bladder is removed. Errors can occur during a laparoscopic gall bladder removal when the cystic duct and cystic artery are not properly identified and there are inadvertent injuries to the common bile duct or the common hepatic duct. These structures are adjacent to the cystic duct and lead into the liver and stomach. If these structures are clipped and transected, serious injuries can occur such as the bile from the liver being unable to drain, causing jaundice and pain. Injuries to the common hepatic duct and common bile duct which occur during laparoscopic gall bladder surgery are usually the result of negligence.