Chevrolet Cobalt Tops the List as Unsafe, Year after Year
Every year, the Safety Institute releases quarterly lists of vehicles with known safety issues. The most recent Top 15 list came out in the middle of March, and it looks like Chevrolet is in trouble. The automaker took eight of the 15 spots, and its Cobalt led the pack. The 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and…
Read MoreMedical Malpractice from Communication Failures and Handoff Errors in a Healthcare Setting
The technical term for the problem of communication failures and handoff errors in the medical field is discontinuity. A doctor who is treating a patient will hand them off to the next doctor when their shift ends, the nurses who administer care also change shifts and they must successfully transfer clinical information to the next…
Read MoreDC Metro Accident Injury Lawsuits
The DC Metro system, or the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is a public transit system that is funded by the governments of Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland. The third largest transit system in the U.S. includes the Metrorail system of rapid transit trains that travel on and below ground, and the Metrobus system.…
Read MoreInadequate Postoperative Care that Amounts to Medical Malpractice
Medical negligence can occur with regard to postoperative care. Doctors and nurses must monitor their patients diligently following a surgical procedure to make sure that they are healing properly and that there are no complications. A fairly common postoperative complication is infection. An infection in the area of the surgical site can spread and lead…
Read MoreFinding the Solution for Zika Virus Outbreak
The Zika virus has been all over the news lately as concerns about the spread of the mosquito-borne virus move towards full-blown panic, as the virus has been linked anecdotally to microcephaly, a frightening birth defect. Symptoms of the Zika virus are mild and last for a few days to week and include fever, rash,…
Read MoreCommon Reasons Doctors are Sued for Medical Malpractice
Physicians receive years of training and they devote years to the study and practice of medicine because they understand that human error, when it takes place in a medical setting, can mean the difference between life and death. Every doctor is aware of the lasting consequences of their actions and inaction in the life of…
Read MoreThe Correct Restraint System Can Save Your Child’s Life
Some parents might celebrate moving their child from a car seat to a booster seat and from a booster seat to a regular sea belt. After all, it is a big step for most kids. Parents should not be in any kind of hurry to do so because every time you “graduate” them to the…
Read MoreBrain Injuries Caused by Medical Malpractice
There are many causes of brain injury, including motor vehicle accidents, falls and being struck by an object. However, medical malpractice is another cause of brain injuries. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that brain injury accounts for about 30 percent of all injury related deaths. When a doctor makes a…
Read MoreBicycle and Pedestrian Safety on the Roadways
Bicyclists and pedestrians must share the road with motor vehicles that weigh thousands of pounds, and can kill them in an instant in the event of a collision. All of us are pedestrians at some point, but when we get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, we must be mindful to keep an eye…
Read MoreThe Importance of More Strict Commercial Truck Underride Guard Standards in Saving Lives
If you have ever been driving too close behind an 18-wheeler on the highway, you may have seen an underride guard. It is a strip of steel that hangs from the rear end of large, commercial trucks with the purpose of keeping passenger vehicles from riding up under the rear end of a truck in…
Read MoreMedical Malpractice: Verdict for Failure to Prevent a Pulmonary Embolism
We trust our medical professionals to help us when we have been hurt or suffer from an illness. We trust that their years of education and training and practice will equip them to offer the treatment and advice we need, but in many ways we expect that they will be perfect when they are as…
Read MoreAttorney Barry J. Nace Speaks to Legal Community about the Role of Medical Experts
On February 17, 2016, attorney Barry J. Nace was invited to speak before an influential gathering of about 35 judges and lawyers, including several from the States attorneys’ offices. The subject of his talk was the role of expert witnesses – namely, that a judge can only focus their inquiry on the methodology utilized by…
Read MoreIVC Filter Manufacturer Continued to Sell Defective Product Despite Knowledge of its Deadly Flaws
Last September, we discussed how defective IVC filters were linked with as many as 27 deaths and thousands of problems that required surgery. The manufacturer knew that the IVC filter could cause potentially fatal problems soon after it was released for sale, but they kept it on the market for five more years. In December…
Read MoreFDA Sets More Strict Requirements for Transvaginal Mesh Implant Devices for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Repair
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken action to warn consumers about the risks involved with surgical mesh devices that are implanted to repair pelvic organ prolapse (POP). On January 4, 2016, the FDA issued two final order to manufacturers of these devices. The first was to re-classify transvaginal mesh devices from class…
Read MoreFDA Faulted for Flawed Drug Tracking
When you visit your doctor for an illness or a disease, and they prescribe a drug that is supposed to ease your symptoms or cure your illness, you more than likely take the prescription to your local pharmacy, and take the pills as directed. Many Americans blithely assume that the FDA is making sure that…
Read MoreDefective Sprinkler Systems Spark Class-Action Suit Potentially Worth More than a Billion Dollars
The story seems almost too terrible to be true: a lawsuit out of Miami describing a “national cover-up over a significant life safety issue” in regards to CPVC pipes installed in thousands of homes throughout the country for use in safety sprinkler systems – pipes which have been proven to fail over and over again;…
Read MoreE. Coli Outbreak Linked to Chipotle Restaurants Has Expanded to Maryland
There has been an outbreak of e coli infections linked to Chipotle restaurants that began in Washington and Oregon in October and November. There have been 52 cases reported in nine states now including the state of Maryland. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli 026 infection…
Read MoreIs Your New Year’s Resolution Putting Your Life in Danger?
The most common New Year’s resolutions always involve health: this will be the year we eat better, exercise more, and quit our bad habits. For many people, the overall goal is to lose weight – thus explaining the increase in gym memberships each January – and some people choose to take weight loss supplements to…
Read MoreRare but Often Deadly Rollover Vehicle Crashes
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) says that rollovers are rare but deadly because they account for less than 3 percent of motor vehicle crashes, but they account for more than a third of passenger vehicle occupant deaths. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2013 there were 21,132 fatalities in…
Read MoreIs Your Hospital Hiding its Medical Malpractice Data from You?
Back in March, we discussed medical malpractice confidentiality agreements: laws and regulations around the country that looked to protect healthcare professionals when something went “awry” during a procedure. The in August, we looked into research that analyzed the importance of doctors “recognizing and properly disclosing the errors they make, [and] offering an apology and explanation…
Read MoreRaise Your Hand if You Prefer Your Surgeon to be Exhausted
In 2011, a mandate was passed that doctors could no longer work 30 hour shifts. This was based in part by a study that claimed that “Interns working the traditional 30-hour shifts made 36 percent more serious medical errors,” as reported in the New York Times. Banning long shifts makes practical sense; when you are…
Read MoreBad for Mama Means Bad for Baby: Untreated Infections Can Lead to Neonatal Brain Damage
When you are pregnant, your entire world changes in a lot of ways. You will be told to avoid certain foods, to take prenatal vitamins, to avoid drinking or smoking: the usual roundup. You may also be told to avoid certain kinds of medications, because they could have a harmful effect on the baby. For…
Read MoreBeing Exposed to Anesthesia Could Cause Children to Develop Learning Disabilities
Sometimes when a child is born with a birth defect or a cognitive impairment, there seems to be no reason why. Other times, that child might have been the victim of medical negligence, or exposed to a substance which permanently altered their body chemistry or their brain. Discovering the “whys” is often one of the…
Read MoreFiling a Wrongful Death Claim
Wrongful death claims can make people feel uncomfortable because they think it will look as though they are trying to profit off the death of a loved one. The truth is, a wrongful death claim is a necessary and legal claim designed to help the families left behind. For example: if your spouse is the…
Read MoreMedical Malpractice: The Dangers of Misdiagnosed Meningitis
The misdiagnosis of diseases is far more common in the United States than you might imagine. According to a new study in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety, approximately 12 million adults who seek outpatient medical care end up being misdiagnosed. The journal also reports that in about half of those cases, the misdiagnosis could…
Read More