FDA 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 MoreThe DC. Metro’s Platforms Are a Menace
When you live and work in Washington, D.C., you get a lot of use out of the Metro. Because it is so convenient to use the Metro a lot more people are taking the train than ever before. This has led to serious overcrowding on the platforms – an annoyance for many people, but a…
Read MoreToo High a Cost: How the Criminal Justice System Fails the Mentally Ill
The Washington Post ran a story recently about a man named Jamycheal Mitchell. He was incarcerated for stealing $5.05 worth of snacks from a 7-11 in Virginia. Because he suffered from schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, a judge ordered that Jamycheal be placed in a state run psychiatric hospital – “but like an increasing number of…
Read MoreFacing Legal Troubles? There Are Plenty of Apps for That.
There are applications for almost everything we do: finding a restaurant, grabbing a cab, buying theatre tickets. But did you know there are more than 20 different apps that can help you with legal questions? The American Bar Association Journal reports that applications like CitizenshipWorks and the New York-based Stop & Frisk Watch are “putting…
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 MoreSpreading Good Cheer: Firefighter Receives Full Face Transplant and a New Look on Life
There are so many stories of catastrophic injuries sustained by people going under the knife. When something good happens, we think it is important that we share it with you, especially at this time of the year. Patrick Hardison was a volunteer firefighter. In 2001, he was hit by the weight of falling ceiling while…
Read MoreChristopher T. Nace Named a 2015 Top Lawyer in the D.C. Metro Region by Washingtonian Magazine!
Nace Law Group is pleased to announce that attorney Christopher T. Nace has been selected to Washingtonian Magazine’s list of Top Lawyers. The Washingtonian combs through the more than 80,000 attorneys in the Washington, D.C. region to uncover the best of the best and shares this list with their readers. Nominees are solicited from those…
Read MoreThe Dangers of Opioid Painkillers Likely Outweigh the Risks
Opioids, or narcotic pain medication, is the strongest pain killer available. Doctors typically prescribe opioids for the most severe pain that cannot be helped by other pain relief medications. The problem with these powerful medications is that they are dangerous because of the risk of death by overdose, or addiction and other side-effects. Opioids work…
Read MoreMotor Vehicle Accidents Caused by Failure to Yield Right of Way
Yielding the right of way to other drivers is one of the hallmarks of responsible driving behavior. Anyone who has been driving for any length of time has seen that driver who just pulls out into the intersection or speeds up when entering the Beltway, causing other cars to slam on their brakes to avoid…
Read MoreMedication Errors Take Place in 50 Percent of Surgeries
A new study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to measure the medical mistakes made in the perioperative period has raised some eyebrows. As it turns out, the most common errors in surgical procedures are not related to the physical procedure itself, but to medication. “Incorrect dosages being administered, symptoms indicated by a patient’s vital…
Read MoreChoose a Motorcycle Helmet to Protect Your Brain, Not Just Your Head
Motorcycle helmets have an important job to do. They must protect the rider’s head in the event of a crash. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helmets are about 37 percent effective in preventing deaths in a motorcycle crash, and about 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries. Most motorcycle helmet manufacturers are…
Read MoreArbitration Clauses in Consumer Contracts May Soon be Banned
As a consumer you may be under the impression that if you should have a dispute with a company about its products or services, you are always free to file a lawsuit against them to recover damages for your losses. Not so in some cases. In fact, you have likely already signed a contract or…
Read MoreCan a Surgical “Black Box” Lessen the Number of Preventable Medical Errors?
The patient safety advocacy organization The Leapfrog Group published a report in 2014 that identified hospital errors as the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer. This report estimates that up to 440,000 Americans die each year from preventable hospital errors. A new idea that could help make…
Read MoreNow Researchers Cannot Even Tell You about Dangerous Drugs
Dr. Nav Persaud is a physician and drug researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada. He has been researching a drug called Diclectin, which is manufactured by Duchesnay Inc. It is the only drug on the market which has been approved by Health Canada to treat nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP). There is…
Read MoreHospital Acquired Infections Affect One in 25 Patients According to the CDC
Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) or health care associated infections affect patients in hospital or other health-care facilities and were not present or incubating at the time of admission. HAIs represent the most frequent, adverse events in health-care delivery worldwide. Approximately 30 percent of patients in ICUs will be affected by at least one health-care associated…
Read More