Yasmelin Iglesias suffered severe head trauma after being struck by a van in the crosswalk at 48th St. and Sixth Ave in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York. The 16 year old girl is undergoing surgery. She is in critical condition. The police are still investigating why the 29 year old driver of the Van ran over her.
Read more in the New York Daily News
Some defectives guidewires manufactured by Medtronic can cause serious injury or death. The voluntary recall initiated by Medtronic in October was recently classified as a Class I recall by the US FDA.
Guidewires are inserted in arteries to guide and place stents. Those being recalled have a coating that can break off and block a blood vessel.
Medtronic initiated the recall after four problems were reported including one patient who suffered cardiac arrest but was resuscitated according to WebMD
Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI) are often the result of medical malpractice. An estimated 250,000 CLABSIs occur every year in the US with 800,000 of them happening in the emergency room. More than 30,000 people die from CLABSI in the US every year. The CDC estimates that the yearly cost related to CLABSI is $1 billion.
To prevent these infections, the Joint Commission Today released a very useful toolkit to supplement a previously published monograph entitled “Preventing Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections – A Global Challenge, A Global Perspective” . This document provides best practices and guidelines for healthcare professionals who insert and care for intravascular catheters and who are responsible for the surveillance, prevention, and control of infections in all healthcare settings.
Medication errors in nursing homes are one of the most common types of medical malpractice. Lack of Physician involvement, lack of adequate staff and training are often the reason why significant medication errors are all too common in nursing homes.
Here is an link to an article and a video about medical errors in Michigan nursing homes but there is little doubt that this problem exists at a national level as well.
Misdiagnosis is the leading cause of medical malpractice claims. 160,000 patients suffer serious personal injury or wrongful death because of diagnostic errors every year. In her recent article “The Biggest Mistake Doctors Make” Laura Landro from the Wall Street Journal looks at solutions that are being developed by healthcare providers and various organizations to reduce misdiagnosis.
New technologies as well a change of culture among doctors are part of the solution. The new healthcare law requiring multiple providers to coordinate care should also help in making sure patients receive a proper follow up. Additional studies such as the one undertaken by the institute of Medicine (See previous blog) or the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine should also contribute to curb this alarming trend.
In New York lately pedestrians have been killed in car accidents on an almost daily basis. Last week another 7 people were killed in traffic accidents, most of them because of driver error.
On Friday 66 year old Maria Montalvo was struck in a crosswalk by a reckless driver making a left turn. Maria is the 29th senior person killed by a car in 2013.
On Monday 3 other people were killed on New York sidewalks: in Queens a young driver jumped the curb and killed Man Chit Cheng, 59, and Muang Lin, 41 and in East Harlem a woman was killed by a cab driver who lost control of his vehicle after he struck a truck.
An ambulette driver was charged with criminally negligent homicide in connection with the death of an 86-year-old nursing home resident.
Juan Garcia who was transporting 86 year old Theresa Massagli in a wheelchair failed to buckle her seat belt. When he made a sudden stop, she flew out of her wheelchair and landed on her hip. Even though she was crying and moaning because of the pain, the driver dropped her back at the Goldcrest nursing home instead of bringing her to nearby Jacobi Hospital. She was then examine by a doctor and a nurse on duty at the nursing home and put to bed. After her children were informed of the incident they took their mother to the Westchester Square hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken left hip and pelvis. She died after few weeks of excruciating pain.
Read More in the New York Daily News
Even though a lot of tactics are available now for doctors to avoid medical errors the fear of them happening and constant worry about patients can push doctors to the edge. Physicians burnout is a widespread problem.
In a very interesting blog Dr Diane Shanon explains that she was worn down by over worrying about medical errors such as incorrect orders, intravenous catheter left in too long and leading to infection, care providers forgetting to wash his or her hands and spreading dangerous infections from one patient to the other or misread EKGs or X-rays. She suffered such a terrible burn-out that she decided to walk away from her career as a physician.
Volkswagen is recalling several popular models for the the following reasons:
– In order to prevent electric malfunctions 1.6 million VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat models with dual-clutch gearbox need to have their Synthetic Oil Lubricant replaced with Mineral Oil Lubricant
– 800,000 Tiguan SUV are being recalled to fix a potential defective lighting system
Because Dietary supplements are available in health stores without prescriptions most consumers believe they are safe. But Some Body Building, Weight Loss and Sexual Enhancement dietary supplements contains hidden ingredients that can cause serious personal injury and sometimes lead to death.
Last week after 56 six cases of liver injuries and one death case were linked to the use of OxyElite Pro Dietary Supplements, the manufacturer USPlabs recalled all products containing Aegeline and VERSA -1, two illegal ingredients. (for more see USA Today)
The production of the sport supplement “Craze” was suspended by the manufacturer Driven Sports at the end of last month after tests conducted by the Harvard Medical School revealed the supplement contains potentially dangerous amounts of methamphetamine analog. The owner of Driven Sports, Matt Cahill was convicted in 2005 of felony charges for the sale of the weight-loss pills made from a highly toxic chemical pesticide banned from human consumption. He served two years in prison. (see Boston Globe)
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog