Readers of this medical malpractice blog may be familiar with some patient safety initiatives focusing on new programs under the Affordable Care Act. What readers may not realize, however, is that a majority of these and other patient safety improvement programs have been limited to inpatient hospital care.
On April 17, 2014, the United States Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) issued a News Release in which it discouraged the use of laparoscopic power power morcellation for the removal of the uterus (i.e., a hysterectomy) or the removal of uterine fibroids (i.e., a myomectomy) in women because, according to the FDA’s research, the treatment can cause the spreading of certain cancers. If a woman that has a type of cancer known as a “uterine sarcoma” undergoes laparoscopic power power morcellation, the FDA has determined that the risk of spreading the cancer throughout the patient’s abdomen and pelvis is significantly elevated, and the chances
A vitamin a day may not actually keep the doctor away, but there is benefit to certain preventative practices, such as screening tests. Unfortunately, patients may not realize that they may be at risk for certain conditions, and a doctor’s failure to advise a patient about recommended tests may allow conditions to go undiagnosed — until it is too late. In such cases, an injured patient or surviving loved one may need to talk with a medical malpractice attorney about holding doctors accountable for their potentially negligent care.
New Yorkers frequently ride buses around the city. Using public transportation is convenient. In addition, people may feel more protected in a large bus. However, bus accidents happen in New York City and beyond. Despite its large size, a bus accident can leave people with serious injuries. A recent bus accident in another state is evidence of that. A bus bound for an Oklahoma casino overturned in a Dallas suburb recently. It is not clear what caused the crash, but officials say that the bus left the northbound lanes of the highway it was on before hitting a rubber barrier. It then traveled across the
Given the advances in Western medicine, readers may assume that the care of pregnant women is fairly standardized, from the early stages of pregnancy through the labor and delivery process.
Brooklyn officials and public infrastructure workers are looking at safety for local sewer systems, after a 10-year-old boy fell into a manhole in a Borough Park neighborhood. The New York Daily News reported January 14 on the incident that occurred that morning. According to reports, the steel manhole somehow weakened and gave way, and the boy fell about 20 feet into water. Experts noted that the lack of high water volume and velocity helped to prevent the victim from being washed away into the sewer system. Reporters also noted that the boy slowed his descent by making contact with the sides of the tunnels. Verizon
New York state scaffolding laws have helped to protect workers for many years, but now some advocates of reform have these laws in their crosshairs. Reporting in the Legislative Gazette February 17 shows trade groups and others contending a link between existing scaffolding laws and extremely high insurance premiums for construction projects. Some claim that existing scaffolding law provides for personal injury payouts even if the worker was at fault, and that these kinds of payouts take a lot of money from taxpayers. Some of the more extreme claims suggest that having strong compensation guidelines makes some projects less feasible or unfairly affects small businesses,
If a medical mistake or error caused injury, a patient deserves to know what happened. Unfortunately, a patient is often not in a position to know what really happened during a procedure.
posted in Car Accidents on Monday, April 1, 2013. In New York City, rain or snow can snarl traffic and cause collisions. A massive chain-reaction crash in another state, however, was recently caused by heavy fog. Ninety-five cars were involved in 17 total crashes along Interstate 77 in Virginia. Three people died in the pileup and 25 others were injured. The pileup began around 1:15 p.m. on Easter Sunday. Starting in the early morning hours, signs warned people about heavy fog. Authorities say people were likely traveling at dangerous speeds for the conditions. This massive collision shows how important it is for people to drive
Even minor aviation safety incidents are carefully tracked and documented, and get a lot of public attention as FAA heads and other public officials look at increasing safety for air travel. One example is a procedural mistake at New York’s La Guardia airport, where CNN affiliates reported February 15 on a kind of ‘fender-bender’ between a Delta Airlines plane and one of the trucks de-icing the airplanes. Although no injuries were reported, the flight was delayed and other safety precautions were taken. Airport Safety Precautions The response to even one of these minor incidents shows how seriously airport officials take the issue of an on-site
