Lavern’s Law extends malpractice deadline
New York legislators have agreed on a compromise to extend the deadline for filing certain medical malpractice claims. The law, which passed the state senate and assembly on Jan. 30, changes the statute of limitations for missed cancer diagnosis cases from 15 months to 30 months after the patient discovers the error. The passage comes two days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced an agreement on the measure.
Why women are more likely than men to die after heart attacks
Some New York women who have heart attacks may not recognize their symptoms because those symptoms tend to differ from the more highly-publicized ones suffered by men. Furthermore, medical professionals may not treat women’s heart attacks as aggressively as men’s. The Journal of the American Heart Association has published research that says women are more likely to die in the year after a heart attack than men. The reason appears to be the type of care women receive in the wake of such an attack.
Researcher develops algorithms to find diagnostic errors
Misdiagnoses represent a medical safety problem for people in New York and nationwide. Failure to diagnose properly could delay appropriate treatments or even result in death and disability. The findings of multiple studies indicate that diagnostic errors affect approximately 12 million people every year. To aid the quality improvement programs at hospitals, a researcher from Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality has created a computer program that can analyze hundreds of thousands of patient records. Called Symptom-Disease Pair Analysis of Diagnostic Error, the program applies algorithms to find patterns of mistakes.
Incorrectly diagnosing ILD
According to a patient survey, the diagnosis of interstitial lung disease, or ILD, in New York and across the rest of the nation is usually incorrect. The result of this common misdiagnosis often results in patients experiencing emotional stress.
Deadly bacterial infection can be disguised as the flu
New York residents might have heard the unpleasant phrase ‘flesh-eating bacteria” in news reports. The proper name of this frightening condition is necrotizing fasciitis. The nickname comes from the fact that it destroys skin and muscle tissues, and the infection can be fatal if not treated. What’s even more frightening is that sometimes its symptoms are mistaken for something much more common: the flu.
CDC: Failure to diagnose sepsis quickly could result in death
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning residents of New York and other states that sepsis can be a fatal condition. Sepsis occurs when the body’s natural defenses against infection cause an extreme inflammatory response.
Biopsy robot could improve accuracy of breast cancer detection
What’s being called the world’s smallest 3D-printed biopsy robot could improve the accuracy of biopsies needed to take a tissue sample to confirm a diagnosis of breast cancer, which is the most common cancer in women. This technology could also make the process of getting a biopsy less time-consuming for women in New York while also minimizing the potential for human error. Nearly 2 million women have the procedure each year to examine a suspicious lump or an imaging abnormality.
Misdiagnosed diseases
New York residents that suffer from certain medical conditions may be at a higher risk than others of being misdiagnosed. According to research, a misdiagnosis is the end result for millions of visits to the doctor each year. Medical conditions that are misdiagnosed or missed have the potential to worsen or become fatal.
McDonald criteria revised by international panel
Multiple sclerosis affects many New York residents. This condition is often misdiagnosed, leading people to receive unnecessary or incorrect treatment. Now, the McDonald criteria, which are used to diagnose MS, have been revised to help to improve the accuracy of diagnoses of the disease.
Lavern’s Law could change statute of limitations for malpractice
On Dec. 14, it was reported that a bill that could make it easier for cancer patients to file medical malpractice claims was sitting unsigned on the governor’s desk. Called Lavern’s Law, this bill would extend the window of time that patients in New York and elsewhere around the country could initiate medical malpractice cases concerning cancer to when they discover the error. As the bill stands, the two-and-a-half-year time limit starts when the mistake actually happened.