Latest News

Emergency Room Overcrowding and the Dangers: From the perspective of an Emergency Medicine Expert

Details: Published: Thursday, 04 March 2010 18:54

Emergency room overcrowding and the dangers related to it have become a central focus of testifying emergency medicine expert witnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a report entitled Estimates of Emergency Department Capacity: United States, 2007. This report is based on data from the CDC's 2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). Inaugurated in 1992, the NHAMCS is now the longest continuously running national survey of hospital ED use.

The report notes that over the last several decades, the role of the ED has expanded from primarily treating seriously ill and injured patients. The report recognizes that EDs now also provide urgent and unscheduled care to patients unable to access their providers in a timely fashion and provide primary care to Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured patients. As a result, EDs are frequently overcrowded with the most common contributing factor being the inability to transfer ED patients to an inpatient bed once the decision is made to admit them. "As the ED begins to 'board' patients, the space, the staff, and the resources available to treat new patients are further reduced," the report states. It continues, "A consequence of overcrowded EDs is ambulance diversion, in which EDs close their doors to incoming ambulances. The resulting treatment delay can be catastrophic for the patient."

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Fish Oil Supplements Contaminated by PCBs

Details: Published: Thursday, 04 March 2010 00:31

News for Product Liability Attorneys. Ten tested fish oil supplements were found to contain PCBs. Product liability attorney alerts- Tested fish oil supplements contained PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) which can cause cancer and birth defects; lawsuit filed today. Ten supplement companies sued, others not yet tested. Read the complete article: Click Here or for a second article: Click Here.

Water Pollution to Increase Under Obama: More Work for Toxicology Expert Witnesses.

Details: Published: Tuesday, 02 March 2010 22:34

Water pollution is increasing and toxicology consultants and toxicology expert witnesses involved in litigation are overwhelmed with new cases. Thousands of the nation's largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act's reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators. As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.

The implications of this are enormous from a health perspective. Water contaminated with toxic materials inevitably will find its way into the potable water supply for humans and domestic animals and will also have a direct impact on wildlife, the environment, and the ecosystem. Moreover, it will reverse the clean water gains made over the past 30 years.

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The Government Gets Aggressive with Diabetes Drug-Avandia

Details: Published: Tuesday, 23 February 2010 01:44

Three years ago, Dr. Steven E. Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, conducted a landmark study that suggested that the best-selling diabetes drug Avandia raised the risk of heart attacks. The study led to a Congressional inquiry, stringent safety warnings, a sharp drop in the drug's sales and a plunge in the share price of GlaxoSmithKline, Avandia's maker.

A Congressional investigation released Saturday concluded that GlaxoSmithKline had threatened scientists who tried to point out Avandia's risks, and internal memorandums from the Food and Drug Administration show that some government health officials want Avandia withdrawn. The drug is still being taken by hundreds of thousands of patients, and sales last year were $1.19 billion.

So the battle over Avandia has begun anew, and issues raised in the meeting between the four executives and Dr. Nissen are likely to be raised again. For instance, during the meeting, company executives repeatedly promised to begin a crucial analysis of the safety of Avandia "within days." Nearly three years later, such a study has not been published in a medical journal, although the company has posted results on its Web site.

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Medical Tort Reform Tabled in Healthcare Bill

Details: Published: Sunday, 21 February 2010 11:48

This is news from several weeks ago, but I'd like to note it here on my website.

Democratic lawmakers were prepared to make concessions to Republicans on the subject of the medical malpractice system and the healthcare overhaul. But after hard lobbying by trial lawyers and a series of party-line votes, little is likely to change in the area of medical-legal jurisprudence tort reform.

See the entire article here.

Hospitals Fined for Medical Errors: Hospital Medical Malpractice

Details: Published: Monday, 15 February 2010 10:53

Hospital medical malpractice is on the rise. State officials have fined 13 California hospitals for medical errors that in some cases killed or seriously injured patients, according to a report made public.

California Department of Public Health officials have required hospital officials -- who may appeal the fines -- to submit plans to correct the problems. To see the complete articles: Click Here.

FDA Increases Oversight of Medical Radiation

Details: Published: Thursday, 11 February 2010 00:00

The federal Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it would take steps to more stringently regulate three of the most potent forms of medical radiation, including increasingly popular CT scans, some of which deliver the radiation equivalent of 400 chest X-rays.

With the announcement, the F.D.A. puts its regulatory muscle behind a growing movement to make life-saving medical radiation — both diagnostic and therapeutic — safer. To see the complete article: Click Here.

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Andrew Testa for The New York Times

A push to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from CT scans, above, nuclear medicine studies, and fluoroscopies.

The Radiation Boom: Radiation Offers New Cures, and Ways to Do Harm (January 24, 2010)

The Radiation Boom: As Technology Surges, Radiation Safeguards Lag (January 27, 2010)

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Rob Harris/The New York Times

The government is focusing on overradiation by CT scans.

Long-Term Health Care Facilities Can Be Dangerous: Issues in Hospital Medical Malpractice

Details: Published: Wednesday, 10 February 2010 00:50

Hospital medical malpractice has been steadily increasing according to numerous studies. Less often quoted are long term health care facilities. More than 400 similar facilities, called long-term acute care hospitals, have opened nationally in the last 25 years. Few of them have doctors on staff, and most are owned by for-profit companies. The Kansas City hospital is part of a chain called the Select Medical Corporation, a publicly traded Pennsylvania company that runs 89 long-term hospitals, more than any other company.

Lawsuits, state inspection reports and statistics deep in federal reports paint a troubling picture of the care offered at some Select hospitals, and at long-term care hospitals in general.