Medical Malpractice

Every surgical procedure carries with it some element of risk. Before you go under anesthesia, your doctor will discuss the general risks of surgery and the specific risks involved in your procedure. Doctors do make mistakes despite their years of training and preparation, but just because a surgical procedure has an unfavorable outcome does not…

Medical malpractice often involves a preventable medical error that violates the standard of practice and causes injury to the patient. Doctors and other medical professional commit these negligent actions in every area of medical specialty. A medical malpractice lawsuit allows the injured patient to recover compensation from the medical professional who caused their injury, and…

If you have undergone a surgical procedure at an Aiken, South Carolina facility in the last year, you could be at risk of an infection caused by the improper cleaning and sterilization of surgical instruments. Based upon information and belief, certain surgical patients in and near Aiken, SC have received letters from a physician, indicating…

Just days ago, scientists debuted a new medical device to install near doors at hospitals in order to maintain sterile environments and help decrease the risk of spreading a hospital acquired infection (HAI). Surfaceskins is a new self-disinfecting textile. Will it prove to be the magic bullet we need to stop hospital acquired infections? A…

Also referred to as “bad paper,” veterans who receive “other than honorable” discharges from their military service give up hard-earned benefits such as VA health care, disability compensation, access to VA home loans and the GI Bill for education. The irony is that the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) they developed from events and experiences during…

Outbreak News Today recently discussed with Doctor Rodney Rhode of Texas State University the dangers of being exposed to infection in a health care setting. Dr. Rhode is Chair & Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) and the Associate Dean for Research at the College of Health Professions for the university. Hospitals are prone to…

When a nurse at University Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, decided to replace the highly addictive opiate in patient’s syringes with water contaminated with Serratia marcescens, he or she may not have realized that lives were at risk in the quest for narcotics. Serratia marcescens is a common hospital-acquired infection that flourishes in damp growing conditions…

There are two things you need to have to be recognized as a doctor, even from 100 feet away: a white coat, and a stethoscope. The stethoscope is the most recognizable piece of medical equipment there is, and no matter what type of medical treatment you need, there’s a good shot one will be pressed…

Brian and Michelle Koon won a $17.6 million medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Henry D. Walden and St. Louis University for overprescribing opioid pain medication. Koon was a city parks employee who went to see Dr. Walden for back pain. Dr. Walden prescribed three different kinds of opioids: Oxycontin, Vicodin and Oxycodone. Koon became addicted,…

Hand hygiene has become a vital tool in preventing the spread of infection in a health care setting. But what happens when the water used to wash those hands is contaminated? A story in the journal Healio highlights the findings of a report published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. There was an outbreak of…