Medical Malpractice

In the last post, this blog discussed a Chicago Tribune investigation that uncovered problems with filling prescriptions in pharmacies throughout the Chicagoland area. A reporter sought to have two prescriptions filled at more than 250 area pharmacies. The common medications are known to interact with each other, producing severe muscle breakdown in the human body. This is […]

Heart disease and cancer are easily the top two causes of death in the United States, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The third leading cause of death, contributing more than one-quarter of a million fatalities a year, is medical errors. The study calculated that 9.5 percent of deaths in this […]

The Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2016 has come under fire from the American Bar Association. According to the ABA, states have had the authority to determine medical liability law for over 200 years. The HEALTH ACT seeks to eliminate the rights of states to determine medical liability law in numerous […]

Medical testing equipment is a significant investment. Hospitals and clinics purchasing this equipment face substantial pressure to justify the expense by keeping the machines busy. This requires a steady stream of patients getting tested for various health conditions. Some clinics have responded to this pressure by advertising the tests directly to the public, without waiting […]

The World Health Organization suggests that the optimal rate for Cesarean section births is somewhere between 5 and 10 percent. At the turn of the century, the rate of C-section births began to rise sharply. By 2009, almost one-third of the babies born in this country came by Cesarean section. The number has declined slightly […]

At the very least, medical care is meant to protect patients from unnecessary injury or illness. We generally expect medical treatment to improve our health rather than harm it. However, in many cases, medical mistakes cause injuries and other medical problems that are not related to the patient’s underlying condition. A study recently published in the journal […]

It’s an uncomfortable and common experience among patients: leaving a clinic or a doctor’s office and not feeling reassured, but rather feeling uncertain about the diagnosis and proposed treatment. Maybe the doctor didn’t fully explain something, or maybe the patient was reticent to ask a question. When these concerns crop up, it is extremely important […]

People who are in pain may find relief in the hands of their physicians. However, when the physician overlooks a major problem, this can make the patient’s health problems worse, causing permanent injuries as well as emotional distress. In extraordinary circumstances, the patient may end up taking his or her life as a result of […]

In the last 15 years, studies of U.S. hospitals have revealed a disturbing frequency of patient deaths resulting from medical mistakes that could have been prevented. According to a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, the annual number of deaths caused by preventable hospital errors was estimated to be as high as 98,000. Many […]