Deadly medical errors at hospitals are down, according to a recent report from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality(AHRQ). Pinpointing the exact reasons for the change or to predict whether the decline will continue, is difficult if not impossible. Over the last year, improvement has…
Two recent crashes in Tidewater Virginia could not help but raise questions about how insurance claims get settled when the at-fault driver is a government employee. During the morning commute of December 7, 2015, a Norfolk City school bus sideswiped a car while changing lanes…
If you were seriously hurt in an auto accident and you are trying to recover financial restitution through a personal injury claim, stay off Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Posting on these platforms will only do your case harm. Why? Because your posts, tweets, and updates…
If you suffered a serious injury or lost a loved one due to a defective product, you may be able to pursue financial restitution through a defective product liability claim. In determining whether you have a valid claim, it is helpful to be familiar with…
Wearing a seat belt, obeying the speed limit, paying attention to the road and not driving while distracted – these all sound like common sense examples of what is expected while operating a motor vehicle, but recent statistics tell another story. In fact, speeding, distracted…
Many accident victims must pay out of pocket for medical care while waiting for compensation from the person or company that harmed them. This fact is rarely discussed, but it can represent a real hardship for individuals and families. The alternative to spending one’s own…
Olympus, the manufacturer of the endoscope involved in two superbug deaths at UCLA, never had FDA approval to sell the device. The device is used in patients with gastrointestinal complaints. The FDA was unaware, until 2013, that Olympus started selling its TJF-Q180V duodenoscope (or ERCP…
Working from the understanding that a diagnostic error is “the failure to (a) establish an accurate and timely explanation of the patient’s health problem(s) or (b) communicate that explanation to the patient,” a committee established by the Institute of Medicine recently reported that misdiagnoses
Time and again, we read about someone on, or near, railroad tracks getting hit and killed by a train. The moment an awful incident occurs on a railroad track, understand that the railroad company owning those tracks goes into liability-protection mode. That means a team…
The tragic derailment of an Amtrak train makes five train accidents so far this year. The Association of American Railroads has boasted that 2014 was “the safest year on record for the railroad industry.” But that claim is under scrutiny and doesn’t hold up. The New…
Patients who believe their doctors and pharmacists acted negligently in allowing them to become and remain addicted to powerful prescription painkillers and psychoactive have won an important case before the West Virginia Supreme Court. The ruling in Tug Valley Pharmacy et al. v. All Plaintiffs appl
A Virginia (VA) man who was about to be put under anesthesia for a colonoscopy procedure decided to turn on his cellphone’s audio recorder before the procedure so it would capture the doctor’s post-operation instructions. As soon as he pressed play on his way home,…