All Topics

• Politics and Healthcare

  Lauren Ellerman | November 26, 2007 11:00 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  How will our next President feel about tort reform? Medicare? Health insurance for all? What about healthcare in children - will they have a plan?So many candidates, so many ideas... and yes, they are only ideas. You can say that Gov. Romney, or Sen. Clinton have plans, but it takes a few in congress to make that plan a reality.This morning I heard an interesting feature on NPR about national...

• Illinois Judge Rejects Medical Malpractice Cap

  Dan Frith | November 19, 2007 11:57 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Here is the debate: Lawyers for the victims of medical malpractice say caps on damages work a terrible disadvantage to the most seriously injured patients - those who will live a lifetime of pain and physical limitations. Medical providers claim they need the protection in order to keep their malpractice premiums at a level they can afford. I have two responses: First, excessive malpractice...

• Nursing Home Settlements

  Lauren Ellerman | November 19, 2007 10:29 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Pressure Ulcer case in Tennessee - $4 million for family of deceased resident (Stage IV ulcer)Nursing home staff fails to take blood tests to regulate Coumadin (I just wrote about this issue) - death results, $500,000Elopement case - woman allowed to leave facility, injured $$$ verdictAwful things happen every day in these facilities - please be careful when admitting a loved one!For more...

• Intubation

  Lauren Ellerman | November 17, 2007 10:17 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Intubation is the insertion of a tube into the patient's airway to allow mechanical ventilation.Car accident victims, someone with swollen airway, difficult breathing - most EMT's, flight nurses, and emergency room physicians know how to create an airway to allow for breathing. You may have even heard urban legends of someone using ball point pens to create airways.They are often required - yet...

• Coumadin - scary medicine!

  Lauren Ellerman | November 16, 2007 10:10 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  We have seen many coumadin cases over the years. Post surgery, failure to prescribe, and embolism occurs - causing stroke, death etc. We also see cases where the medication is not properly monitored or levels regulated. It is a difficult medication to prescribe and monitor, but often we see doctors simply forget to prescribe it, or assume another doctor already has.Illinois Hospital settles such...

• Thinking About Back Surgery? I Suggest You Wait!

  Dan Frith | November 13, 2007 9:50 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  I am 50 years old and starting to feel it! You know...those everyday aches and pains. This past summer I injured my back while exercising and ended up with pain and numbness shooting down my leg and couldn't get comfortable sitting, standing, or lying down for extended periods of time. My doctors did not recommend surgery and for that I am grateful. A few weeks of rest and medication did the...

• FDA Rarely Inspects Foreign Drug Manufacturers

  Dan Frith | November 07, 2007 3:10 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  If you are like me, a day doesn't go by without several unsolicited emails landing in my "In-Box" offering me low cost medicines. But just where are these medications coming from? Well, most come from outside the United States...but those foreign suppliers of medications undergo the same scrutiny by the FDA that domestic manufacturers do...don't they? The short answer is "No."The General...

• Bayer Withdraws Antibleeding Drug Trasylol

  Dan Frith | November 05, 2007 12:19 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Bayer has announced it is suspending sales of Trasylol worldwide amid evidence that the antibleeding drug may have a higher risk of death than similar drugs. Trasylol is an antifibrinolytic drug, used to slow the breakdown of blood clots and subsequent excessive bleeding. The drug is widely used in heart-bypass surgery, by reducing reduce blood loss, it helps patients avoid transfusions. ...

• Infection Control In Medical Facilities

  Lauren Ellerman | October 17, 2007 2:57 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Lead story on NBC Nightly News last night www.nbc.com was about a high school boy that died yesterday of MRSA, a staph infetcion he likely picked up in the hospital. The cover our local paper today, www.roanoke.com was the same story. New York Times today, lead with a story on hospital infections. We have had numerous infection control or infection disease cases in long term care facility...

• Senators seek probe into nursing home industry

  Lauren Ellerman | October 03, 2007 5:15 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A week or two ago - we wrote about the Wall Street Journal article on residents in nursing homes owned by private equity corporations, receiving lower quality care than residents in other facilities... And for once it seems, the squeaky wheel will get the oil. Today, Senators Clinton (NY) and Grassley (Iowa) announced they have asked the GAO - Government Accountability Office, to investigate -...