A globally renowned seismologist, weary of recent scaremongering reports that a major fault in California was “locked, loaded, and ready to roll,” offered a pointed scientific evaluation of risk: “You’re about as likely to be shot by a toddler than die in an earthquake,” she observed. She explained that, in geologic terms with earthquakes, imminent can mean….
Continue ReadingBirth Injury
Two life stories offer warnings about health dangers
Although experts may muster masses of data and point to reams of research, simple human stories sometimes persuade us best about dangers to our health. It’s tough not to ask why football holds such veneration as America’s favorite sport, for example, when one of its skilled players gets candid about his damaged post-professional life. And….
Continue ReadingMosquito-borne virus blamed for birth defects in Brazil
Health officials and parents in Brazil are grappling with a surge of birth defects traced to mosquitoes. In the last year, more than 2,700 infants have been born with microcephaly, tiny heads and brains that leave children permanently disabled. That rate is about 20 times higher than recent years. The culprit receiving tentative blame is Zika,….
Continue ReadingExposè Shows Military Hospitals Are Huge Providers of Substandard Care
In a sweeping and horrifically detailed indictment, the New York Times called out the U.S. military hospital system for its shockingly substandard care. The paper looked at the records of the 40 hospitals across the country run by the armed forces that provide care for 1.35 million active-duty service members and their families, among other….
Continue ReadingMilitary Medicine: Much Malpractice, Little Oversight
The news is not surprising, but still shocking: the nation’s military medicine system is rife with lapses in quality of care that hurt service members and their families, and very little is being done about it, according to a long investigative takeout in the New York Times. I say not surprising, because attorneys like me….
Continue ReadingAnother Careless Promotion of C-Sections
No matter how hard medical experts and other promoters of good, safe health care try, it seems, there are always loud voices chiming in from the fringes of ignorance to offset their message. A few weeks ago, in a blog about obstetricians recommending that women not be rushed into induced labor and also calling for….
Continue ReadingNeurologists Are Unaware of Epilepsy Drug Side Effects for Pregnant Women
Tegretol (carbamazepine) and Depakote (valproic acid) can be life-saving drugs for people who suffer from epileptic seizures. But these serious medications come with a host of potential side effects that might be unacceptable for pregnant women. Astonishingly, according to a study by Johns Hopkins published in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior, 1 in 5 U.S…..
Continue ReadingLawmaker Who Wrote Legislation to Limit Malpractice Damages Now Says It’s Bad Law
In 1975, the California Legislature passed the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA). It was an effort to address what some people deemed a malpractice insurance “crisis” that was boosting insurance premiums and driving doctors out of the state. The solution to the perceived-or even nonexistent-problem, as recounted by Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael….
Continue ReadingDeath of a Young Mother on Downton Abbey: An All-Too-Realistic Plotline
When Downton Abbey’s Lady Sybil died of eclampsia seizures just after giving birth, many viewers wondered: Could it really happen? The answer is yes. Lady Sybil had undiagnosed pre-eclampsia, a condition that affects as many as one in ten pregnant women. It causes high blood pressure (typically at or above 140/90) and protein in the….
Continue Reading“What’s It Worth?” — the Impossible but Necessary Calculus of Suffering in Medical Malpractice Suits
When a previously healthy unborn baby dies from a medical error during birth, what should the grieving mother be paid for her suffering? That is the difficult but necessary calculation that must be made in any malpractice lawsuit where the clock cannot be turned backwards to restore the baby to life, and the only justice….
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