The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations issued a report that urges hospitals to highlight medications on patient charts in order to avoid medication reconciliation errors. The group estimates that mistakes involving drug mix-ups result in at least 7,000 deaths a year and that about 63 percent are due to communication errors. An alert sent by the organization advocating...
A report being published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the heart surgery drug aprotinin, sold as Trasyol, poses unnecessary risks to patients and should be replaced by safer alternatives. Doctors found that the blood-clotting medication can cause kidney failure and increase the prevalence of heart attacks and strokes. Bayer disputes the finding, which will be reviewed by the...
A federal judge decided that top drug manufacturers must face a class-action lawsuit from consumers who claim they were overcharged for prescription medication. Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., AstraZeneca Plc and GlaxoSmithKline Plc have all been named as defendants. Drug companies set prices based on the Average Wholesale Price formula, which is used to reimburse federal health...
This will be the first in a series of thoughts about the role that doctors play in injury cases. Doctors can be treating doctors, or expert witnesses, or either but not both, or both. This is a subject of some complexity that I will delve into more in the future; for now, though, let's talk about treating doctors.I was recently in a deposition in a case in which my partially disabled client...
The FDA has decided to require black box warnings for Elidel cream and Protopic ointment. These are two prescription medications used to treat eczema. The FDA had been notified of almost 80 cases of cancer in patients treated with Elidel and Protopic. Also, animal tests have shown an increased risk in cancer associated with these two drugs. The new warnings will advise patients about the...
Guidant, the maker of heart defibrillators is facing several lawsuits alleging that it knew its defibrillators were defective. Recently a judge ordered that Guidant produce to the plaintiffs various documents which purportedly reveal that Guidant continued to sell the product after they knew of the defects. The San Jose Mecury News has recently reported that part of the documents to be...
Rescue teams recently discovered the body of Danny Epp, a snowboarder who had been missing for two days. Searchers located Mr. Epp in an area called Tony Baker Gully next to Cypress Mountain. The mountain is located in British Columbia approximately 30 minutes outside of Vancouver.Accidents that occur outside of the United States present interesting, and sometimes difficult, conflict of laws...
A three car accident stopped traffic for 45 minutes and sent one driver to the hospital on Sunday. The accident occurred when a driver pulled into traffic and struck a tow truck on 176th Street SW near 44th Avenue W in Lynnwood. The car then bounced off the tow truck and into a third vehicle.The driver of the vehicle that caused the accident was taken to Harborview Medical Center for...
A collision last Sunday between a Ford Explorer and a small sedan seriously injured both vehicles' drivers and the lone passenger. The accident occurred at the intersection of Puget Park Drive and 138th Place SE in Everett. Preliminary reports indicate that one of the vehicles had been speeding.The Explorer sustained serious damage in the collision and emergency personnel had to cut the...
A two-car accident in Marysville last Saturday sent two women to the hospital. The accident occurred at approximately 7:00 p.m. in the 12500 block of 34th Avenue NE. The vehicles were traveling in opposite directions when the northbound driver crossed the center line. A 20-year old Woodinville woman was airlifted to the hospital and an 18-year old Marysville woman received treatment for less...