Syracuse Personal Injury Law Blog

Political clout featured at Patient Safety Movement summit

Published on: February 5, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

A recurring theme on our blog is what patients, hospitals and medical personnel can do to eliminate patient deaths. It is an important topic because of how many preventable deaths occur each year. To put it into perspective (if you haven’t followed our blog before) deaths due to hospital errors are the third leading cause of death of adults in the United States according to a 2013 study published in the Journal of Patient Safety.

With tort reform becoming such a popular political topic, it is interesting how patient safety has not necessarily been politicized…until recently. According to a recent Forbes.com report, the Patient Safety Movement has been gaining such support. At a recent summit, a number of political heavyweights pledged their support, including Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton as well as former Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

Essentially, they put their names and political clout behind the notion of eliminating all preventable medical errors by 2020. Indeed, this may appear like a lofty goal given the number of errors (and deaths) that occur each year, but having such a united front now, and making it a high-profile political issue during the presidential election in 2016, may be the driving force needed to make meaningful change.

Wal-Mart reportedly settles wrongful death suit

Published on: February 4, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

The trucking industry is arguably suffering with the weather that is affecting the northeast. There are reports of trucking accidents throughout the region, mainly due to snowy and icy roads. It suggests that there are sometimes instances where drivers, despite their efforts to use reasonable care, can be involved in accidents.

Unfortunately, there are instances where reasonable care should have been used, and the lack of it results in an accident. In these instances, it is helpful when an offending party takes responsibility and moves to settle a lawsuit. This apparently was the case with the lawsuit stemming from a crash last summer involving a Wal-Mart truck.

The truck crashed into a limousine bus carrying comedian Tracy Morgan and his entourage. Morgan and several others were seriously injured, and fellow comedian James âJimmy Mackâ McNair was killed. After a lawsuit was filed, Wal-Mart initially claimed that it was not liable for the injuries suffered because the people in the limousine were not wearing their seatbelts.

Winter storm creates havoc on the roads

Published on: February 3, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

When you think of the phrase “oh, the weather outside is frightful” you may think about how cute the snow is during the holiday season. In the first week of February, however, the snow is just an eyesore and may be behind seasonal depressive disorder. Nevertheless, another snowstorm is bearing down on Central New York.

The band of snow is apparently massive, and stretches from Chicago to Boston. Yesterday, thousands of flights were cancelled due to the weather, and locally, schools were closed or start times were delayed. Indeed, people in this region are used to dealing with snow, but sometimes they do not pay attention to the conditions and how dangerous they may be.

Indeed, the snow on the ground is a concern, but as cars and plows go by, the concern for black ice also grows. It is not uncommon for small patches of ice to form after some snow melt freezes. This can cause unsuspecting drivers to lose control of their cars and crash.

An ideal weekend for sports fans

Published on: January 30, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

For sports fans, this weekend is made for snowstorms. Oh by the way, another swath of storms is expected through the end of the week. So if you are poised to sit on the couch and watch college basketball, hockey games, and Super Bowl XLIX, no one is going to be upset with you.

However, there are those who are going to brave the roads and travel this weekend. For those hearty souls, this post is for you.

We have posted about the dangers of winter driving, and this weekend deserves a reminder of not only the duty to drive with reasonable care, but also of the common hazards that can arise. Essentially, when driving conditions deteriorate, it is imperative that drivers slow down. The reasons are simple. By reducing speed, a driver reduces the likelihood of losing control of his or her vehicle after hitting a patch of ice. Also, the amount of space needed for a safe stop can be reduced as well. Simply put, less speed equals less sliding, and less of a chance to crash into someone (or something).

Types of brain injuries revealed

Published on: January 29, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

On our blog we have discussed the many ways that people can suffer brain injuries; especially in the context of auto accidents, sports injuries, and arguably the most common way…falls. We have noted how important it is for physicians and medical personnel to make quick, yet educated, decisions about how to treat a brain injury.

However, knowing that you may have a brain injury is only half of the inquiry. Knowing what type of brain injury is just as important, because it may help in treating it and recovery times. With that, this post will focus on different types of brain injuries.

Concussions – This is likely the most common injury, and probably the most notorious given the news that has been generated over concussions in football. Concussions are caused by direct trauma to the head, either by being hit or punched, or by falling.

Your back pain could be a spinal infection

Published on: January 28, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

In a number of posts we have written, we have highlighted the continuing problem of medical conditions being caused by delays in diagnoses. Essentially, such a delay could lead to a minor condition that would require little treatment progressing to a serious one that would require surgery or other invasive treatments.

One such condition is a spinal epidural abscess. Basically, this condition arises when a mass of infected material becomes engorged between the bones in the spine as well as the nerves and membranes that make up the spinal cord. Just like an abscess found on other parts of the body, the mass is commonly caused by bacteria, fungus or even a staph infection.

Unfortunately, a spinal epidural abscess can be misdiagnosed as a patient may only notice back pain. Also, in the process of ruling out other maladies, the delay in properly diagnosing the condition can lead to it worsening.

Here we go again. Another snowstorm.

Published on: January 27, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

Just when you thought that winter hasn’t been so bad with regard to snow, a major winter storm is bearing down on our region and threatens to bring at least a foot of snow before all is said and done on Tuesday. Indeed, we have had our share of snow this season, but since the last major snow storm before Christmas, things have been relatively light.

That said, officials are telling people to stay off the roads, and thousands of flights across the northeast have been cancelled. Also we have written about safe travel in snowy weather as well as how to avoid ice missiles after a storm. With this post, we venture into the area of “Good Samaritan” laws.

Essentially, “Good Samaritan” laws are statutes that provide legal immunity to those who stop and help someone in distress. Normally, a person does not owe a legal duty to help someone (who is hurt or trapped, for example) absent some type of special relationship between the person in distress and the rescuer (i.e. a parent and child). However, once a person proceeds to rescue someone, he or she has a duty to continue, or to do so in a reasonable manner that would not put others in danger.

Listening may be effective in preventing medical errors

Published on: January 26, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

We have written a number of times about how physicians and medical staff have a duty to use reasonable care while tending to patients they are assigned to. Indeed, the main impetus behind medical malpractice cases is the failure to use such care (i.e. acting as a physician with similar experience would in a given situation), but often malpractice cases may start even before this.

According to a recent Consumer Reports study, the lack of respect a patient may receive from hospital staff may lead to medical errors. For instance, certain pains and complaints of discomfort may be dismissed as a patient simply whining; or a doctor may not carefully listen to a patient’s concerns when he or she speaks up.

Among their many findings, researchers learned that patients who believed that they rarely received respect were more than twice as likely to experience a “preventable medical error” compared to those who received respect. Further, a quarter of the patients surveyed indicated that they were not always treated as adults with regard to their own care and a third of those surveyed said that medical personnel did not listen to their wishes without interrupting.

How deaths after premature births can be avoided

Published on: January 25, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

It is difficult enough to bring a baby who is full term into the world. For babies who are premature, caring for them is no less important, but can be difficult as well. However, modern medicine is enabling more pre-term babies to survive. However, pre-term births are still extremely dangerous. According to medicalnewstoday.com, about one in four extremely premature births results in the death of a newborn.

The problem is particularly visible with infants born between 22 and 28 weeks. Babies this young are at risk of death even with hospital supervision. However, with every additional week that a baby can grow inside its mother’s womb, the mortality risks decrease upon birth.

Nevertheless, researchers found that several things can help in avoiding deaths after a premature birth. First, having more prenatal care could help in identifying ailments that could threaten the baby. Second, decreasing the use of prenatal antibiotics, and third the increased use of C-sections have all helped in reduce the number of premature babies falling victim to diseases that lead to death.

Study suggests that defensive medicine still persists

Published on: January 22, 2015 | By Jeff DeFrancisco

We have written before on the concept of defensive medicine and the monetary effect that it has on health care costs. Essentially, many doctors have become used to performing unnecessary tests to rule out potential conditions out of fear of being sued for malpractice down the road. This practice has been chronicled as one of the reasons for the dramatic and continuing increase in care costs.

However, in a number of states where medical malpractice reform has changed the standard in which patients must prove harm, it appears that doctors are still hedging their bets and relying on additional tests even when they are not required.

According to a study conducted by research non-profit RAND Corporation, defensive medicine is still the norm despite changes in the law that basically grant immunity for some doctors; particularly emergency room physicians. The study compared data from Medicare patients from Georgia, Texas and South Carolina (three states that enacted malpractice reforms) and compared them to states that did not pass such reforms regarding quality of care (i.e. whether a physician ordered a CT scan or MRI, hospital readmissions, and total costs of hospital visits).