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Serratia marcescens outbreaks are rare.  When they happen, it is a big deal.  Here are the eight things you want to know about these infections that often end in medical malpractice cases.

  1. What is Serratia marcescens?

Serratia marcescens is a nosocomial opportunistic pathogen. This bacterial pathogen has been isolated from a number of different human clinical specimens and from some non-human sources. It is naturally occurring in soil and water. At room temperature, it produces a red pigment. Serratia marcescens has a history of causing infections in both children and adults. It is transmitted through direct contact.

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A team of researchers at University College London has developed a device known as a broadband near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) that uses light to detect brain damage in infants. They are now planning a clinical trial of the NIRS.

What is near-infrared spectroscopy?

Operating-room-pic-3-300x211Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a spectroscopic method that uses the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. There are many different applications of NIRS which include astronomical spectroscopy, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and neonatal research.

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The potentially dramatic impact of a stroke on your health and wellness cannot be understated. What many people don’t know is that strokes arise from several possible conditions, including brain ischemia (commonly referred to as cerebral or cerebrovascular ischemia).

If you or a loved one has suffered ischemic brain injury because of a doctor’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact Miller & Zois at 800-553-8082 or get a free online consultation.

What is Brain Ischemia?

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As a parent, you don’t want to hear that there’s a problem with your soon to be son or daughter.  Or that a life-changing complication was discovered in the hours after their birth. An infection during pregnancy can have devastating consequences for you and your child.  If untreated, maternal infection can result in a permanent birth injury or even death.

What Are Maternal Infections?

Operating-room-pic-3-300x211These are illnesses that affect both mother and fetus during pregnancy. While some common maternal infections, (such as flu or a cold) will very little impact on a pregnancy, there are a few that can result in serious health complications.

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Antipsychotic medications (such as Abilify, Seroquel, Risperdal, and Zyprexa) are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the country. But a bombshell report released by Human Rights Watch has found that tens of thousands of elderly patients with dementia are being inappropriately prescribed antipsychotic drugs.

The study states that nearly 180,000 residents in long-term nursing facilities are receiving these unapproved medications. What’s more, it’s believed that roughly 15,000 nursing home residents die each year from anti-psychotic abuse. The use of these drugs against their intended purpose needlessly places vulnerable patients in harm’s way and speaks to a larger epidemic of overmedication in the United States.

Caring for Elderly Dementia Patients

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I always like to read what medical malpractice defense lawyers are telling each other about how to defend a medical malpractice case. I foundmed mal this paragraph today in an article discussing defending medical doctors:

This changed image probably explains why defendant physician usually views the prospect of a jury trial with a real fear that some or all of the jurors will be prejudiced against him. Doctors frequently ask if it wouldn’t be better to have the case tried by a judge; their reading of popular articles has convinced them that when they go to court the atmosphere will be unfavorable…. It is important, however, that neither the defendant physician nor his lawyer be deceived by the more extreme views of emotional writers who suggest that the medical profession has become a sort of litigation target, and that doctors and hospitals have been made the villains in these modern day courtroom dramas. Both doctor and lawyer must dispel from their minds any notion that the defendant physician has initial hurdles to clear somehow before he has any chance of winning his case. The reverse is true. On balance, the jury will start the case with some sympathy for the defendant physician, and this will be maintained right into the jury room, unless it is somehow lost or dispelled by the evidence and the witnesses.

The Malpractice Tort Reform Argument is Gutted

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This blog looks at medical malpractice jury verdicts and explains/speculates why the verdict came out as they did.  This medical malpractice claim in New York involved a lawsuit by a woman in her 60’s against a radiologist for the failure to diagnose breast cancer.  The case settled for $1.6 million.

The Case

wrongfuldeath

Value of Breast Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims

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Last week, the Maryland Cout of Special Appeals issued its opinion in Hinebaugh v. Garrett County Memorial Hospital.  This case is a cautionary tale for medical malpractice lawyers and other Maryland lawyers who think they can handle malpractice cases.

Maryland, like many states, creates a lot of hoops that plaintiffs need to jump through in order to bring medical malpractice case.  A lot of these requirements are ticky tacky details. But the big thing is a report and certificate of merit from a doctor who agrees there is a breach of the standard of care – the doctor did something a prudent doctor wouldn’t – and that the breach caused an injury.

Hinebaugh v. Garrett County Memorial Hospital

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Finding a suitable nursing home for an older loved one is an arduous and time-consuming process.  Nursing homes can be the best fit for an elderly family member’s care but fears of elder abuse, medical mistakes, and the recent problem of MRSA infections make the choice even more difficult.   Very difficult.

First, what is MRSA?  MRSA is well known as a deadly problem for hospitalized people with open wounds or those recovering from surgery.  This type of MRSA is known as hospital-acquired MRSA.

A new study from the University of California, Irvine shows that the vast majority of surveyed nursing homes tested positive for the drug-resistant MRSA bacteria.   Researchers surveyed 22 facilities and found 20 to have strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).  MRSA is the bacterial strain that no longer responds to the antibiotics used to treat staph infections.   Once it gets going,  it s a beast of a task to fight it off.  What we now know – and suspected all along – is that nursing home patients are particularly at risk, even more so than others patient of the same age who are not in nursing homes.

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Here an interesting medical malpractice case out of Tennessee worth discussing that relates to substituting plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case.  In this case, Holley v.  Blackett, the Tennessee Court of Appeals allowed common sense to triumph, reversing a trial court’s entry of summary judgment in a wrongful death breast cancer misdiagnosis medical malpractice lawsuit,  allowing the minor daughter of a man who died while pursuing claims for his wife’s death to be named as the plaintiff.

Here are the facts: A husband brings a medical malpractice action on behalf of his wife, alleging her cancer was misdiagnosed and caused her death. This is a failure diagnose a stroke case.   The doctor filed a motion for summary judgment.  While the motion was pending, the husband dies.  This is where it gets a little weird.  Plaintiff’s malpractice attorney has the husband’s daughter substituted as the plaintiff.  The minor girl was born as the result of an extramarital affair that husband had during his marriage.

Crazy, right?  I can’t help but think about it from the dead wife’s perspective.  Would she still support the claim?  I’m assuming she is in a place now where you don’t get caught up in the now trivial, but at the time grievous, sins committed on earth.  But still. The trial court dismissed the case, finding that the substitution was was flawed because the malpractice lawyers never bothered to, ah, get permission from the girl’s guardian.

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