When anyone talks about birth injuries, the first thing that likely pops into mind is some traumatic situation that occurred in the midst of the baby's delivery. It might be easy to understand why such views tend to prevail. Conditions such as shoulder dystocia that...
Dedicated To Protecting What Matters Most
Month: March 2015
Anytime a head goes bump, it could mean concussion
The last 10 years have seen a major explosion in awareness about the hazards of brain injuries. Most of what we know has come from significantly increased research into the kind of damage that can be done when athletes participate in contact sports like football. What...
Family of girl declared brain dead is suing hospital
Back in December of 2013, the story of a teenage girl who wound up brain dead after a tonsillectomy was all over the news. What might typically be thought of as a routine surgery wound up being anything but. We did a post on the matter at the time, offering the view...
Determining if you were misdiagnosed legally, medically complex
The medical field is dynamic, complicated and extremely sophisticated. Doctors, nurses and administrators in this industry typically go through years of schooling and training to be able to serve patients with a standard level of care, and we as patients must rely on...
Deadly Ebola lessons include value of electronic health records
As deadly as Ebola is, it's not surprising that it took on the mantle as the biggest health scare in recent medical history. What may be more interesting is how relatively quickly it receded into the background. You barely hear any news about it at all here in Oregon...
Is there technology that might help reduce medical errors?
In a post late last month, we found ourselves commenting about how new medical technology may hold promise for improving overall standards of care. But as that post noted, just because something is new doesn't mean it's beneficial. Unfortunately, too often, the only...
Research underway on potential harm of pediatric anesthesia
If you have a child for whom surgery that requires general anesthesia is recommended, experts are suggesting you think twice about whether it can't be put off for a while. The concern among those experts is that they don't really know what effect general anesthetic...
Oregon caps noneconomic damages for injury, but not always
Injuries are not created equal. But that has not stopped legislatures in Oregon and other states from deciding that there are limits as to what an injury victim may be entitled to recover. The thing is, even though the law may put a cap on what a plaintiff can claim,...
Are Oregon hospitals doing enough to stop deadly infections?
It seems as if we go no more than a couple of weeks without hearing about how dangerous it can be to go to the hospital. Last October, we posted a blog entry about the different kinds of infections patients can be exposed to while being treated. The next month,...