The following is a guest blog courtesy of Dolan Law Offices in Chicago

The effects of traumatic brain injuries often continue long after an accident occurs.  The Brain Injury Association of America cites a study that indicates that 40% of patients who were hospitalized for traumatic brain injuries at the time of their accident continue to have unmet needs one year after their accident.  Those unmet needs vary from patient to patient and often fall into one of the following three categories:

The Multnomah County jury verdict last Friday, January 22, 2010, for the Beale family, against I-Flow Corporation has made the New York Times — although not mentioning lead attorney John Coletti by name.  Finally, the news is getting out there to other shoulder surgery patients that these pain pumps, placed directly into the joint, cause chondrolysis.

Congratulations to John Coletti on his verdict against I-Flow Corportation today in Portland, Oregon for Matt & Krista Beale. The jury returned its verdict today after a 2 1/2 week trial. The jury was unanimous on all questions except one. We want to thank Tom Powers who helped try the case with John and Maureen Leonard who helped with the legal issues. We also want to thank the jurors for taking time out of their lives to support the jury system and allowing a young couple to stand up to a large corporation.

Due to infant deaths from suffocation, the consumer product safety commission has recalled the Amby Baby Motion Bed/Hammock. If you know anyone using this product you should advise them to stop immediately.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10056.html

Amby Baby is aware of two infant suffocation deaths in the Amby Baby hammock. In June 2009, a 4-month-old girl in Lawrenceville, Ga died in a baby hammock and in August 2009, a 5-month-old boy from Gresham, Ore.

Our firm is working with the family of the boy in Gresham who died while in the Amby Hammock.

A recent story in USA Today outlines the decline in the number of doctors practicing family medicine. Apparently medical students and doctors think specializing will bring more money and perhaps more prestige than entering primary care. The American Academy of Family Physicians reports that the percentage of medical school graduates selecting primary care has declined about 52 percent since 1997. This in turn means our nation may have a shortage of some 40,000 primary care physicians by 2020.

Aja Gerrity, a sweet, kind, smart, funny, talented, seventeen year old girl died yesterday in a car accident.  Aja was a client of mine.  She was headed to NY to go to college for her love of music and performing arts.

Aja was driving the car and three other people in Aja’s car died.  All were recent graduates of Ridgefield High.  I did not know the other kids but if they were friends of Aja they must have been terrific kids.   Amand Williams, 18, of Ridgefield, Jason Cary Carter, 18, of Vancouver, and Richard Michael Araiza, 18, also died.  Dustin Evan Leitzell, 18, from Ridgefield, was transported by LifeFlight to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in critical condition.

I want to share an interesting op-ed piece by law school professor Tom Baker that appeared in the New York Times on July 12, 2009. Baker also wrote the book The Medical Malpractice Myth. In the article Baker argues that while our health care system does need reform, limiting medical liability is not the answer. He believes that medical liability forces health care providers to be more responsible in their treatment of patients.

Critics often argue that medical malpractice lawsuits cause health care costs to rise. Baker counters that health care costs aren’t going up because of large lawsuit claims: “Preventable medical injuries, not patient compensation, are what ring up extra costs for additional treatment.”

One of the best things about making chocolate chip cookies has got to be taking bites of the raw cookie dough. Unfortunately, if you recently bought Nestle’s Toll House cookie or brownie dough and sampled the raw dough, you may have gotten sick, as some of the dough was found to be tainted with the E. coli bacteria. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 70 people in 29 states have fallen ill after nibbling on the dough.

It seems if anyone complains about doctors making too much money, doctors counter by pointing out such things as getting under-reimbursed by insurance companies or the high medical malpractice insurance rates they are forced to pay. Well, looks like doctors are going to have to take the malpractice insurance rate issue off the table, because rates have declined steadily since 2005. Continental Casualty Company (CNA) and Northwest Physicians Insurance Company (NPIC), the two biggest medical malpractice insurers in the state, have experienced an average decrease since 2005 of 18 percent.

Pain pumps used to control pain in patients after shoulder surgery are causing significant problems in patients.  Our firm is reviewing and handling shoulder pain pump cases in Oregon.  Studies have identified intra-articular pain pumps as a likely cause of severe cartilage damage and shoulder joint pain and severe cartilage damage. In the shoulder, this condition is known as chrondrolysis (Postarthroscopic Glenohumeral Chrondrolysis (PAGCL)). Chrondrolyis is a devastating condition that causes severe pain and the need for constant medication and may ultimately require shoulder joint replacement surgery.

If you have a shoulder injury in Oregon or another state you should consider seeking advice of a lawyer.