Posted on January 21, 2009 in General,Our Blog

What a change! We have a new President. A President who not only recommended people consider the Martin Luther King holiday as a National Day of Service but President Obama volunteered. He is a new leader for our country. My friend Wendy Siri and I took the opportunity to volunteer on Monday. We wanted our… read more

Posted on January 13, 2009 in Our Blog

The “Big Three” U.S. automakers are struggling these days, but many might agree their woes are due in some part to poor manufacturing as well as poor design. While other automakers focused on fuel economy and hybrids over the past decade, the Big Three continued to crank out gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles. However, not everyone… read more

Posted on December 10, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care

The American College of Emergency Physicians just published its 2009 National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine, which ranks emergency rooms across the nation. The study assesses five criteria, including access to emergency care, quality and patient safety environment, medical liability environment, public health and injury prevention, and disaster preparedness. How did Oregon… read more

Posted on December 5, 2008 in General,Our Blog,Paulson Coletti News

Jane Paulson was recognized last night with four other members of the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association by the President of the Oregon State Bar, Rick Yugler, with the President’s Special Award of Appreciation. The award is a discretionary award of the president of the bar, with the concurrence of the board, presented to a person… read more

Posted on October 27, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Public Safety

Does the Food and Drug Administration’s fast-track policy for new medical devices help or hurt? According to an article in the New York Times from October 27, 2008, the FDA approval process for medical devices is simple at best. The FDA does not check for evidence of effectiveness but only that the device performs as… read more

Posted on October 15, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Public Safety

Well, cold season is fast upon us, and for many that means scouring the medicine aisles for cold remedies. Not so fast, my friends! Particularly for those of you who have young children, caution is the key when administering cold medication. Drug manufacturers announced plans to add a warning on labels against administering cough and… read more

Posted on September 26, 2008 in Our Blog,Public Safety

Here in Portland, Oregon, people who don’t obsessively drink coffee are in the minority (and perhaps even frowned upon). We love our coffee, and perhaps related to this is our reliance on caffeine. But how much caffeine should one person consume on a daily basis? And when should caffeine consumption begin? Teenagers and young adults… read more

Posted on September 12, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care

In contrast to the recent post about restrictive caps on noneconomic damages, this post is about Oregon’s trial lawyers and Oregon Health & Science University’s ( OHSU) agreement to increase liability caps for damages caused by government (OHSU falls under the umbrella of the state government) negligence. According toa story in the Oregonian, the caps… read more

Posted on September 9, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Public Safety

If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of barring lawsuits against Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, pharmaceutical companies will be quite pleased. Earlier this year the Supreme Court reinterpreted a 1976 amendment that had originally been intended to protect the public against dangerous medical devices by requiring the FDA to review and approve such… read more

Posted on August 28, 2008 in Our Blog

Expanding on the blog post from August 25 about serious medical errors, also known as sentinel events or “never events,” MSNBC recently reported that hospitals in about half of the nation’s states have decided not to bill for such events. This is a sweeping change since February, when MSNBC reported that only about 11 states… read more