Posted on November 19, 2009 in Medical Malpractice,Nursing Homes,Our Blog,Patient Care,Patient Death

Sorry, but here’s another nightmare story about an elderly patient who suffered extreme neglect at the nursing home paid to care for her. Alice Train suffered from dementia and diabetes but was otherwise mobile when she entered the Evergreen Milton-Freewater Health and Rehabilitation Center. Her condition dangerously deteriorated in less than two months and, according… read more

Posted on October 20, 2009 in Medical Malpractice,Our Blog

Prison is punishment, but how far should that punishment go? Should prisoners expect certain rights and accommodations? Shouldn’t they be treated like human beings? Katherine Anderson (now Newcomb) may have wondered this as she served 17 months at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Oregon, the state’s only women’s prison. Anderson nearly died of congestive heart… read more

Posted on September 21, 2009 in Our Blog

With nearly everyone involved in some sort of social networking, it seems nothing is sacred anymore. Privacy? What’s that? Blog or tweet first and pay later. Well, the judicial system is not having it. Lawyers who blog, tweet, or otherwise publicize their critical opinions about judges, clients, or anything work-related had better be prepared for… read more

Posted on August 25, 2009 in General,Our Blog,Patient Care

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… read more

Posted on August 20, 2009 in Our Blog

I know we’ve covered preventable deaths quite a bit lately, but the issue just doesn’t go away, and in this climate where the health care debate seems to be the most common topic of conversation, don’t you find it timely? I urge you again to read the Dead by Mistake series by Hearst Newspapers, which… read more

Posted on August 17, 2009 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Patient Death

Another excellent story in the Seattle PI sheds some light on the state of our nation’s hospitals. The article is full of frightening statistics about medical errors and preventable deaths. I used to think hospitals must be among the safest places to be, but now I am not so sure. Before I scare you with… read more

Posted on August 14, 2009 in Our Blog,Patient Death

You hear a lot about patients who seek drugs from doctors, but you don’t hear as much about doctors overprescribing drugs (“as much,” I said. We’ve previously discussed the Payette Clinic and its alleged overprescription of narcotics). Perhaps this is because most of us trust that doctors only prescribe medications that we really need. Why,… read more

Posted on July 17, 2009 in Our Blog,Public Safety

The number of on-site construction fatalities in Texas in recent years has increased enough to prompt an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In 2003 there were 110 construction deaths in Texas. In 2007 there were 144, and more than half of those killed were Hispanic. OSHA plans to send additional inspectors… read more

Posted on June 22, 2009 in General,Our Blog,Public Safety

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… read more

Posted on June 17, 2009 in Our Blog,Public Safety

Recently we blogged about the dangers of zinc buildup as a result of long-term use of denture creams, and now it seems zinc once again rears its ugly head! The popular over-the-counter cold remedy, Zicam, can allegedly harm or destroy a user’s sense of smell. Only the nasal products are involved. Since 1999, when Zicam… read more