Recent Blog Posts
Medical Malpractice Injury Prevention: Is Your Doctor on Probation?
Do you know if your doctor is on probation for misconduct, abuse, or negligence? The hospital they work at does. Their medical malpractice insurance company does. But consumer advocate groups say that, unless you know to look, you may never know. One group is looking to change all of that in California by pushing for a patient disclosure provision with the state Medical Board. If successful, it could very well change the way all patients (and doctors) look at medical care and treatment.
Physicians and Probation
Doctors can be placed on probation for a number of things, such as sexual misconduct, substance abuse, violence, patient deaths, incompetence, and negligence (and those are just the beginning). State boards stress that these doctors – the ones that are simply placed on probation but never lose their license – are still allowed to practice medicine, but there are some highly disturbing statistics when it comes to risk.
23 Illinois Hospitals Face Penalties for Injury and Infection Rates
When hospitals fail to provide complete, competent, and comprehensive care to their patients, they may become subject to a number of consequences. One of the most commonly known and discussed of these is the risk of a medical malpractice lawsuit. There are, however, other guidelines in place to enforce safe and reasonable patient care. A total of 23 Illinois hospitals are allegedly facing one such provision because of their injury and infection rates.
The Affordable Care Act Penalties
Some stipulations are outlined in America’s Affordable Care Act, including the penalization of the low-performing, high-incident hospitals. To determine which ones will be subject to those penalties, each hospital is rated on a score between one and 10, with 10 being the worst. Any that score a 6.75 lose a portion of their Medicare reimbursement during the following year.
Winter Weather Safety: Preventing Slips, Trips, and Falls on Ice and Snow
At least two people in Illinois recently experienced an injury because of slick, snowy, or icy outdoor surfaces. Sadly, it is an all-too common issue each winter. In fact, at least one-third of all workers’ compensation claims during the winter months are attributed to slips or falls on ice or snow; this does not even begin to account for premises liability incidents of non-employees. Keep yourself safe an accident-free the remainder of the winter season with the following tips on preventing slips, trips, and falls on ice or snow.
Wear the Right Gear
When outdoor surfaces are slick, opt for shoes or boots with rough textures, such as waffling or ridging. If dress shoes are necessary for work or an event, change into them once you are indoors and no longer at risk of falling on icy or snowy surfaces. Additionally, it is important to remember to clean your shoes before walking indoors; caked-on ice or snow can become hazardous on non-carpeted indoor surfaces.
Workers’ Compensation Reform: Companies Profit While Workers Face Denied Claims, Unpaid Medical Bills, and Poverty
Workers’ compensation began as an arrangement designed to benefit all parties when it came to handling on-the-job injuries. Workers could receive compensation for their medical bills and time off of work without having to go through the lengthy process of a lawsuit. Employers, who were beginning to face dwindling defense options in the courtroom, could use the claims and insurance process to better manage costs. And legislators saw it as a way to create a more financially secure economy.
Sadly, those days are long gone.
Today, the workers’ compensation process is lengthy and complex. Thousands of injured workers have their claims denied, leaving them with unpaid medical bills and no paid time off of work to heal. In the best of situations, they struggle to pay for the care they need, but eventually heal and return to work—still capable of paying off their debts, despite being a little poorer. In the worst of cases, their injuries left them permanently disabled (or deceased). With no means to pay their lifelong health care costs of living expenses, they fall into poverty and never find their way out.
Automobile Personal Injury Prevention: Avoiding Road Accidents with Farm Equipment
Although automobile accidents with farm equipment are less frequent than other collisions, they can be just as devastating. A recent incident involving a train and a tractor reminds both drivers and farmers to be more mindful of the laws, and of each other.
Sharing the Road with Farm Equipment
Due to the continued building of new homes in rural areas, more and more suburbanites and urbanites are finding themselves in new driving situations with slow-moving farm equipment. And when you are about being late to work, late at dropping the kids off at school, or simply in a hurry, it is easy to make an irrational decision. Unfortunately, this decision can have serious or fatal consequences. Improve road safety for everyone—including yourself—with these rural driving tips:
Personal Injury Winter Preparedness: Car Maintenance Tips to Help Reduce Your Risk of Injury This Season
Winter is officially upon us, and that means the weather is a bit dreary. It also means Chicagoans are at great risk of finding themselves stranded in the middle of a winter storm because of vehicle problems, poor road conditions, or automobile accidents. Prepare yourself and your loved ones this season with these winter car maintenance tips.
Perform Winter Maintenance on Your Car
While they do not account for every stranding or accident, vehicle maintenance issues can and do greatly increase the risk of both. As such, it is important that you take the time to perform some simple but extremely important to ensure your vehicle is in good working order. Do so by either hiring a mechanic to check the following, or do it yourself:
- Check your antifreeze levels, and have the system flushed or refilled, if necessary,
Birth Injuries and Responsibility: Couple Names U.S. Government as Defendant in Lawsuit
Before giving birth, parents have an expectation, a vision of what life will be like. They may not be aware of it, and it may not be fully defined, but it still exists. When a birth injury happens, those expectations—the dream—is shattered, and the very definition of parenthood and what it will look like must be altered. Who is responsible for the grief? The changes? The loss?
Most couples would look to the doctors, nurses, and hospital that treated them. They are, after all, the ones that made the decisions that led up to the injury. But one couple is looking further up, all the way to the United States government, which has been recently named in their birth injury lawsuit.
Pregnancy and Birth
According to court documents, the mother had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during her pregnancy. The staff at the center she was being treated at had allegedly determined that her diabetes was being poorly controlled, which increased her risk for having an overly large baby. It also increased her risk for a number of birth-related complications, including shoulder dystocia.
Study on Long Hours for Medical Interns Highlights a Dangerous Factor for Medical Errors
While television is notorious for exaggerating reality, there is one thing the medical sitcoms have correct: medical interns work ridiculously long hours. Two unpublished studies that aim to examine how those long hours might affect work quality and safety have recently come under criticism. The concern is patient safety—as it should be—but the studies have been permitted to move forward. And that has a lot of medical professionals worried that medical errors relating to sleep deprivation will increase.
Doctors That Never Sleep
In one study, Northwestern University has allegedly assigned hundreds of first-year residents to work shifts of up to 28 consecutive hours. They will be working in hospitals across the country. The Institute of Medicine suggests they work no longer than 16 consecutive hours. However, current rules do allow most residents to work 28-hour shifts routinely. Some residents have reported working 30, with only short naps to tide them over until their shift ends.
