Medical Malpractice

Zofran

Morning Sickness Drug Zofran Linked to Birth Defects

Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran

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hospital

Whose Fault Is It When A Patient Falls In The Hospital?

A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,

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health care

Perpetuating Err

In the 27 years since switching from representing health care providers to injured patients I have reviewed over 20,000 adverse medical events. I have reviewed reports of injuries to nearly every major body part and organ; operations on the wrong foot, leg and organ; wrong-sided cranial and hernia procedures; premature deaths from delays in diagnosing and treating cancers and heart

Read More »
punitive damages

Recent Challenge to Scope of Punitive Damages Cap is Rebuffed

In April 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the punitive damages cap in the case of Sivit v. Village Green of Beachwood, L.P., limiting punitive damages to no more than two times compensatory damages in any tort action. Following a fire at an apartment complex in 2007, a jury awarded a group of residents $582,328 in compensatory damages and $2

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vaccination

Non-Vaccination: A Litigation Outbreak

This past year, the United States experienced a multistate measles outbreak raising the question: can parents be held liable for electing not to vaccinate their children? Vaccination is a widely debated issue in the United States with more and more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. Most vaccination series cannot be completed until a child is nearly 2 years

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life

Life Care Plans and the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act

Future medical expenses often represent a significant portion of damage awards in medical malpractice and personal injury actions. Often, following trial, the injured party will require medical care and treatment into the foreseeable future. Consequently, medical experts and life care planners attempt to quantify the medical needs and associated costs in a line item fashion as an element of economic

Read More »
medical claims

The Erosion Of Medical Claims Protection

Patient falls in nursing homes and hospitals may no longer be afforded the legal protections of medical claims after a recent appellate court decision. In December, the Tenth District Court of Appeals issued an opinion which further eroded the medical claim protection by holding that a fall in a nursing home unrelated to medical care or treatment is an ordinary

Read More »
medical malpractice

Prelitigation Hearings in Medical Malpractice

In Utah, medical malpractice tort reform began in earnest in 1976. Over the intervening years, the reforms have multiplied. New layers of limitations and procedural complexity have developed, seemingly by accretion. Almost nothing has been discarded. The result is a web of time-consuming requirements that a prospective claimant must successfully negotiate before ever filing a lawsuit. In 1976, a petitioner

Read More »
vocational rehabilitation

What is Vocational Rehabilitation?

The profession of vocational rehabilitation counseling gained importance after World War II. Many soldiers returned from combat with missing limbs, and other physical and mental disabilities that prevented them from returning to the jobs they had prior to the war. The vocational rehabilitation counselor (VRC) was trained to identify abilities and skills of workers. They work with persons with disabilities

Read More »
Zofran

Morning Sickness Drug Zofran Linked to Birth Defects

Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran

Read More »
hospital

Whose Fault Is It When A Patient Falls In The Hospital?

A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,

Read More »
health care

Perpetuating Err

In the 27 years since switching from representing health care providers to injured patients I have reviewed over 20,000 adverse medical events. I have reviewed reports of injuries to nearly every major body part and organ; operations on the wrong foot, leg and organ; wrong-sided cranial and hernia procedures; premature deaths from delays in diagnosing and treating cancers and heart

Read More »
punitive damages

Recent Challenge to Scope of Punitive Damages Cap is Rebuffed

In April 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the punitive damages cap in the case of Sivit v. Village Green of Beachwood, L.P., limiting punitive damages to no more than two times compensatory damages in any tort action. Following a fire at an apartment complex in 2007, a jury awarded a group of residents $582,328 in compensatory damages and $2

Read More »
vaccination

Non-Vaccination: A Litigation Outbreak

This past year, the United States experienced a multistate measles outbreak raising the question: can parents be held liable for electing not to vaccinate their children? Vaccination is a widely debated issue in the United States with more and more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. Most vaccination series cannot be completed until a child is nearly 2 years

Read More »
life

Life Care Plans and the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act

Future medical expenses often represent a significant portion of damage awards in medical malpractice and personal injury actions. Often, following trial, the injured party will require medical care and treatment into the foreseeable future. Consequently, medical experts and life care planners attempt to quantify the medical needs and associated costs in a line item fashion as an element of economic

Read More »
medical claims

The Erosion Of Medical Claims Protection

Patient falls in nursing homes and hospitals may no longer be afforded the legal protections of medical claims after a recent appellate court decision. In December, the Tenth District Court of Appeals issued an opinion which further eroded the medical claim protection by holding that a fall in a nursing home unrelated to medical care or treatment is an ordinary

Read More »
medical malpractice

Prelitigation Hearings in Medical Malpractice

In Utah, medical malpractice tort reform began in earnest in 1976. Over the intervening years, the reforms have multiplied. New layers of limitations and procedural complexity have developed, seemingly by accretion. Almost nothing has been discarded. The result is a web of time-consuming requirements that a prospective claimant must successfully negotiate before ever filing a lawsuit. In 1976, a petitioner

Read More »
vocational rehabilitation

What is Vocational Rehabilitation?

The profession of vocational rehabilitation counseling gained importance after World War II. Many soldiers returned from combat with missing limbs, and other physical and mental disabilities that prevented them from returning to the jobs they had prior to the war. The vocational rehabilitation counselor (VRC) was trained to identify abilities and skills of workers. They work with persons with disabilities

Read More »

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