Bacterial endocarditis is infection and inflammation of the inner surface of the heart.  It usually affects the heart valves but can also be present on pacemakers or defibrillators. Endocarditis occurs when bacteria enter the bloodstream and attach to an already damaged portion of the heart or valves. Signs and symptoms of bacterial endocarditis can be fever, loss […]

The list of the Top 10 medical technology safety hazards was published in the November 2013 issue of Health Devices.  Alarm problems and infusion pump medications errors are on the top of the list of hospital problems that need to be addressed.  According to the article, the most prevalent medical technology safety hazards are: Alarm

When you are the patient in a hospital emergency room, or ER, you expect that you will receive appropriate and proper care by nurses and doctors. Unfortunately, emergency room staff negligence or mistakes can cause patients any number of injuries, including brain damage, respiratory failure, organ damage, cardiac arrest or death. ER negligence can be the result of insufficient staffing or inadequately

A homeless woman living in a Los Angeles shelter won a $7.5 M settlement for a hospital’s medical negligence that caused her youngest child to suffer severe brain damage during childbirth. Dyrene Loftis was 39 weeks pregnant and living with her two other children in 2012 at the Union Rescue Mission when she started to

A Montgomery County jury has awarded $5.1 million for a woman who suffered severe injuries after a medication error caused her to be injected with a concentrated decongestant instead of a local anesthetic before routine sinus surgery. Even after discovering the medication error during the June 2010 procedure on Jacqueline Ditore, of Hatboro, her doctor

Brain injuries and death can result when nurses or other hospital staff fail to respond in a timely manner to alarms sounding in patient rooms. According to the Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert database, 98 alarm-related events were reported between January 2008 and June 2012, with dire consequences resulting in almost every instance. Death occurred in 82 percent

A St. Louis jury awarded a family more than $10.8M in damages in a recent medical negligence case that resulted in the death of a young mother of three, according to a news report by St. Louis Today. Shannon Dodson, 34, died after a routine catheterization procedure at The Mercy Heart and Vascular Hospital in 2011. Dodson went