The most seriously ill hospital patients reside in the intensive care unit (ICU), a necessary treatment that nevertheless presents serious risks of its own. (See our blog, “Brain Problems Can Endure Long After Leaving the ICU.”) Recent research shows that waking up ICU patients and encouraging them to breathe on their own decreases both their….
Continue ReadingBrain Injury
Surgery Remains a Questionable Treatment for Migraines
The extreme pain and frequency of migraine headaches lead some sufferers to seek any treatment short of beheading, but recent research questions the effectiveness of a surgical solution. Migraine surgery is often called “nerve decompression” or “trigger point release” surgery. It was developed, according to a report on AboutLawsuits.com, after some plastic surgery patients reported….
Continue ReadingBrain Problems Can Endure Long After Leaving the ICU
Earlier this year, our blog “Intensive Care Drives Somes Patients Crazy, Literally” discussed how experiencing a state of delirium during a stay in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) can lead to long-term cognitive problems. From an anecdotal standpoint, the medical professionals who staff ICUs have been aware of this reality for a long time…..
Continue ReadingAggressive Removal of Clots in Brain Arteries Works No Better than IV Clot-Busting Drugs
The fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. is stroke-approximately 800,000 people have a stroke each year, and about 130,000 of them die from it. About 9 in 10 strokes result from a clot blocking an artery in the brain. If blood flow isn’t restored quickly, brain tissue is damaged or destroyed, and functions like….
Continue ReadingLawsuit Prompts DC Hospital to Change Policy to Improve Patient Safety
The Washington Hospital Center has agreed to change the way that patients are admitted for brain imaging procedures, in response to a lawsuit by a brain-injured patient whose family says she was left without a doctor for several hours while she was having an undetected stroke after a procedure in the hospital’s radiology department. The….
Continue ReadingNew Hope for Communicating with Patients Who Seem to Be in a Vegetative State
A new research study gives hope that some patients who seem to be in a coma, or persistent vegetative state, may actually be aware of their surroundings and can communicate on a rudimentary level. The even better news is that misdiagnosis of these patients, which studies suggest may be common, can be corrected by use….
Continue ReadingScience 1, Common Sense 0
Common sense says that putting stents into blocked arteries in the brain should help prevent strokes, just like propping open heart arteries cuts heart attacks. But Medicare asked for a scientific study before it started paying for widespread use of the brain stents. So doctors tested stents versus medical therapy in high-risk patients. After one….
Continue ReadingNew York creates fund for infants with neurologic damage due to medical errors
As reported in more detail on our child safety blog, New York state has created a new fund to pay medical expenses for infants who suffer brain and nerve damage because of medical malpractice and other medical errors. The fund, which is due to go into effect on Oct. 1, 2011, allows medical costs to….
Continue ReadingTwo malpractice verdicts in two days in Pennsylvania town
Juries in Erie, Pa., last week returned substantial – and in the first case, record – verdicts on consecutive days in favor of the plaintiffs in two malpractices cases. One day after a jury gave $21.6 million – the largest malpractice verdict in the county’s history – to an Erie mother and her son over….
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