How Surgical Instruments Get Left Inside Patients

According to the National Patient Safety Foundation, medical error is the ninth leading cause of death in the US. The estimated cost of these preventable errors is estimated at $17 billion per year. They believe the medical errors to have been errors on the part of attending doctors and nurses.

According to Resource 4 Surgical Accidents, instruments left in patients after emergency procedures have included tweezers, forceps, clamps, retractors, dilators, suction tubes, irrigation and injection needles, scopes and probes, ultrasound equipment and measurement devices. While medical staff notice obvious tools missing, such as scalpels and clamps, they fail sometimes to notice lesser tools and materials, such as tweezers, sutures, needles, and cotton swabs.

One complication to surgical procedures that patients face when accidents or mistakes occur and items are left inside the body is added procedures to remove the foreign objects. Other problems can be either sharp objects puncturing vital organs or blood vessels, leading to internal bleeding or softer materials such as gauze and sponges causing serious infections, especially when they are not removed immediately.

Dental Malpractice – How Much Pain Is too Much?

For anyone who has ever had dental work done, there is a general assumption that there will be at least a little bit of pain involved, even if it is just from the anaesthesia needle. However, sometimes mistakes are made and a patient is left to deal with ongoing pain or numbness. Dental malpractice is not as widely known as medical malpractice, but it certainly does exist. Dentists are expected to meet a certain standard of care and not inflict unnecessary harm on their patients.

Usually when a dental patient experiences unexpected pain or numbness after a procedure, especially if it is ongoing several days after, he will re-visit the dentist or oral surgeon to have the area checked out and hopefully corrected. This re-assessment is important because sometimes a procedure can go well, but a patient can get an infection afterward and will need to be treated for that to eliminate the pain and prevent damage to the affected area. Other times though, pain or numbness may continue beyond the re-assessment or a dentist may be unwilling to accept that the problem was caused by the dental work. This is when dental malpractice must be considered. Dealing with these ongoing dental problems can be devastating to a person’s lifestyle and/or self esteem.

Who Is Responsible for Slip and Fall Injuries?

It can be an embarrassing situation to slip and fall in public. Unfortunately though, in many of these situations it can be more than a person’s pride that gets hurt. When we are in parking lots, stores or in other public places it is easy to assume that our surroundings have been checked for safety and will not cause us any harm. When a personal injury occurs either inside or outside due to unsafe surroundings, the person(s) responsible for the property can be held accountable.

There are countless dangerous situations that can occur because of unsafe surroundings. Outside there are hazards such as ice patches in parking lots, uneven sidewalks, potholes and unlit walkways. Indoors we might encounter uneven or damaged flooring, dark staircases and wet floors among many others. Most of these issues are caused due to improper design, construction or maintenance. The owner of the property is usually the one responsible for the security of the premises.

Who is Responsible for Chemical Burns at Work?
 
It is an unfortunate truth, but most people have to work and, on top of that, some jobs come with a certain degree of personal injury risk. One such potential hazard is that of chemical burns. Some workers are required to work with or around dangerous substances. Some of the more common workplace chemicals are paint removers, lye, cleaning products, cement mix and battery acid, but the full list is far more extensive. There are regulations set in place for dealing with such materials, but there are times when accidents or unexpected incidents do occur and can result in a burn injury for the worker.
In the workplace, it is essential that employees are educated on the dangers of substances that they may be working with or around. They must be informed of the steps necessary to maintain safety. Chemical burns are extremely serious and often do more damage than burns from heat. According health-cares.net  they can cause scarring, eye damage, blindness, seizures, numbness and even death. Burns are not limited to the outside of the body; if toxic fumes are inhaled they can cause burns in the airway as well.
 

Let’s face it – we all have to work to maintain our lifestyle and pay bills. Many occupations present the risks of asbestos exposure. Since asbestos is prevalent in both industrial and domestic products, workplace injury from asbestos exposure is an issue many workers face. Plumbers, electricians, and construction workers are prone to this job injury. Firefighters, railroad workers, auto mechanics, machinists, and even soldiers in the armed forces are subject to asbestos exposure.
Mined and used commercially, asbestos has been around since the late 1800’s. Since asbestos is resistant to heat, fire, and chemicals yet don’t conduct electricity, it is widely used in many industries. For example, building and construction asbestos is used for the strengthening of cement, plastics, insulation, roofing, and sound absorption. However, the Environmental Protection Agency banned asbestos-containing products in 1989.

The Seriousness of Spinal Injuries

Your spinal cord is the nerve center of your body. Essentially the nerves along the spinal cord are the gateway of communication between your brain and all of the rest of your body. According to Medicine Net.com, the spinal cord allows your brain to communicate with your arms, legs, stomach, chest and organs. Nerves along the spinal cord are also responsible for your ability to feel pain, discomfort or temperature.

When spinal injuries occur, these nerves may become damaged. Unfortunately, the spinal cord cannot repair itself and the nerves and tissue do not regenerate when damaged. Thus, when the spinal cord is injured, the affected nerves stop functioning permanently. If the affected nerves are those responsible for controlling your organs, death can result. If the nerves impact the limbs, then you may become paralyzed.

Spinal injuries can be complete or incomplete. When a complete spinal injury occurs, you will lose all feeling and function everywhere on your body below the site of the injury. If the injury is high enough on the spinal cord, this means you may become a quadriplegic and lose feeling in both of your arms and legs. If the spinal injury is incomplete, you may have some ability to function or feel pain, but ability will be impaired.

How Do Spinal Injuries Occur?

Can a Subcontractor Sue for Personal Injury?

Wikipedia defines a subcontractor as an individual or even a business that signs a contract to “perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract.” This clearly indicates that a subcontractor is not an employee. Rather, a general contractor hires the subcontractor to perform specific tasks related to the overall project.

The financial advantages of hiring a subcontractor are many according to Business Link:

• Flexibility
• Lower cost on salary
• Lower cost on taxes, insurance
• Specialist expertise
• Less reliance on in-house specialists
• Specify duration and type of work
• Mitigation of project risk

Therefore, it seems like a fair question: is the employer or the contractor at fault if a subcontractor injures himself during working hours? After all, the subcontractor is not an employee, and therefore has no such recourse as worker’s compensation. Technically speaking, a self-employed individual has injured himself in the course of a job.

While nursing home abuse is common in today’s society, one hardly expects to encounter such graphic images as reported at Cathedral Rock in Fort Worth, TX. The Star Telegram reported on the story and stated that the U.S. Attorney found the nursing home staff responsible for gross nursing home negligence, considering that “it did not bathe, adequately, feed or provide toileting for people.”

Additionally, the staff of this Fort Worth nursing home left the wounds of some of its residents untreated for so long that maggot infestation began. Some of the residents required amputations of their infected body parts because of the abuse of these nursing homes. Along with a neglect of nursing home claim, the U.S. Attorney also discovered that the nursing home cheated the federal Medicare program.

The government has already filed criminal and civil penalties against the nursing home for abuse of the elderly and will receive $1.6 million dollars in settlement. The Star Telegram also reported that company owner C. Kent Harrington, of Fort Worth, entered into a criminal deferred prosecution agreement for a two-year period. Slaps on the wrist not withstanding, the nursing home will still continue to receive healthcare payments from taxpayers.

Date: January 13, 2010

Location: South Cooper Street near Lynda Lane Arlington, Tx

Type: Motorcycle Accident, Bus Accident

An Arlington police officer died after colliding with a school bus Wednesday morning near Arlington High School, according to the Arlington Police Department.

About 213,000 Safety 1st Disney Care Center and Eddie Bauer Complete Care play yards, manufactured in China and imported by Dorel Juvenile Group Inc. of Columbus, Ind., have been recalled.