Controversial New "Sepsis-3" Guidelines May Make Claims Harder When Patients Are Not Timely Diagnosed and Treated
New "Sepsis-3" Guidelines are intended to improve definitions used in the diagnosis of sepsis. However, such changes have the potential to complicate the jobs of health care providers, and complicate a plaintiff attorney’s ability to bring a case alleging a failure to diagnose and/or treat sepsis.
2016 Medical Negligence Section Update
It was a very busy year for the Medical Negligence Section, primarily due to the completion of the Washington Medical Negligence Deskbook. What started as a vague idea is now a tangible resource, with eighteen chapters ranging from the time limits that apply to medical negligence actions to the appeals process. The finished product is […]
An Introduction to Midwifery and Out-of-Hospital Birth for Lawyers
While many of the same principles apply regardless of whether a birth takes place in or out of a hospital setting, out-of-hospital birth cases require a specialized knowledge of relevant regulations, midwife culture, and the red flags that should prompt midwives to consult, transfer, or take emergency action.
Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring – Growing Pains of a New Medical Technology
Intraoperative Neurophysiological Monitoring (IONM) is a growing field with associated benefits to the patient, and potential pitfalls for practitioners to avoid.
Tenth Anniversary of the I-330 Victory
November 2015 marks ten years since the voters of this state rejected an initiative, I-330, that would have severely restricted the rights of injured patients to seek recourse in our civil justice system.
Sepsis – A Serious and Growing Threat to Patient Safety
Sepsis is a potentially catastrophic disease that can kill or maim even with appropriate care. However, health care providers may be liable if they had sufficient chance to find and treat the source of the infection, while also treating the patient’s symptoms, and failed to do so.
Medical Negligence Section Chairs’ Report
Medical negligence claims are lightning rods for this divisive thinking. On a macroscopic level, we all know the battle positions by heart; there is no need to rehash the tort reform debate for the audience of this publication.
Medical Negligence Section Update
Summer is wrapping up and we’ve started pulling together great programing and useful publications for our Medical Negligence Section for the 2014-15 term. We welcome your input and suggestions. Here are just a few of our goals for the year: WSAJ Medical Negligence DeskbookAfter years of consideration, we are finally working toward the first-ever WSAJ […]
Spinal epidural abscess cases
Medical-Legal issues related to delays in diagnosing and treating spinal epidural abscesses
Evaluating DVT Cases: Using a Risk Assessment Model
If you handle medical negligence cases, you have probably received calls concerning a death after a doctor failed to provide a spouse or loved one with DVT prophylaxis and the patient died from a PE. Every year, approximately 600,000 people are hospitalized in the United States for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and its primary complication, […]
