Hiring a Work-Study Student is Like Buying a Home: This Is a Really Good Time to Do It
If you are an established lawyer and Washington State Association for Justice member, you may recall hearing an appeal to hire a work-study intern before. Yet now is arguably THE best time for all parties involved because of the state of the economy. The state budget crisis has meant cuts everywhere, including the work-study program. Still, if you hire an intern today you will likely be reimbursed 50 percent of the salary you pay him or her. You pay her $15, you get $7.50 of that back. That’s less than the
Hospitalists: Better care or more potential liability?
For many decades a hospital was primarily a physical facility to which doctors would admit patients for care or surgery. The admitting doctor – whether primary care doctor or surgeon — would then be in charge of the patient’s care while in the hospital, doing rounds on the patient, ordering medications and tests, and responding to nurses when called. It was a fairly simple model. Well, it’s not your father’s hospital any more.
The Truth About Medical Negligence Claims
Deaths and serious injuries resulting from preventable medical errors are a major problem in this country. Independent studies estimate 90,000 people die each year in hospitals alone because of such medical errors. This toll in human loss is the equivalent of 600 airplanes, with 150 passengers each, crashing every year. If only a fraction of such crashes occurred, it would be treated as a major national tragedy leading to a huge public effort to prevent such human losses in the future.
The Operation Was a Success but The Patient Died: Sleep Apnea and Post-Operative Hypoxias
Since the mid-1990’s the medical literature has reflected a growing awareness of the risks of post-operative pain medications in a patient with sleep apnea (obstructive sleep apnea or obstructive airway syndrome). In patients with obstructive sleep apnea, the airway completely or partially occludes during sleep despite respiratory effort. Arousal from sleep temporarily reopens the upper airway, but falling back asleep may close it and start the process of airway closure and arousal again.
When One or the Other Means Both
In some cases, even when it is clear that a health care provider was at fault, it can be challenging to prove which provider it was and how much worse the error made the patient. In this case, it was necessary to convince two different providers to contribute toward a settlement based on the risk that each might be the one found to be responsible and that the negligent act resulted in the patient’s death 6-1/2 months later.
Preexisting Conditions: How to Deal with Them at Trial
Medical standards are involved in determining when a surgical patient needs medications to prevent the development of deep vein thrombosis (clots in the legs) and in monitoring the medications after surgery. The article outlines the legal issues involved in a claim arising from negligent treatment that leads to deep vein thrombosis.
How to Handle Causation in Birth Asphyxia Cases
This article discusses the complex medical and legal issues involved in determining whether there is a causative relationship between the events before and during a birth and the outcome of a severely injured baby.
Using Lay Witnesses to Maximize Damages
This paper discusses the use of lay witnesses (friends, neighbors, and family) at trial to allow a jury to better understand the impact of an injury on a claimant.
Finding and Empowering Expert Witnesses
This paper outlines practical suggestions for dealing with expert witnesses in medical negligence cases and most personal injury cases. Suggestions are offered for ways of locating and retaining credible experts, what to send them, preparing them for their depositions, and developing trial testimony.
A New Standard of Care for Cardiac Cases
Cardiac enzyme testing is currently relied on to help rule out a cardiac explanation for symptoms that may represent acute cardiac syndrome. This article is a sequel to “A Fatal Standard of Care for Heart Attack Victims?”