Strokes are devastating. An estimated 800,000 Americans suffer a stroke each year. While some strokes are hemorrhagic (such as a burst blood vessel in the brain causing bleeding) most are ischemic. With ischemic strokes, a blood clot flows up into one of the arteries feeding the brain, cutting off the blood supply and causing part of the brain to die due to lack of oxygen from the blood.
For about 20 years, health care providers have been able to rely on the emergency stroke drug tPA, which effectively breaks up such a blood clot and restores blood flow to the brain if it is given in time – within about 4.5 hours of onset of stroke symptoms. Because of this time limitation, many patients suffer the debilitating effects of a stroke because it’s too late to give tPA.
Hopefully that will soon change. A recent “Top 10 Innovations for 2015” list from the Cleveland Clinic details new Mobile Stroke Treatment Units that are currently being used in limited amounts in the USA and Germany to treat stroke victims more quickly by bringing the treatment to them.
These “high-tech ambulances” include not only the right people (paramedic, critical care nurse, EMT, and CT technologist) but also the right equipment, including a mobile CT scanner, which sends images to a remote neurologist for review, who then manages the care via video and audio feed. This includes immediate tPA therapy in the ambulance, instead of waiting for arrival and triage at the hospital. Read the full article here:
[Top 10 Innovations for 2015: #1 Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit](http://innovations.clevelandclinic.org/Summit-(1)/Top-10-Innovations/Top-10-for-2015/Top-10-Articles/1-Mobile-Stroke-Treatment-Unit.aspx#.VlT0tmSrTIE)
Considering our work involves bringing lawsuits against health care providers for negligent behavior, it may seem counterintuitive that we are touting the benefits of technological advancement in medicine. But in reality, we are advocates for better health care for everyone.
Most often health care providers take it upon themselves – as institutions and individuals – to follow the rules in providing care to patients, and keeping up to date on improvements that advance the standard of care. Sometimes they don’t. When catastrophic harm occurs in such circumstances, we step in: both for the injured person, and for society at large.
