Having tonsils removed is a relatively common childhood experience. When children suffer from chronic infections, inflammation or an obstruction that impedes their ability to breathe or swallow, many doctors recommend a routine tonsillectomy and, perhaps removal of a related set of tissues called adenoids. Tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies are indeed routine — some 400,000 are performed a year, mostly on...
Read MoreWhen researchers at Baylor University began their recent study, their goal was to identify which techniques used to help rehabilitate people with traumatic brain injuries were most effective. They set out to analyze the outcomes for patients at 21 rehabilitation centers using the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System, or TBIMS, measuring the patents’ progress at the time of discharge...
Read MoreAn Illinois jury has awarded a family $15.55 million in compensation for a medical mistake that cost the life of a mother during a C-section in 2008. The father had sued MacNeal Hospital, an OB/Gyn at that hospital, the University of Chicago Medical Center and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who works there after the two doctors failed to diagnose...
Read MoreThe Food and Drug Administration has just issued a surprising new warning about two drugs doctors commonly use to diagnose cardiovascular disease: they may themselves cause heart attacks. The two drugs, called Lexiscan and Adenoscan, are injected before stress tests to diagnose coronary artery disease. The American Heart Association describes a stress test as one intended to gauge heart...
Read MoreIn 2007, a new mom and her infant son were set for discharge from the hospital less than 48 hours after the birth. That’s not uncommon. The baby had a case of jaundice, which characterized by yellowing skin and eyes caused by the build-up of a naturally-occurring blood product called bilirubin, which some babies can’t metabolize at first. That’s...
Read MoreEngineers and cardiology researchers at Johns Hopkins University have designed a new biosensor that could help prevent serious brain injuries during heart surgery. The new device is still in development, but the researchers found that a prototype of the biosensor was successfully able to detect a protein associated with brain injury and alert surgeons to the problem. Cardiac surgery...
Read MoreUniversal Health Services, the company that operates the Two Rivers Behavioral Health System facility in Kansas City, is in the news for potential negligence, understaffing and even abuse at its psychiatric hospitals. Its latest quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that eleven of its psychiatric facilities have received subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Health and...
Read MoreWhen a Nebraska high school student suffered a concussion playing football this fall, there was good news. His school had taken the latest concussion research seriously and had a plan in place for assessing his readiness to return to sports. Unfortunately, there was no plan to assess his readiness to return to the classroom without risking further injury to...
Read MoreLeaving foreign objects in the body after surgery is called a “never event” — a mistake so preventable that it should never happen if basic procedures are followed. The sad fact, however, is that “never events” do happen, and this one can cause pain, physical injuries, infections and even death. The Joint Commission, one of the nation’s preeminent healthcare...
Read MoreLast year, an Oklahoma woman had no reason to wonder what a brachial plexus might be, let alone that injuring it might lead to a serious disability. She only learned about this anatomical feature because complications arose during the birth of her daughter. The term “brachial plexus” refers to twin bundles of nerves that begin at the spine near...
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