The Journal Pediatrics published a report yesterday about a significant rise, from 2001 to 2013, in the amount of emergency department visits caused by playground-related head injuries in children aged infant to fourteen years old. From 2001 to 2013, a yearly average of 21,100 children were treated in emergency rooms for traumatic brain injuries (TBI). ⇒ Read More
April 7, 2016
Federal Agency Advised Amtrak to Install Backup Safety Features BEFORE Last Sunday
On Sunday, April 3, 2016, two people were killed and at least 35 others injured after an Amtrak train traveling the Northeast Corridor en route to Savannah, GA crashed into a backhoe on the train tracks. Up until recently, it was unknown how the train operator didn’t know there were construction workers on the track ⇒ Read More
April 4, 2016
Questions Continue to Pile Up Regarding Sunday’s Delaware and Bucks County Amtrak Incidents
Sunday, an Amtrak train traveling from New York City, NY to Savannah, GA derailed just south of Philadelphia after crashing into a backhoe, killing two and injuring 35. Since then, an investigation into the cause of the crash has raised more questions than it’s answered. It is confirmed that the fatalities were two long-time employees ⇒ Read More
April 3, 2016
Amtrak Crash Kills Two, Injures Dozens on Northeast Corridor
In May 2015, an Amtrak train traveling the Northeast Corridor from Washington D.C. to New York City derailed in Port Richmond, killing eight and injuring hundreds. In October 2015, an Amtrak train traveling southbound on the Northeast Corridor from Vermont to Washington D.C. derailed after hitting falling debris, injuring seven. This morning, April 3, 2016, ⇒ Read More
March 17, 2016
Guest Post: The effect of hospital distractions on patient safety
If you have ever been to Times Square in the heart of New York City, you understand how a flood of noise, sights and smells overwhelm even the most hardened city dweller. Regardless of the time of day, electronic lights flash messages ranging from benign advertisements to danger warnings intended to protect individuals from harm. ⇒ Read More
March 8, 2016
Medical Device Blamed for the Spread of Cancer in Women
A Republican Congressman out of the 8th District of Pennsylvania, Michael Fitzpatrick, is calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate a number of deaths linked to the use of a popular surgical device for gynecological procedures including hysterectomies and uterine fibroid removals. The congressman is also calling for a criminal investigation ⇒ Read More
February 25, 2016
Drug Tampering Causes Possible HIV and Hepatitis Exposure at Jersey Shore Hospital
Shore Medical Center in Somers Point, NJ has notified 213 patients by mail that they may have been exposed to HIV and/or hepatitis B/C due to employee drug tampering. An investigation is currently underway at the South Jersey hospital, assisted by the New Jersey Department of Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control ⇒ Read More
February 18, 2016
Forty-seven vehicles on the road in the U.S. have open safety recalls
According to Carfax, provider of used-car history, nearly one in five vehicles on the road in the United States have safety issues serious enough to be involved in federal recalls. This ratio translates to about 47 million cars on the road in need of repair (out of a total 258.5 million cars on the road), ⇒ Read More
January 21, 2016
NY Court of Appeals Rules Third Party CAN Sue for Medical Malpractice
A hypothetical scenario: An ER physician administers pain medication to an emergency department patient. The physician then discharges the patient without warning them that the pain medicine they ingested seriously impairs their ability to operate a motor vehicle. The patient gets behind the wheel of their vehicle, under the influence of pain medication, and gets ⇒ Read More