New York Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Every year, 80,000 hospital patients develop catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs). Of those affected, nearly 40 percent - or 30,000 - die as a result. Catheters are often used to monitor the flow of blood in a patient or distribute much-needed medication and nutrients.

CRBSIs account for close to a third of all hospital-acquired infection deaths in the United States, according to The Washington Post. They also cost millions of dollars in healthcare spending.

Some of the most common causes for these infections are catheters that are improperly prepared by hospital staff or those that are left inside patients too long. The Post also reports five, seemingly common sense, steps that hospital staff could take to "all but eliminate" these infections.

1. Wash your hands
2. Clean the patient's skin with an effective antiseptic
3. Put sterile drapes over the patient
4. Wear sterile protective gear - mask, hat, gown and gloves
5. Use a sterile dressing on the catheter site

Amazingly, many of these steps seem to be ignored.

Most New Yorkers already know that the city's streets are not for the faint of heart. In a report released last week, researchers presented a closer look at the city's pain points. The unique project not only highlights existing problems, but gives city planners a blueprint of sorts for fixing them.

In compiling the report, researchers looked at accidents in the five boroughs between 2002 and 2006. They only counted accidents involving pedestrians that resulted in either death or serious injury.

As Michael M. Grynbaum reports in The New York Times, some of the patterns uncovered were more surprising than others.

Against expectations, "crazy taxi drivers" and trucks were involved in a lower number of serious accidents than private vehicles. Of all the accidents accounted for in the report, male drivers were the most likely to be involved in a severe crash. To be more precise, male drivers making left turns were most likely to hit a pedestrian.

Was Lou Gehrig the victim of repeated head trauma?

In the past week, hundreds of news organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, have speculated as to whether "The Iron Horse" really was the first victim of a disease that still bears his name. Or, instead, was Gehrig just one of the earliest athletes to exhibit a deteriorating brain condition now being linked to repeated head trauma?

A study published in this week's Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology seems to point in that direction, escalating concerns that multiple blows to the head can result long-term traumatic brain injuries.

In 2001, the University of Michigan Health System instituted a fairly revolutionary program. Doctors, nurses and other health workers were encouraged to be up front about medical mistakes, reporting both their own and those of others.

A procedure was developed to guide the way in which staff discussed these medical errors with patients and families. Steps included:

• Telling patients and their families about the error, as well as who had made it and how it had happened
• Explaining what steps were being taken to ensure that similar errors were not made in the future
• Most importantly, offering an honest apology and offering to provide fair compensation in proportion to the harm caused

Most hospitals are concerned that such openness will lead to an increase in medical malpractice lawsuits.

However, in Michigan, the monthly rate of filed lawsuits dropped by nearly 50 percent. During the same time period, the rate of malpractice claims dropped by more than 30 percent.

In 2008, close to $80 billion was spent on medical injuries and costs related to them. Of this, $19.5 billion was spent on preventable medical errors. These numbers are from a study commissioned by the U.S. Society of Actuaries (SOA), a group of highly-intelligent individuals used to looking at the big picture and diagnosing problems and opportunities.

Both the picture and the problem are big in this case, as healthcare costs in the United States skyrocket. More often than not, medical malpractice reward caps are brought up as a solution to healthcare affordability. Malpractice lawyers are painted as greedy and injured patients are usually just looked over completely.

Still, in 2008, the economy absorbed nearly $20 billion in additional costs due to hospital negligence, medical malpractice and practitioner error.

Brain injuries are emerging as one of the great costs associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of soldiers are suffering the effects of head and brain injuries, both from expected sources and some unforeseen. For example, concussion-like injuries have appeared with alarming frequency among soldiers exposed to explosive devices.

These are devices that do not break the skin, but cause severe damage nonetheless.

One of the greatest challenges facing the military, and no doubt the American healthcare system, will be how to care for and treat these wounded soldiers. Navy medical personnel have reportedly been testing the effectiveness of N-Acetyl Cysteine, a dietary supplement, on more mild brain injuries.

A recent bus crash in Gray Summit, Missouri has National Transportation Safety Board members looking at accident prevention and safety measures on the large school buses that millions of children ride to school, sporting events and other destinations every year. The devastating crash killed one 15-year-old student, as well as the driver of another vehicle.

The accident occurred when a semi-truck driver slowed down for construction work and was struck by a pickup truck. A large school bus, carrying high school students to an amusement park, rear-ended that accident and was following shortly by a second school bus. The accident left one bus pushed almost all the way to the top of the semi.

In addition to those killed in the bus crash, many students were undoubtedly left with bruises and cuts.  

In April, 28-year-old Web designer Neil Chamberlain was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on McGuinness Boulevard, in Brooklyn. Rushed to the hospital with traumatic head and brain injuries, he passed away shortly thereafter.

Chamberlain was the second bicyclist to perish on McGuinness in 2008, both casualties of general lawlessness among drivers and a lack of law enforcement by the city. In that same time span, two other pedestrians were injured and many more have learned to fear the stretch of road running from Greenpoint Avenue to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.

Shortly after Chamberlain's death, volunteers from Transportation Alternatives and Neighbors Allied for Good Growth spent a total of eight hours monitoring traffic on McGuinness. They observed red lights being run 150 times, mobile phone distraction 89 times and 114 drivers who declined to yield for pedestrians.