New parents begin to experience both hope and fear about their children’s lives before they are even born. Unfortunately, some of the events one is often most hopeful about in regards to a child’s experience become those that are marked by fear, pain and doubt. For example, many parents anxiously await the arrival of their children, sure that while the birthing process can be unquestionably painful it is ultimately a joyous event. However, when infants suffer injurious, debilitating and even fatal birth injuries, the birthing process can turn into a nightmare. The range of birth-related injuries that infants may suffer varies significantly. Infants can suffer bruising [...]

If you have suffered an illness or injury which requires medical care, you may already be feeling understandably disoriented as a result of your medical condition. If you have experienced an adverse event during the course of your medical care, you may be feeling even more dazed than you otherwise might. When the trust between medical professionals and patients is broken due to mistakes on the part of medical personnel, the fallout can be uniquely jarring. As a result, you may not feel qualified to make certain decisions about how you will ultimately respond to the harm that you are now suffering as a result of [...]

During a recent hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, a serious patient safety allegation was raised by a panel of respected leaders on this very subject. This panel asserted that over the past 15 years, patient safety advances have been inconsistent, limited and sporadic in nature. Specifically, the panel noted that since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s “To Err is Human” 15 years ago, patients continue to die and to sustain serious injuries due to preventable medical errors at devastating rates. Many hospital administrators take issue with this pronouncement. According to Modern Healthcare, numerous hospital groups contend that patient safety [...]

According to a poll recently conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, only 22 percent of respondents are confident that they can successfully research and compare the quality of healthcare providers in their area. This poll confirms that Americans feel that due to their own limitations, due to limited resources or both, it is difficult to find and compare the quality of care that physicians provide. We frequently write about the ways in which patient empowerment aids in ensuring patient safety. After all, if patients are aware that one physician has a checkered history of medical malpractice and another has a spotless patient [...]

Addiction is a disease that is ravaging our country. Like most other diseases, addiction does not discriminate. We often hear about the fatal heroin overdoses that claim young people in their teens and twenties. But alcohol and other drugs – both legal and illegal – are slowly and secretly killing victims of all ages and professions, including physicians. Obviously, drug and alcohol abuse can lead to dangerous impairment at work. But for the 10 percent of American doctors thought to be struggling with active addiction to drugs or alcohol, the stakes are much higher. Hospitals have a responsibility to closely monitor their physicians for signs of [...]