CGWC Orlando Injury Attorney Blog

Orlando, Florida

Nation's Top Doctors Agree Personal Injury Lawsuits Promote Safety - Tuesday, August 19, 2008

At least when it comes to pharmaceutical companies, doctors agree that personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits promote safety. The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most influential medical journals in the United States, recently submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer of phenergan, a medication used to combat nausea, particularly during hospitalizations.

The injured victim lost her arm below the elbow by amputation due to gangrene after being injected with phenergan. She sued the manufacturer and alleged the company failed to warn of such dire consequences. The manufacturer appealed a 7 million dollar verdict arguing that the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the medication's labelling eliminates any liability under federal law. The label didn't specifically warn of such tragic consequences as gangrene and amputation. The NEJM editors urged the Supreme Court to be skeptical of allowing drug manufacturers to escape liability based on FDA approval of labelling, arguing that the FDA is overwhelmed in trying to keep up with drug safety issues, lacks the ability to be the sole guarnator of drug safety, and that lawsuits help guarantee drug safety.

The Florida personal injury attorneys at CGWC have long known that what we do in courtrooms is the best way to ensure that others act carefully and safely, whether they are drug manufacturers, drivers of motor vehicles, property owners, employers, hospitals, or doctors. It comes as no surprise that the fine physicians at NEJM would recognize this. Government agencies have their place in regulating businesses and professions to help ensure safety, but bureaucracies are never capable of ensuring safety alone. The civil justice system always has and always should have its role in ensuring safety and compensating those injured by the negligence of others. If you have been hurt by someone or something, you may have legal rights. Call CGWC for a free consultation.

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Florida Medical Malpractice Attorneys Announce Medical "Never Events" - Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The National Quality Forum is a nonprofit health care safety agency created to develop and implement a national strategy for health care quality measurement and reporting. The NQF has created a list of so-called "never events", a list of 28 avoidable errors that should never happen. The list included the following events, injuries, conditions or infections:
  1. Surgery on the wrong body part.
  2. Surgery on the wrong patient.
  3. Wrong surgical procedure performed on a patient.
  4. Object left in patient after surgery.
  5. Death of a patient who had been generally healthy during or immediately after surgery for a localized problem.
  6. Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of contaminated drugs, devices or biologics.
  7. Patient death or serious disability associated with the misuse or malfunction of a device.
  8. Patient death or serious disability associated with intravascuar air embolism.
  9. Infant discharged to wrong person
  10. Patient death or serious disability associated with patient disappearing for more than four hours.
  11. Patient suicide or attempted suicide resulting in serious disability.
  12. Patient death or serious disability associated with a medication error.
  13. Patient death or serious disability associated with transfusion of blood or blood product of the wrong type.
  14. Maternal death or serious disability associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy.
  15. Patient death or serious disability associated with the onset of hypoglycemia, a drop in blood sugar.
  16. Death or serious disability associated with failure to identify and treat hyperbilirubinemia, a blood abnormality, in newborns.
  17. Severe pressure ulcers acquired in the hospital
  18. Patient death or serious disability due to spinal manipulative therapy.
  19. Patient death or serious disability associated with electric shock.
  20. Any incident in which a line designated for oxygen or other gas to be delivered to a patient contains the wrong gas or is contaminated by toxic substances.
  21. Patient death or serious disability associated with a burn in the hospital.
  22. Patient death associated with a fall suffered in the hospital.
  23. Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of restraints or bedrails.
  24. Any instance of care ordered by or provided by someone impersonating a physician, nurse, pharmacist, or other licensed healthcare provider.
  25. Abduction of a patient.
  26. Sexual assault upon a patient.
  27. Death or significant injury of a patient or staff member resulting from a physical assault in the hospital.
  28. Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or donor egg.
These incidents are examples of medical malpractice or medical negligence. According to the National Institute of Medicine at least 44,000 and as many as 98,000 people die each year in hospitals as a result of avoidable medical errors. Even using the lower of those estimates, that means that preventable medical errors in hospitals cause more deaths than car accidents, breast cancer and AIDS.

Recovering compensation for your family if you or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice is complex and involves a web of statutes and regulations designed to protect doctors, nurses and hospitals from accountability for mistakes. If you or a loved one has been the victim of any of the above examples of medical malpractice or any other medical negligence, call CGWC for a free consultation.

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Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Not Surprised At Highway Rankings - Friday, August 01, 2008

A new survey from the Reason Foundation puts Florida highways 41st in the nation. The foundation, which has been conducting the survey for 17 years, looks at such factors as traffic congestion, pavement condition, and highway deaths.

This poor ranking comes as no surprise to Florida automobile accident attorneys like the attorneys at CGWC. Every day, we see people whose lives have been turned upside down by automobile accidents on Florida highways and streets. If you've been hurt, call us for a free consultation or visit TheFloridaFirm.com for more information.

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