Law Firm Resources & News

Sermo, a company out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has partnered with the American Medical Association (AMA) to create a forum that encourages doctors to swap ideas and information over the internet. While the company set this up as a tool for investment firms, the doctors seem to like the sense of community and ease of use.…

Want to check on a certain nursing home? See how they have been doing? You can go to medicare’s website to look for citations – www.medicare.gov You can make a Freedom of Information Act request to your local state health authority (in Va. call 1-800-955-1819) and ask for the most recent state survey results; You…

Wow! $1.3 million dollar sanction ordered against a hospital for misconduct in a pending malpractice lawsuit. Failing to answer discovery truthfully, tell the plaintiff’s family who individuals with knowledge were — and even after the $6 million dollar plaintiff’s verdict, now the hospital must pay $1.3 million in sanctions. Read all about it – and…

Ivy League-educated pediatrician Robert P. Lindeman sat on the stand in a Boston area court this month, defending himself in a malpractice suit involving the death of a 12-year-old patient, when the opposing counsel startled him with a question. Was he Lindeman Flea? It appears Dr. Lindeman authored a blog under the assumed name, Lindeman…

The Naples Daily News reports 47 residents of ManorCare Health Services, a 118-bed nursing home in East Naples, Florida became ill late last week from what could be the Norwalk virus with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea. Read the new article here. Norwalk virus, from the norovirus class, can cause acute gastroenteritis in humans and…

I saw in an article today in USA Today, a man with drug-resistant TB decided to take a trip a couple of weeks ago and now at least two countries are scrambling to locate people who might have traveled near him. Health officials want to alert those individuals that they may have come in contact…

This morning I read an abstract in the Journal of the American Geriactrics Society – June 2007 publication. While you cannot access the entire study without a subscription, it seems recent studies reflect older women with depression, have higher bone loss than woman who are not depressed. AND the study concludes that anti-depressents are not…

Grandma is in the local nursing home for rehab after she broke her hip. A pressure ulcer develops, or she gets a UTI, diabetes is uncontrolled or something else happens. Who is looking after her? WHO IS THE BOSS? Well, the Medical Director of the nursing home is – right? Maybe. In a nursing home…

Researchers have announced they found six new sites of variation on the genome that increase the risk of breast cancer. The discovery means “a sizable fraction of the overall genetic risk of breast cancer may now have been accounted for, and much of the rest could be captured in a few years.” This announcement is…

According to an article in the New York Times, researchers have found that if they turn off a gene that is associated with Alzheimer’s, mice become smarter in the lab. The researchers said the mice “were far more adept at sensing environmental changes than other mice.” Dr. James Bibb led the study which used genetic…

A recent report prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by the RAND Corporation examines nursing home selection statistics in six states. The purpose of the report was to determine how the million-plus elders headed for senior care every year make their choices. Researchers determined that generally consumers do not take full…