Law Firm Resources & News

We witness, hear about, and read about the poor conditions in America’s Nursing Homes. Many, if not most, facilities are intentionally under-staffed in order to maximize profit at the expense of taking care of the elderly and frail. The fact that these Nursing Homes are forced to pay thousands of dollars to satisfy civil jury…

An 85 year old woman resided at the White Oak Manor nursing home in Spartanburg, South Carolina for about 6 months. The resident was a diabetic on oral medications, had previously suffered two hip fractures, had early onset of dementia, and a heart condition. During her stay at the nursing home, she suffered multiple falls,…

Nursing homes across America would, for the first time, have to install sprinkler systems throughout their buildings if they wish to continue to serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, under a new regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today. As an interim step toward today’s announcement, in March 2005, CMS began requiring…

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal informed readers that hospitals are moving to lower the risks associated with anesthesia by using “conscious sedation.” This type of sedation induces an altered state of consciousness that minimizes pain and discomfort through the use of pain relievers and sedatives. Patients, who receive conscious sedation usually are…

A recent article in Medscape Today reports that in 2005, there were 10.2 million cosmetic procedures performed in the United States, an increase of 11% from 2004 and 38% when compared with 2000. This number includes 3,839,387 Botox treatments, 1,033,581 chemical peels, 837,711 microdermabrasions, 782,732 laser hair removals, 589,768 vein sclerotherapies (strippings), 323,605 liposuctions, 298,413…

I often read the Washington Post’s website – and came across this article, or discussion rather, on end of life issues: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/10/06/DI2006100601119.html It is not an easy discussion, that is for sure – but it is even more difficult when your loved one is ill and perhaps facing terminal illness, etc. Our suggestion – make…

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should strongly warn the public about the risk of tendon rupture associated with the use of certain antibiotics. Public Citizen, a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has filed a petition with the FDA requesting the warnings. The petition is the result of a review of the FDA’s adverse event…

I received an email today – with the following link: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/15805694.htm. The State of Texas is suing a nursing home for failing to care for the patients. Well I think that is a great idea – and here is why. Often times you hear people allege that the only people who win in negligence /…

A Missouri company that owned 11 nursing homes and it former CEO recently pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to defraud Medicare and Medicaid by charging the federal government for nursing home care that was so poor as to be almost non-existent. The company, American Healthcare Management, Inc., and its CEO, Robert Wachter, were…

Here in Roanoke – we have an interesting local issue regarding Health Care. The largest local hospital has announced a long range plan to associate most local doctors – what this means is the doctors will become employees of the hospital (or a subsidiary corporation) and they will no longer practice with or for their…

Check out USA Today – today, http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2006-10-15-health-concern-usat_x.htm. A USA Today poll regarding the quality and costs of the U.S. healthcare system found that a “growing unease” has brought on a desire for a major reform. Eighty percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the amount the nation spends on healthcare, which has been estimated to be…

Back in June of this year we published a short article on the problems caused by drug-coated cardiac stents. Our article directed readers to a study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It seemed there was a higher rate of blood clot formation with the use of drug-coated stents as compared to un-coated stents.…