My name is Lauren Ellerman I am a lawyer in Roanoke Virginia. Learn more about me here.
read moreI rarely claim Florida as home – but this week, I wear my Sunshine State flag with pride. My family is there. My brother and sister in law, often visit dine and enjoy what Orlando, Tampa and Miami nightlife have to offer. My high-school friends are there – and many, I am confident, have been…
read moreIf you were an adolescent in the 1990s, there is no doubt you remember some of the classic Hair Club for Men commercials where men would smile while woman rubbed their hands across thick luscious clumps of natural looking hair on a man standing nearby. I recall friends reenacting the adds in middle school and…
read moreI ask Google at least 3 or 4 questions a day. I ask for advice on pronunciation, recipes, geography and more. Last week my husband asked Google whether the new Jungle Book movie was appropriate for a 4 year old (the answer, in case you are wondering, is no. it is not.) It therefore occurs…
read moreWe get questions like the following, all the time: “I am worried about my loved one in the nursing home. I asked the nurse to call the rescue squad and she said she couldn’t – waiting for a doctor’s order. What can I do?” or “I told the nurse I was so worried about my Mom…
read moreBefore doing medical malpractice work, I took for granted that doctors and hospitals would only use clean instruments and tools on patients. That naivete is long since gone, and FDA Safety Communications like this reaffirm why. A bit of medical background: Gastroenterologists and their staff who help with procedures called endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)…
read moreNot my title but my sentiments exactly. This title comes from an article recently published in Fortune magazine. Non-competes are employment contracts that prevent a departing employee (departing voluntarily or involuntarily) from working for a competitor for one year…or two years…or even three years. The agreements are not only bad for individual workers but they are bad…
read moreI read with interest an op-ed letter in this week’s Wall Street Journal (May 18, 2016). The letter was written by James Lieber, a lawyer in Pittsburgh. He noted the recently released studies revealing an astonishingly high number of Americans lose their lives each year due to preventable medical negligence. His suggestions to improve patient care include:…
read moreJohns Hopkins researchers estimate that medical error is now the third leading cause of death in America. The numbers are shocking: 1. Heart Disease kills 614,348 each year 2. Cancer kills 591,699 each year 3. Medical Errors kill 251,454 each year Do the math. That translates to 689 people die every day (365 days a year)…
read moreI read with interest today an article written by Joe and Teresa Graedon (The People’s Pharmacy) about dangerous drug combinations. The article described a patient who was taking an ACE inhibitor for high blood pressure who soon thereafter was prescribed Bactrim (an antibiotic). Within days the patient reported almost passing out due to very low…
read moreJust a few days ago my partner Dan and I were discussing the Dept. of Treasury luke warm report on non-compete agreements.. and Dan asked, why are they doing this? It was a fair question. Why is Treasury spending time and money looking into the economic impact of restrictive covenants, and why be so luke…
read moreSo there is a new Report out on the economic costs of non-compete agreements. It upsets me a little. Okay, so it upsets me more than a little. It would be like a report, funded by tax payer dollars, that has the following conclusion: People who make and sell video games think they enhance brain…
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