Posts by Christopher Nace
Choose a Motorcycle Helmet to Protect Your Brain, Not Just Your Head
Motorcycle helmets have an important job to do. They must protect the rider’s head in the event of a crash. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, helmets are about 37 percent effective in preventing deaths in a motorcycle crash, and about 67 percent effective in preventing brain injuries. Most motorcycle helmet manufacturers are…
Read MoreArbitration Clauses in Consumer Contracts May Soon be Banned
As a consumer you may be under the impression that if you should have a dispute with a company about its products or services, you are always free to file a lawsuit against them to recover damages for your losses. Not so in some cases. In fact, you have likely already signed a contract or…
Read MoreCan a Surgical “Black Box” Lessen the Number of Preventable Medical Errors?
The patient safety advocacy organization The Leapfrog Group published a report in 2014 that identified hospital errors as the third leading cause of death in the United States, after heart disease and cancer. This report estimates that up to 440,000 Americans die each year from preventable hospital errors. A new idea that could help make…
Read MoreNow Researchers Cannot Even Tell You about Dangerous Drugs
Dr. Nav Persaud is a physician and drug researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada. He has been researching a drug called Diclectin, which is manufactured by Duchesnay Inc. It is the only drug on the market which has been approved by Health Canada to treat nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP). There is…
Read MoreHospital Acquired Infections Affect One in 25 Patients According to the CDC
Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) or health care associated infections affect patients in hospital or other health-care facilities and were not present or incubating at the time of admission. HAIs represent the most frequent, adverse events in health-care delivery worldwide. Approximately 30 percent of patients in ICUs will be affected by at least one health-care associated…
Read MorePaulson & Nace, PLLC Named to “Best Law Firms” by U.S. News and World Report
We are very proud to announce that Paulson & Nace, PLLC has been ranked Tier 1 in the 2016 edition of U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers’ list of Best Law Firms in America! The firm has been recognized as a Tier 1 firm every year the rankings have been released. As you…
Read MoreAmusement Park Accident Injury Lawsuits
Perhaps it is the threat of imminent danger that rollercoasters and other amusement park and theme park rides impose which gives thrill-seeking riders such a rush, but every year about 4,400 children get injured on these rides according to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). The most serious injuries that cause death are not…
Read MoreMedical Malpractice Lawsuit about Patient Suicide Being Decided by the Florida Supreme Court
In 2008, a Florida woman named Jacqueline Granicz, who was suffering from depression, called her doctor’s office and reported that she felt like she was under a great deal of mental strain;, she was crying easily and experiencing stomach pain and other problems. When Dr. Chirillo learned about Ms. Granicz’s call from his assistant, he…
Read MoreNursing Home Abuse: What are Your Rights and Protections When You Have Been Injured?
If you are a resident in a nursing home that is certified to receive Medicare or Medicaid funding, you are protected by federal and state laws that were enacted to make sure that you get the quality of care and health services that you require. If you have a loved one who is living in…
Read MoreFecal Microbiota Transplantation Is Saving Lives
There are few topics more distasteful than fecal transplants, and discussing them with a doctor can be embarrassing for many people. However, a fecal transplant could be the cure to Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, a nasty infection that affects up to half a million people each year and kills close to 30,000, according to…
Read MoreWest Virginia’s Water Contains an Unsafe Amount of Teflon
The Ohio River Valley in West Virginia used to be a base of operations for DuPont, where is manufactured a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid, usually abbreviated to PFOA or C8. It was used in a variety of products, but the best known among non-scientists or engineers is Teflon. The risks have been known since the…
Read MoreBirth Injury Primer: What Expecting Parents Need to Know about HELLP Syndrome
When doctors or lawyers talk about birth injuries, they usually focus on injuries to the baby or fetus. However, one of the most serious pre-labor conditions that can affect both mother and child is HELLP Syndrome, a relatively common condition that can prove potentially fatal if not diagnosed and treated right away. HELLP Syndrome is…
Read MoreDangers of Driving in the District of Columbia
The dangers of driving in the District of Columbia are legendary. Each year, Allstate releases the Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report, which is based on claims for that insurance company, and ranks the 200 largest cities in the U.S. in terms of how frequently drivers get into collisions. The national average frequency for car accidents…
Read MoreKeeping Updated about Auto Safety Recall Information
The U.S. Justice Department has ordered General Motors to pay $900 million to settle criminal charges related to a faulty ignition switch that has been linked to at least 124 deaths. GM admitted that its employees were aware of the problem for almost a decade before it initiated the recall of millions of cars last…
Read MoreHeart Failure, Pancreatic Cancer and Severe Joint Pain Linked to Onglyza and Januvia
Onglyza (saxagliptin) is a prescription drug that was approved by the FDA in 2009 as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. The drug, which is manufactured by AstraZeneca, gained popularity because it helped patients control their blood sugar without causing weight gain as can occur with other diabetes medications. Onglyza belongs to a class of…
Read MoreFailure to Warn: What are the Dangers of Faulty Medical Advice?
A new research study has uncovered the lack of knowledge and a high level of misinformation about gynecological conditions that could be keeping women from getting the health care they may need. A team of doctors from the Center for Innovative GYN Care (CIGC) has launched a new public education campaign designed to inform women…
Read MoreMedical Malpractice: Suing Your Doctor for Enabling Your Addiction to Pain Medication in West Virginia
What if you received a serious injury in an auto accident and your doctor prescribed pain medication to which you quickly became addicted? Can you sue your doctor for medical malpractice? In West Virginia you can. In May 2015, the West Virginia Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, rules that those who are addicted to…
Read MoreThe Hazards of Motorcycle Riding in the District of Columbia and West Virginia
Motorcycles are a dangerous form of transportation, but that does not stop motorcycle riders from enjoying the exhilaration and feeling of freedom that comes from riding. Accidents involving motorcycles are, with good reason, far more catastrophic than accidents between passenger vehicles because riders have no protection from the road or from other vehicles. For motorcyclists,…
Read MoreWhat the Media Does Not Understand about Premises Liability
A woman recently sued Dunkin’ Donuts and settled her premises liability case for $522,000. The media has had a bit of a field day with the story (as have the commenters on the sites covering the news) because they assume that this is another hot coffee lawsuit. In actuality, the victim “tripped over an exposed…
Read MoreDefective IVC Filters Spur Defective Medical Device Lawsuits throughout the Country
An inferior vena cava filter, or IVC filter, is a medical device designed to prevent blood clots from traveling into the heart or lungs. They are primarily used in patients who, for myriad reasons, cannot take blood thinners. When they work properly, IVC filters have the potential to save lives. When they fail, they have…
Read MoreWhy Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Rely on Expert Testimony
Medical malpractice is defined as “improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional.” In order to prove that a healthcare provider was negligent, and that the negligence led to a breach of duty and harm to a patient, attorneys consult with experts in the…
Read MoreAre Cameras in the Operating Room an Effective Way to Curb Medical Malpractice?
Preventable medical errors are absolutely rampant in this country, and what goes on in operating rooms is not always carefully documented. A study conducted by Patient Safety America estimates that more than 400,000 people die each year of preventable medical errors in hospitals and other medical settings. There are several cases of preventable medical errors…
Read MoreThe FDA Warns about the Dangers of Medication Errors from Drug Mix-ups
The Food and Drug Administration has issued a safety advisory to doctors, pharmacists and patients to check both the prescription and the label on medicine bottles before taking a new prescription drug. They have received several reports concerning prescription errors with regard to drugs with similar sounding names, but with completely different purposes. For example,…
Read MoreParental Responsibility when a Child Causes a Personal Injury
Imagine you are driving along one day and you are involved in an auto accident. Another car ran a stop sign and came barreling through the intersection and broadsided your car. When you step out of your car to assess the damage, you notice that the driver of the other car looks really young —…
Read MoreMedical Malpractice and the Rise of Gastric Bypass Surgical Errors
The rise in popularity of gastric bypass and other surgical weight loss procedures is directly linked to the rising obesity rates in the Unites States. Gastric bypass is a bariatric surgery technique which treats morbid obesity by dividing the stomach into a small pouch and re-routing the small intestine. This procedure reduces the volume of…
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