Chicago Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog

It was not long ago that Yaz and Yasmin ranked as one of the leading birth control pills on the market. They were able to corner a large share of the market in large part due to a successful ad campaign marketed towards women under 35 and promises to decrease acne and premenstrual depression. However, nowadays when Yaz and Yasmin are in the news it is related to the large number of lawsuits filed against the drugs' manufacturer.

Bayer Pharmaceuticals Co. began manufacturing Yasmin in 2001 and Yaz in 2006. These new forms of birth control differed from older versions of oral contraceptives in that Yasmin and Yaz contained less estrogen and added a new synthetic form of progestin, called drospirenone. Supposedly, this new combination would lower the risk of blood clots typically caused by high levels of estrogen in birth control pills.

However, recent studies have shown that in fact Yaz and Yasmin users actually have a greater risk of developing blood clots than women using older forms of birth control. In addition, new information has suggested that Yaz and Yasmin also can cause heart failure, strokes, and other organ failures. As a result, over 11,300 product liability lawsuits were filed against Bayer.

Continue reading "70 Yaz and Yasmin Birth Control Drug Cases Settled" »

As we age, our health problems multiply, leaving many Americans on numerous medications whether to treat high blood pressure, thyroid problems, high cholesterol, diabetes, Alzheimers disease, etc. And while many of these medications are necessary to prevent serious health problems, they also come with potentially life-threatening side effects. An estimated third of patients over 65 have suffered a serious adverse side effect from their prescription medications.

A recent article in The New York Times highlighted some of the problems with the growing overmedication of the elderly. Recent studies have found that elderly patients are more at risk for adverse drug reactions not only because they are generally on such a large number of medications, but also because some medications can have a different effect on elderly patients. For example, hypnotic sedatives, such as Ativan, that are used to treat anxiety can cause confusion and severe sedation in elderly patients. Likewise, sedating antihistamines can also cause confusion, blurred vision, or drowsiness.

The American Geriatrics Society addressed this issue by publishing new guidelines that identify which medications are most likely to have adverse effects on elderly patients. Again, given that almost half of patients over 65 years-old take five or more medications on a daily basis, these guidelines will be extremely helpful to geriatric doctors. The intent of these new guidelines are not only to help prevent negative medication side effects, but also to decrease the overall cost of medication.

Continue reading "Prescription Medicine Overwhelms Elderly" »

Hospital borne infections have been a problem for years, and drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) have become household names. However, a recent New York Times article highlights another virus that is causing a high rate of death among children and the elderly and provides some insight into how the medical community could help decrease the number of deaths.

Norovirus is an extremely contagious virus and in recent years has become the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis. And while many of the symptoms caused by norovirus mimic that of the flu or a severe cold, e.g. nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain; epidemiologist Aron Hall warns, "I think there is perhaps a misperception that norovirus causes a mild illness; . . . [it is] a major problem that requires some attention."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year norovirus causes over 20 million illnesses, leads to 70,000 hospitalizations, and results in 800 deaths. In addition, norovirus is the most common cause of food disease outbreaks in the U.S. Because norovirus has much in common with C. difficile, a bacterial infection, medical officials are examining the ways hospitals and nursing homes have tried to combat the spread of C. diff to try and help reduce the spread of norovirus.

Continue reading "Intestinal Infections Are Killing More Americans" »

Our current economy situation is forcing many people to reevaluate their careers and move towards jobs that can't be eliminated or downsized. And for many, the answer lies in the medical field, particularly in nursing. Detroit and the state of Michigan seem to embody the nation's economic turmoil and according to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth the state of Michigan will need to add an estimated 18,000 nurses by 2015.

In order to meet this estimated job shortage, many workers are changing from their current volatile careers to what they see as a more stable career choice. A recent New York Times article showcased some Michigan natives making the shift to nursing, many of which were male. For example, the 49 year-old grocery warehouse employee who now works at a nursing home, or the 57 year-old nursing student who used to work as an automotive vibration engineer. These men represent the growing trend to keep your options open and find work where you can.

Currently, Michigan's unemployment rate is at 9 percent. In order to not become a number in that statistic, many former automotive employees are turning to nursing as a way to jumpstart a new career. In fact, the trend is so predominant that Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan even established a program specifically geared towards training former autoworkers in nursing.

Continue reading " Nursing Homes and Hospitals Are Hiring Laid Off Blue Collar Workers Who Retrained to Become Nurses" »

Since the first successful kidney transplant in the 1950s, organ donation has given many patients a new lease on life. In the US alone, over 100,000 people are currently waiting for an organ donation, with a new person being added to the list every ten minutes. However, the biggest barrier for many of those on the organ transplant list is not a lack of medical technology, but rather a lack of available organs.

According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Health's Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), an estimated 18 people die every die while waiting for organ donations. Furthermore, because a patient's health typically declines when there is a delay in receiving a needed organ, even those that do receive organ donations typically face worse outcomes due to the delay in their transplants.

The United States relies on volunteers to sign up and become organ donors. And while 90% of Americans support organ donation, only 30% have taken the required steps to become a donor. In an effort to increase the rate of organ donations, other countries, like Austria and Spain, have tried an opt-out approach where people are automatically considered donors unless they opt out of the process. However, doctors have faced resistance from family members opposed to donating their deceased relative's organs, so the opt-out approach hasn't led to a drastic increase in overall organ donations.

A recent blog published by The New York Times highlights a completely different approach taken by the Israeli government that took a multi-dimensional approach to increasing organ donations. The government launched a public awareness campaign that addressed some of the primary barriers to organ donation. In addition, the government initiated a new law that would give priority to patients who were organ donors themselves. Before Israel's campaign, about 3,000 to 5,000 organ donation cards were turned in each month; however, during the ten week period of the campaign over 70,000 Israelis registered as organ donors leading to a 60% increase in available organs.

Continue reading "A New Approach to Organ Transplant Donations Could Saves Lives" »

For many medical diseases, early detection can drastically improve a patient's outcome. Therefore, doctors are always working to find new ways to predict who might be at risk for certain diseases, or to prevent people from developing certain diseases. A new study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examines what sort of things help reduce the development of colon polyps in men and women.

The study was done at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, located in Nashville, Tennessee. It involved over 5,000 men and women, looking for common trends among those who did not develop colon polyps. While the study did not reveal any link between various behaviors and colon polyps in men, there was a potential risk reducing factor for women.

The study found that women who ate three or more servings of fish per week were 33 percent less likely to develop adenomatous polyps. This finding could be particularly relevant in terms of preventive cancer treatments because adenomatous polyps are likely to become cancerous. Scientists attributed the useful benefits of fish to their high levels of omega-3 fatty acids; animal testing has shown links between omega-3 and anti-cancer effects.

Continue reading "Eating Fish Reduces Risk of Cancerous Polyps in Women" »

For over twenty-five years, Robert Kreisman has been a member of Chicago's Union League Club and has helped support its motto of "commitment to community and country." As part of its commitment to examining critical social issues, the Union League Club (ULC) hosted a forum examining the role race plays in access to quality healthcare. "Race and Healthcare: Examining the Disparities" featured a panel of doctors who spoke about their observations of the role of race in Chicago's healthcare system.

The event was moderated by Dr. Terry Mason. Dr. Mason is currently the Chief Medical Officer of the Cook County Health & Hospital System (CCHHS) and post Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health. As moderator, Dr. Mason provided a brief history of the disparity that exists in healthcare delivered to different classes of Americans.

He then introduced the two panelists, Dr. Anthony LoSasso and Dr. Carl Bell, who then spoke to the various government policies and clinical considerations that perpetuate the healthcare disparity. Dr. LoSasso serves as a faculty member of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr. Bell is an internationally recognized author, lecturer, and psychiatrist who advocates for violence prevention among mental health patients.

Continue reading "Race and Healthcare Examined at Union League Club of Chicago" »

While some doctors are working to create cures for cancer, others are working to create effective solutions to combat the destructive effects of certain types of cancer. Take for example the recent breakthroughs in tissue engineering that allowed doctors to replace the cancerous windpipe of a Baltimore man with a new, synthetic windpipe. While a similar procedure had been performed on a Swedish man, this is the first time an American has undergone such a procedure.

The surgery was possible thanks to the efforts of Dr. Paolo Macchiarini and his colleagues at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. Dr. Macchiarin is the director of the Advanced Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine and has been working in the field of tissue engineering. His goal is to effectively reproduce tissues and organs outside of the body, a field that is undergoing a surge in success thanks to advances in stem cell research.

Christopher Lyles, the 30 year-old Baltimore man who received the synthetic windpipe transplant, had been diagnosed with inoperable tracheal cancer. However, following his transplant surgery, he was quoted telling a New York Times reporter, "I'm just thankful for a second chance at life."

Continue reading "Doctors Successfully Transplant Synthetic Windpipe to Replace Cancerous One" »

According to a recent survey in the Journal of the American Medical Association, male physicians age 55 or older are twice as likely to be sued for medical negligence as younger women doctors. This survey and other similar findings are the basis of a recent program on Radio Health Journal - "Do Women Make Better Doctors?"

In order to get the perspective of the legal community on whether or not females in fact make better doctors, Radio Health Journal interviewed Chicago medical malpractice attorney Robert Kreisman. Kreisman explained that in his experience, most medical malpractice lawsuits arise out of a failure to communicate between the patient and physician. While sometimes this communication failure might simply result in the patient feeling negatively about his medical care, in other instances it could lead to a misdiagnosis or medical negligence.

Kreisman generalizes that "most times that I've heard from potential clients about a physician that they feel chose not to communicate well with the patient or family, it tends to be a male." However, the show also suggests that perhaps more male doctors are being sued not because women are necessarily better doctors, but for other reasons. For example, traditionally men have dominated high-risk medical fields, such as surgery or obstetrics, while women have generally remained in fields that don't get sued as often, like pediatrics or family practice.

Continue reading "Radio Health Journal Interviews Attorney Robert Kreisman, “Do Women Make Better Doctors?”" »

A recent Wall Street Journal article focused on new developments in research on how our brain reacts to pain. The article revealed that new research has demonstrated that we have a lot of control over how we interpret pain and that new methods are being developed to try and train our brains to feel less pain, especially in the case of those experiencing chronic pain.

For example, Stanford University's Neuroscience and Pain Lab has conducted studies where subjects watch their own brain scans while reacting to pain. Researchers then work on training the subjects to focus on something else instead of the pain. Distracting oneself from the pain lessens our perception of the pain and in essence takes some of the pain away. The more the subjects work at re-evaluating their pain, the less interference the pain had in their day to day lives.

This idea of refocusing one's attention away from the pain has been used by laymen for years. When a child falls and hurts himself, his mother might try to distract him from his cuts and scrapes with a special treat. Or having women in labor focus on breathing techniques to try and remain calm through the pain. So while this research might seem obvious to many, it is only recently that researchers are studying the underlying science and figuring out new ways to apply these findings to pain therapy.

Continue reading "Brain Scan Study Reveals Where Pain Lies" »

Pre-eclampsia is a medical condition that affects one in twenty pregnancies and can lead to various complications for the mother and child, including stroke, seizures, or even death. Pre-eclampsia can be diagnosed during the second trimester and occurs when the mother develops hypertension, i.e. high blood pressure, or unusually high concentrations of protein in her urine. While there is currently no treatment for pre-eclampsia, a recent study published in Reproductive Sciences could help identify those women at risk for developing pre-eclampsia.

The article, titled "Placental Protein 13 and Decidual Zones of Necrosis: An Immunologic Diversion That May be Linked to Preeclampsia," was published by Harvey J. Kliman, MD, PhD, a research scientist operating out of Yale University, and several other scientists. The article focused on recent findings Kilman and his colleagues had unearthed about the role of Placental Protein 13 (PP13) and what this could mean for pre-eclampsia patients.

PP13 is a protein made by the placenta during pregnancy. Prior research had found PP13 levels to be very low among women who develop pre-eclampsia; however, the role of PP13 in pregnancy had previously been unknown. In the present study, the doctors studied placentas from normal pregnancies that had been terminated prior to the 14th week of gestation. They not only found the PP13 to be concentrated in maternal tissue surrounding the veins running under the placenta, but also found a high degree of necrotic maternal tissue in the same area.

Continue reading "Medical Study Reveals Placental Protein Connected to the Dangers of Pre-Eclampsia" »

A gene therapy study done at the University of Pennsylvania has yielded profoundly significant results for cancer patients. A trial study done on three leukemia patients was able to successfully send two of those patients' cancer into remission. While the program is still in its trial stages, the gene cancer study could prove to be a major advance in the fight against cancer.

All three of the studies participants had been diagnosed with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia and were no longer candidates for chemotherapy or a bone marrow transplant. Therefore, for these patients the experimental study represented their only treatment option. The goal of the University of Pennsylvania study was to try and get the patients' own immune system to fight the cancer.

To do so, the scientists focused on the patients' T-cells, which is a white blood cell that works to fight tumors and viruses. The process involved removing millions or billions of the person's T-cells, splicing them with new genes, and then returning the modified T-cells to the person's body. What was unique about the University of Pennsylvania study was that it was the first time a modified version of the H.I.V. virus has been used in cancer gene therapy research.

Continue reading "Breakthrough in Cancer Gene Therapy Sends Cancer Patients Into Remission" »

To many women, pregnancy and childbirth is a magical time that ends with the arrival of a new family member. However, for many women pregnancy and labor are anything but easy. Some women suffer difficult pregnancies and are placed on high risk status, or put on bed rest. Other women undergo difficult and complicated labor and deliveries, sometimes resulting in birth injuries to the baby. However, a recent article in The New York Times highlighted another potential complication of the birthing process - stillbirths.

Despite America's status as a wealthy nation that offers high quality prenatal care, stillbirths continue to be a problem for many pregnant women. A group of papers put together by The Lancet, a British medical journal, stated that about 1 in 300 babies continue to be stillborn in high-income countries. And while about 98 percent of the global stillbirths occur in low- or middle-income countries, the report calls into question what doctors and families can be doing to decrease the incidences of stillbirths in the U.S.

Some of the risk factors for stilbirths include maternal obesity, maternal age over 35, smoking during pregnancy, and multiple pregnancies, e.g., twins or triplets. Reports suggest that obesity is the cause of 18 percent of stillbirths in higher-income nations, a statistic that is not surprising considering other medical reports citing the increase in adult obesity in the U.S. However, while the negative effect of obesity on one's heart and general health are well-known, perhaps the effect of obesity on one's fetus is not as well-known. Educating American women about the link between maternal obesity and stillbirth could at least make more women aware about this problem and perhaps work towards lowering the cases of maternal obesity, just as educating women about the risks of smoking during pregnancy has lowered the rate of smoking-related stillbirths.

Continue reading "Stillbirths Still a Problem in High-Income Countries Like the U.S." »

Over the years, medical advances have led to countless innovative inventions that have saved many lives. However, not every medical innovation lives up to its expectations. The recall of DuPuy's metal-on-metal hip joint is a perfect example of a medical device that failed to delivery as promised.

The first artificial hip joint was developed in the 1960s and was made of a metal ball placed in a plastic cup, which were meant to replicate the thigh bone and hip socket, respectively. Then, metal-on-metal hip implant devices were developed in response to studies showing that metal and plastic hip devices were leading to bone loss in some patients.

The medical community believed the medical device changes made to metal-on-metal hip implants would revolutionize the future of artificial hips. Not only would the newer design lead to less bone loss in patients, but by replacing plastic with metal, the belief was that the new medical device would last longer than the original metal and plastic version. Medical professionals viewed metal-on-metal hip devices as the final solution to hip implant patients' problems.

Continue reading "Medical Advances Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be" »

France's Agence Francaise De Securite Sanitaire Des Produits De Sante (AFSSAPS) banned the use of Actors, a drug prescribed to control diabetes, due to concerns that it increases the risk of bladder cancer amongst patients taking the drug. Actors manufactured by Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical and is one of the pharmaceutical company's top-selling drugs. The French medical board's decision has caused Germany to follow suit in banning the diabetes drug, with reports that the UK might soon follow.

The French drug suspension not only affects Actos, but also applies to Competact, a similar prescription drug that combines Actos with metformin. Both drugs were suspended because they contained the active ingredient Pioglitazone, which has been linked to the increase risk of bladder cancer. This risk was documented in a study of antidiabetic patients taking antidiabetic medicines that was conducted by the Caisse National d'Assurance Maladie between 2006 and 2009.

The sale of Actos was approved in Europe in 2000, with Competact being approved in 2006. Since that time, an estimated 230,000 patients use Actos in France alone. In 2010, Europe accounted for Y29.5 billion, or about 7.5%, of Actos Y387.9 billion in global sales. The banning of Actos in Europe could drastically affect the fate of the Japan-based pharmaceutical company and exposes it to potential pharmaceutical liability lawsuits.

Continue reading "Use of Actos Suspended Across Europe After Studies Link Its Use to Increased Risk for Bladder Cancer" »