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Recent Blog Posts
Brain Damage As An Outcome Of A Surgical Error
People undergo brain surgery for a variety of reasons, including removing a brain tumor, replacing shunts that have been clogged or infected, and to stop bleeding around the brain. Any time the brain is operated on, there are risks of permanent damage. Even surgeons who have years of experience performing brain surgeries can make critical mistakes due to negligence and carelessness.
When errors are made during brain surgeries, additional brain damage could be the result. Here are some ways in which neurosurgeons can make errors during surgeries:
- Inaccurate cuts. When a surgeon needs to drill a hole into the brain to perform a biopsy on a brain tumor, there is a possibility for damaging a healthy part of the brain. When a brain tumor must be removed, a surgeon could mistakenly cut into the brain rather than the tumor, which can negatively impact a person's important functions such as speech, thoughts, feelings or movements.
- Wrong-sided brain surgery. When a patient goes in to have a specific area of the brain operated on and a surgeon mixes up the patient's charts and information, a patient can end up having the wrong side of the brain operated on, which can lead to further brain damage and an additional brain surgery.
Headaches: A Chronic Side Effect Of A Brain Injury
When trauma to the brain occurs-whether from a car accident, other type of motor vehicle accident, slip and fall accident, or as a result of medical malpractice-significant side effects such as memory problems, behavioral changes, emotional issues, language problems, fatigue, and confusion can be the result. While some of these adverse symptoms can be life-threatening, other symptoms, such as headaches, can be life-altering.
Headaches Following a Brain Injury
There are many reasons why headaches occur after trauma to the brain. If someone suffers a hard blow to the head, a serious injury may have occurred that causes bleeding and swelling, putting pressure on the brain. Those who undergo brain surgery may also experience a post-operative headache as a result of medical negligence causing an increase in pressure on the brain.
What Should I Do About My Headache?
If you suffered a head injury and are experiencing a headache, it is essential that you seek medical attention immediately. Also, if you have a pounding headache following brain surgery, you need to let your neurosurgeon know and request a CT scan of your brain to ensure you don't have blood on your brain.
Maneuvering A Truck While Taking Medication Is Downright Dangerous
The scary truth is that many truck drivers behind the wheel of 80,000 pound trucks take medications to stay awake on the job, minimize pain, or treat various health conditions. Although anti-seizure medications, narcotics, and methadone drugs are automatically disqualifying drugs that truck drivers are not supposed to use, other medications may still be dangerous even though they may not disqualify a truck driver from operating a commercial vehicle. This is because many common medications-prescription, non-prescription, and illegal drugs-can adversely affect a trucker's ability to operate a commercial vehicle.
Dangers of Medicated Truckers
No one wants to share the road with a truck driver who is using marijuana, cocaine, or another illegal drug. However, not many people realize that there are more truckers on the road abusing prescription drugs than illegal drugs-and this can be just as dangerous. Over the last several years, there has been a concern over truck drivers abusing prescriptions drugs. Prescription drug abuse as defined by the National Institute on Drug Abuse is "the use of a medication without a prescription, in a way other than as prescribed, or for the experience or feelings elicited."
Caesarean Vs. Vaginal Delivery: Which Is The Better Choice For You?
Have you ever noticed how many pregnant women you see when you're out and about? It seems like everywhere you look there's an expectant mother; at the Bartholdi, around Dupont and definitely at MedStar. According to the United States Census Bureau, District of Columbia hospitals deliver approximately 8,000 babies each year, which may explain why the floor is usually packed every time you go in for your prenatal checkups.
In a way it's comforting to know that at least 7,999 other women are going through the same changes, stresses, and confusion, but on the other hand it makes you wonder how they're planning on delivering their babies. What information do they have, if any, that helped them decide how to bring their children into this world and what's the best way for you?
Vaginal Birth
Vaginal birth is the most common and medically preferred delivery method.
Pros:
- Allows your body to go through the natural progression of delivery
Emotional Trauma: Healing After A Car Accident
Far too many people are injured in car accidents every day. Fortunately, the majority of collisions aren't deadly; however, any type of crash from a severe to minor accident can lead to any of the following emotional injuries:
- Anxiety. Although some car accident victims will experience short-lived anxiety that can last from three months to one year, others suffer from long-term anxiety when driving. Additionally, many passengers in accidents suffer from anxiety and often feel nervous when riding in a car with someone else.
- Fear. Many people who have been involved in car accidents, whether they are seriously injured or not, are frightened to get behind the wheel again. Sometimes they are okay to drive, but they have a fear of driving on the same road, passing the accident site, or driving in the same weather conditions as the accident.
- Depression. Car accidents have caused many people to suffer from depression. Mainly this illness occurs following a serious physical injury or deformity. Depression can last a long time and cause people to lose interest in things they once loved, lose interest in people or their jobs, and struggle with intense feelings of sadness and hopelessness.
Your Spinal Cord Injury Might Be More Expensive Than You Think
The spinal cord is one of the most important parts of the human body. As a part of the central nervous system, it serves as the link between the brain and the nerves in your body, allowing you to move and feel. The spinal cord and the bone structure that surrounds it are vital to living a normal, healthy life. When your spinal cord is injured in a car accident or fall caused by someone else, you need help.
Long-Term Costs You Will Pay After a Spinal Cord Injury
When filing your claim against the person responsible for your injury, you will need to determine how much financial damage he or she caused. To calculate this, most people simply think of their immediate medical bills. What are often forgotten are the long-term costs that must be paid by the victim.
As you prepare your case with your attorney, think about the costs that will stay with you for years to come. Here are the types of costs you should consider:
- Special accommodations. If you need a wheelchair or any type of special accommodations in your home, you will have to pay for it all. Wheelchairs are expensive. Renovating your home to accommodate the wheelchair is even more expensive. Think carefully about how these costs will affect you for the long-term.
Can A Brain Injury Occur From A Delay In Diagnosis?
When people suffer from medical conditions, prompt diagnosis and treatment is usually the key to helping prevent further injuries from developing. However, at one point or another, many doctors fail to give accurate diagnosis, resulting in a patient receiving a delayed diagnosis. Consequently, a patient can suffer the negative consequences of a doctor's negligence, such as a brain injury.
How a Brain Injury Can Occur From a Delayed Diagnosis
While most doctors conduct thorough examinations and use test results to diagnose patients' health conditions, some doctors fail to diagnose the following conditions, resulting in delayed treatment. When treatment is delayed for the following health conditions, a person may suffer a brain injury:
- Stroke. If a doctor doesn't recognize a symptom and provide an accurate diagnosis and treatment for a patient experiencing a stroke, a patient may suffer a stroke-induced brain injury due to oxygen deprivation.
- Heart attack. While most heat attacks are detected and treated promptly in the United States, some healthcare professionals fail to provide a prompt diagnosis, leading to serious medical complications and death. For those who survive an undiagnosed heart attack, they may suffer needless brain injuries and other serious consequences. This is often the case in emergency rooms, where it is a chaotic environment and there are other medical professionals-such as interns and medical students-who check on patients and could miss the signs of a heart attack.
Hypoxic Brain Injuries: The Result Of Medical Malpractice
Our brains our essential to living a normal life since the brain acts as the command center over our cognition, physical abilities, and emotional and psychological functions. When the brain suffers an injury, a person may suffer from serious impairments that may affect her for the rest of her life. This is why it is such a tragedy when someone suffers a needless brain injury due to medical negligence.
Although rare, the truth of the matter is that medical professionals sometimes act negligently and make critical errors that can lead to oxygen deprivation and brain damage. Because the brain needs a constant flow of oxygen in order to perform normally, brain cells can die and brain damage can occur any time there is a diminished amount of oxygen to the brain. One type of brain injury that takes place due to a lack of oxygen is a hypoxic brain injury.
Hypoxic brain injuries are often caused by medical negligence due to surgical errors, medication mistakes, general anesthesia complications, labor and delivery injuries, failure to monitor and treat extremely low blood pressure, intubation errors, and the poor use of heart-lung machines during coronary artery bypass graft surgeries.
Five Things You Need To Know To Pursue A Catastrophic Injury Claim
Unfortunately, accidents are a common occurrence in everyone's lives. We trip on our own shoelaces when they have come undone, we drop things on our feet, and sometimes accidentally walk into walls when we're distracted. These are simple errors that generally cause more harm to our dignity than anything else.
However, severe accidents such as car collisions, burns, or head injuries can result in both catastrophic personal injuries but monumental financial harm as well. Therefore, if you have suffered a permanent injury due to someone else's negligence, errors, or mistakes, and if you are finding it hard to pay your medical expenses, a catastrophic personal injury lawsuit may be worth pursuing.
When deciding whether you should file a catastrophic injury claim in Virginia, you should first ask yourself the following questions:
- Was my injury caused by negligence, or the fault of someone (or something) out of my control?
Medical Malpractice Can Include Dental Negligence
Having dental work done isn't as feared as it once was due to better technologies and medications, but many people still dread going to the dentist-and rightfully so. Tooth extractions, fillings, root canals, crowns, bridges, implants, braces and any type of oral surgery is often associated with pain, and pain is the main reason why people want to avoid the dentist.
Although dental work isn't as painful as it once was, even routine procedures can end up causing a patient lifelong complications. When pain or injuries occur during a dental visit or oral surgery, it is possible that dental malpractice could have occurred.
What Is Dental Malpractice?
Dental malpractice is defined as a dentist, oral surgeon, orthodontist, periodontist, dental hygienist, or dental assistant providing sub-standard care to a patient that results in harm. Dentists and those who practice dental medicine are required to provide patients a certain level of care, just as physicians do. In fact, they have a duty to comply with the conventional standard of care when providing dental services to patients-meaning that they need to provide care at the same level another prudent dentist in the area would provide under the same set of circumstances. If they fail to do so and harm occurs as a result, patients have the right to file medical malpractice lawsuits against their dentists.
703-591-0067
10513 Judicial Drive, Suite 200, Fairfax, VA 22030
703-591-0067
From our office in Fairfax, Shevlin Smith, P.C. serves clients throughout Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., including Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Burke, Centreville, Dale City, Fair Oaks, Leesburg, Manassas, McLean, Oakton, Reston, Springfield, and Woodbridge, as well as Fairfax County, Arlington County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County.
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