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Was Your Child Hurt By A Pharmacy Medication Mistake?
People make mistakes every day, and pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are no exception. However, when pharmacy staff make errors, the consequences can be serious, especially if children are involved. Sadly, prescription mistakes made with children's medications can cause serious injuries and great harm as children are smaller and can only tolerate a certain amount of medication in their bodies-making them more susceptible to prescription errors.
In fact, children and infants are the most vulnerable to medication mistakes, according to the National Institutes of Health. However, medication is often necessary to treat medical conditions and make kids better. This is why it is critical that doctors prescribe the correct medications and pharmacists fill the prescription accurately to keep kids healthy and safe.
Unfortunately, medication errors involving children's prescriptions occur far more often than people realize. This is because pharmacies are not required to report medication errors that occur and they often try to cover them up. The only way people hear of pharmacy errors is when a news organization covers a story about a type of medication mistake that occurred due to pharmacy negligence.
Birth Injuries From Undiagnosed Gestational Diabetes
You went to all your prenatal appointments. You did everything you were told to do, and still your baby was hurt during delivery. The feelings of grief and guilt can be overwhelming, but you need to know this: if your baby was hurt because he or she was too large for a safe vaginal delivery, then it was not your fault. In many cases, the dangers of delivering a large baby can be avoided by a doctor, and it is possible that they could have been avoided by yours.
Your Doctor May Have Failed to Diagnose Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes is a serious condition that can be treated by diet, and in some cases medication, if it is properly diagnosed. All pregnant women should be screened for gestational diabetes in their second trimester of pregnancy unless they have risk factors that make an earlier screening necessary. If the screening suggests a possible problem, then the patient should be provided with a full glucose-tolerance test to determine whether gestational diabetes is present. One of the serious risks of gestational diabetes is that a baby will grow too big to deliver safely. Thus, women with gestational diabetes must be carefully monitored and provided with information about diet and medication.
Get Justice And Just Compensation For The Disabling Effects Of A Missed Heart Attack
It's no secret that a precise diagnosis and quick treatment are critical in eliminating the disabling effects of a heart attack. But sometimes, mistakes can occur and even heart attack warning signs can be overlooked by a physician who is in a rush or due to an overcrowded emergency department and hospital staff who are not properly trained. As a result, heart attacks-along with the life-long adverse effects-can occur because medical negligence takes place.
Other ways in which medical malpractice related to a heart attack can occur can include failure to conduct diagnostic tests, failure to perform a physical exam, failure to treat or perform a surgery in a timely manner, or failure to diagnose or misdiagnose a heart attack, resulting in no treatment or delayed treatment. Unfortunately, any of these acts of medical negligence can lead to the following disabling effects:
- Brain damage and memory loss. When a heart attack occurs, a person often has to be resuscitated. During resuscitation, the brain is often deprived of oxygen which can cause memory troubles and brain damage.
Ways Medical Professionals Behave Negligently
We trust medical professionals with our lives and well-being; however, sometimes healthcare workers act negligently on the job and cause innocent patients to suffer the consequences of their actions. Unfortunately, medical negligence is to blame for hundreds of thousands of injuries and deaths every year.
How Are Healthcare Workers Negligent With Patients?
There are many ways in which those working in the healthcare industry can behave negligently and carelessly on the job. For example:
- Doctors could prescribe the wrong medication, misread test results, mix up patients' medical records and results, and fail to diagnose medical conditions.
- Surgeons could operate on the wrong body part, leave surgical instruments inside a patient's body, or cause harm to internal organs or other parts of the body that are unrelated to the surgery.
- Anesthesiologists could give patients the wrong dose, the wrong anesthesia, or fail to properly watch and monitor patients who are under anesthesia during surgeries.
Determining Fault And Liability For Spinal Cord Injury Claims
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 12,000 people a year fall victim to a spinal cord injury (SCI). Out of these 12,000 victims, only about half of them pursue injury claims. Why, you might ask? Sometimes, filing and pursuing an injury claim on your own can be extremely frustrating, difficult, and confusing, without much hope of a pay-off.
However, with the help of an experienced lawyer and the following information, your claim will be hard to deny.
Proving Liability and Damages for SCI Claims
Insurance companies are apt to deny claims at the drop of a hat, but there are ways to help you get noticed. As long as you secure the following evidence, you'll be able to deny them the opportunity to dismiss your claim:
- Proof that the spine injury occurred due to the carelessness or negligence of another party, and not as a result of your own recklessness
- Undeniable proof of your injury and the severity of that injury; hospital documentation, doctor statements, and eye witness reports are critical here
Does Your Child Have A Brain Injury? Find Out How To Make This School Year A Success.
Your child suffered a brain injury in a car accident on Interstate 66 last year. After several weeks in the hospital, he is supposed to return to Fairfax County Public Schools when school begins in September.
How Can You Send Your Child Back to School?
Your child's brain injuries are interfering with his learning and his ability to care for himself. How can he function at school? Who will take care of him? How will he learn? These are all valid questions, and the answers to these questions could have a significant impact on your child's future. Accordingly, as we approach the beginning of the school year, it is important to:
- Schedule a meeting with the school. Explain your concerns to your child's teachers and administrators.
- Consider options. Your child may qualify for a 504 plan or an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
- Talk to your child's doctors about support available outside of school. Rehabilitation services and other support may help with your child's recovery.
How to Deal with an Insurance Adjustor After an Accident
If you've been injured in a Washington D.C. or Virginia car accident, you probably have a lot on your mind. Of course your immediate concerns are your medical treatment, your family, and your work obligations. While you seek the medical care you need and make the necessary arrangements to ensure that your family and work are properly cared for during your recovery, you will probably begin to receive calls from an insurance adjustor.
What the Insurance Adjustor Wants
The insurance adjustor wants to settle your case as quickly as possible for the least amount of money possible. After all, the insurance adjustor is employed by the insurance company, and the insurance company maximizes its profits by paying out the least possible amount in claims.
How the Insurance Adjustor Tries to Get What the Adjustor Wants
The insurance adjustor knows that you are vulnerable and distracted right after your accident. The number that the adjustor proposes to you for a settlement may seem high if you have not had the time to sit down and carefully consider all the medical costs, property damage, and time lost from work caused by the accident.
C-Section Dangers You Need To Know Before Entering The Hospital
After eight months, two weeks, and six days, your baby has finally decided that he wants to come into the world.
You've been in active labor for approximately eight hours. You've done everything the doctors and nurses have told you to do-including lapping the entire second floor of Inova three times-and you're still not progressing. You're at the point where you're not quite sure how much longer you can wait.
Your doctor is closely monitoring your baby for any signs of distress, and although his heart rate is slightly elevated, your doctor doesn't seem that concerned. You then tell him that you're not sure you can make it much longer and want to discuss the option of a caesarean; but is that the right thing to do, or should you just try to stick it out?
Caesarean Risks
Caesarean sections-or c-sections, as they're usually called-are sometimes essential for a healthy birth. Not only can the procedure be performed quickly to limit fetal distress or complications, but it can also be less painful for the mother. However, although they're necessary in certain situations or when unforeseen complications arise, the choice of a c-sections should not be made too rashly. Caesareans have been know to cause adverse effects on both the child as well as the mother. Some effects include:
What Families Should Know About Hiring A Wrongful Death Lawyer
Losing a wife, husband, mother, father, child, or other relative as a result of medical negligence is one of the hardest things a person can go through. This is why it is critical that the victim's family pursues a wrongful death lawsuit in order to collect just compensation for their loss. Although there are many different law firms in Virginia and Washington D.C. that can help you file a claim against Inova or another hospital, not all attorneys will be the best fit for this type of claim.
Wrongful deaths are often complicated, which is why it is best to find a lawyer who has not only handled wrongful death cases previously but who has also been successful. This is why it is essential that families know what to look for when hiring a lawyer to pursue their wrongful death lawsuit. Although referrals from family and friends are a wonderful way to find a lawyer, it is important that you find out if that attorney has the experience you need.
Questions to Ask a Lawyer
Truck Awareness Tips When Passing On-Ramps
Trucks are extremely common on I-66 as they head toward the Beltway, so it's not a surprise that almost every day on your way to work, you have to attempt to get on while being flanked by semi-trucks. However, it is a surprise when other vehicles don't have the common courtesy to allow trucks to get over when approaching on-ramps.
When you're traveling on the highway next to a truck, if you can see vehicles from an on-ramp about to merge with highway traffic, you let the truck move in front of you to allow room for the on-comers. However, lately it seems that you're the only one who has those manners. When you're stuck on the on-ramp you witness car after car intentionally passing trucks on the left, preventing the driver from moving over to allow you on, making it nearly impossible for you to merge and causing you to frequently wind up on the shoulder before you can get over.
Are you just naive, or should people allow room for trucks when approaching on-ramps?
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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