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Fairfax County Car Accident Claims The Life Of McLean Man
The man who was in critical condition following a car accident in McLean has succumbed to his injuries, police said Saturday.The accident took place around noon on January 27, just outside Greenberry's coffee shop in downtown McLean. The driver was going south on Beverly Road when he suddenly crossed the street, crashing into a parked car and then hitting a utility pole on the coffee shop's patio.A Greenberry's customer said everyone in the shop saw and heard the accident, and that the red car that the victim struck "was on the other side of the street smashed in. And this guy in the car was in front of that pole... and the guy was laying over on the seat."The owners of the stricken vehicle were in line for coffee when the accident occurred. They spoke to police after the accident, and expressed concern for the injured driver rather than their car.Firemen and paramedics arrived at the scene approximately four minutes later and administered CPR. A spokesman from the Fairfax County fire department said that it is common procedure to send a paramedic unit to the scene of all accidents in order to treat victims as quickly as possible.Two ambulances, one from Annandale and one from Arlington, arrived on the scene within minutes of each other, the spokesman said. The Arlington unit rushed the victim to Inova Fairfax Hospital on Gallows Road.The Fairfax County police department has not yet released the man's identity, but his family was notified and was with him at Inova Hospital when he passed away.The cause of the accident remains under investigation.
Suspect And Police Cruiser Collide In Fatal DC Car Accident
Two men have been killed and one is in critical condition after a shooting and police chase resulted in a DC car accident early Sunday morning.On January 29, DC police were responding to several 911 calls reporting gunshots in the 700 block of Otis Place Northwest when they were flagged down at Georgia Avenue and New Hampshire Avenue Northwest around 3:00 a.m. An unidentified male told officers that someone driving a burgundy Plymouth minivan with Virginia tags had fired shots at him.At the same time, two more officers spotted the minivan in the 300 block of Upshur Street Northwest. The van, which they recognized from the description on a police broadcast, was speeding and ignoring stop signs. The officers pursued the van and called for backup, but the van's driver lost control, striking a tree before colliding with a police cruiser on Taylor Street Northeast, near Hawaii Avenue-the same cruiser that had been flagged down earlier.Due to its speed, the van flipped and landed on the hood of the police vehicle and all three passengers were ejected from the van on impact. One adult male and a young male, both unidentified, died of their injuries. The third passenger, also male, was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance and remains in critical condition.The two officers in the crash also sustained injuries, but they were non-life-threatening, and both officers have since been released from the hospital.Authorities from the Metropolitan Police Department have collected evidence from the scene that confirms the van was involved in a shooting, but police have been unable to locate the man who accused the suspects of shooting at him.
Virginia C-Sections Carry Risks of Birth Injuries in DC
Many pregnant women will struggle with the decision of having a c-section rather than a vaginal birth. While most women would prefer to deliver their babies vaginally, sometimes complications arise and they simply have no choice-and in some cases, the mother is unconscious and the decision is made for her.
Understanding the Risks of a Caesarean Section
A caesarean section is a much more complicated procedure than a vaginal birth. It carries the same risks as any other surgery, but with the added danger of injury to a small, vulnerable patient.
Here are just a few infant injuries caused by caesarean section in Virginia:
- Premature birth. Babies born by c-section may be delivered early if the gestational age was miscalculated, resulting in low birth weight.
- Low APGAR scores. Since caesarean sections require anesthesia, infants will often suffer from low APGAR scores, which measure the effects of obstetric anesthesia on newborns. These may be caused by the anesthetic itself or a lack of natural stimulation during delivery, such as the infant would have received in a vaginal birth. Babies born by c-section are 50% likelier than those born vaginally to have low APGAR scores.
Fairfax Brain Injury Attorneys Discuss Virginia Head Injury Symptoms
You are worried that your head injury in Virginia could have long-lasting effects. Your doctor told you to be on the lookout for anything "out of the ordinary," but you're not sure what you should be looking for. How can you tell if your brain has been affected, and when will you be able to resume your normal life?
Symptoms of Left Side of Brain Injuries
The fact is, your symptoms may vary depending on which side of your head sustained injury. The left side of the brain is the analytical side. It is where details and logic are stored, and is the center of your ability to organize and analyze information. An injury to the left side of the brain may cause:
- Difficulty with verbal communication
- Difficulty understanding language
- Altered behavior (including depression or anxiety)
- Memory problems
- Difficulty with numbers or sequences
- Loss of control over the right side of the body
Symptoms of Right Side of Brain Injuries
Pregnancy Risks for Spinal Cord Injury Victims
All of your life, you have wanted a large family. Your parents had four kids, your husband has five siblings, and before you were even married, you both decided that you wanted to have at least four children. Your master plan was to wait two years after the wedding, and then begin trying to get pregnant. As do most master plans-this didn't work as you hoped. Instead, you were expecting almost exactly 10 months after you said "I, do."
Although it was a little earlier than you'd expected, you were overjoyed. After three months, you had managed to collect all the toys, clothes, and diapers you could possibly need. Then the unthinkable happened. An SUV broadsided you on your way home from work, severing your spinal cord and causing you to miscarry. You were absolutely heartbroken.
After a year of rehabilitation, counseling, and treatments, you've finally managed to get your life back on track. However, since you're now healthy enough to take care of yourself and begin starting anew, the thought of having a baby is now again at the forefront of your mind.
Study Says Fatigue Linked to ER Mistakes in Virginia
If you're under the care of an EMS worker, you're probably not at your best. You are relying on the ambulance attendant, the crash team and the emergency room crew to care for you. But what if these employees are stressed, overworked, or just plain exhausted?
Fatigued Medical Professionals Can Be Dangerous
An article in an upcoming edition of Prehospital Emergency Care has found that fatigue and a lack of restful sleep are major causes of medical errors and patient injuries in emergency settings. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, found that fatigued medical professionals were 2 times likelier to cause injury than their well-rested peers, and adverse hospital events were 2.2 times more likely to occur when workers were fatigued.
In the data collected from 511 EMS workers nationwide:
- More than half were medically classified as fatigued.
- 18 percent reported an injury occurring while they were fatigued.
- 41 percent reported a medical error.
Study Says Prostate Screenings Won’t Help Elderly Patients
In a bizarre twist of Virginia hospital negligence, a recent study by the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that prostate screening in elderly patients may actually do more harm than good.
Can Prostate Screening Harm You?
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that men over 75 years old should not be given the PSA screening test because potential harm (including false positive results and invasive or unnecessary medical treatment) will outweigh any benefits. However, principal investigator Louise C. Walter, MD, found that screening rates for elderly male patients ranged from 25 to 79 percent-even in cases of terminally ill patients.
Walter, MD, a geriatrician at SFVAMC and a professor of medicine at UCSF, discovered that roughly half of American men over age 85 or with four or more serious diseases received prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening tests. The usual screening rate for men with limited life expectancy, according to the study's authors, is between zero and 20 percent.
Woman Suffers Brain Damage after Virginia Birth Injury
Justice has been served for Latarsha Creekmore, a Portsmouth woman who almost bled to death after delivering a baby at Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center. Latarsha Creekmore underwent a Caesarean section birth in early 2005. She spent the night in the hospital, and nurses were given express instructions to monitor her blood pressure, as she had a history of pregnancy-induced hypertension. In the middle of the night, Creekmore's heart-rate alarm went off. Court records indicated that nurses failed to check Creekmore's surgical incisions for over six hours; as a result, she had lost nearly half her blood through her stitches. Her sheets were soaked with blood and she was rushed into surgery at 3:30 a.m. Although Creekmore survived, she suffered severe shock and brain damage. An investigation revealed that the delivering physician, Sidath Jayanetti, had been the subject of several medical malpractice cases between 2001 and 2007, including a similar delivery error. Jayanetti surrendered his medical license during the trial and is under investigation by the Virginia Board of Medicine. Creekmore was awarded $900,000 plus costs in a non-jury trial in 2009. If you or someone in your family has suffered hospital negligence in DC, the advice of an experienced Fairfax medical malpractice lawyer could get you the compensation you deserve. Call Shevlin Smith today at 703-591-0067 for a free consultation on your case.
Woman Suffers Mastectomy after Delayed Breast Cancer Diagnosis
A simple last-name mix-up has caused a woman's test results to be lost for over a year, resulting in a delayed cancer diagnosis in Virginia Beach.A few days after 59-year-old Peggy Kidwell attended her regular physical and mammogram, she got a letter saying that her pap screening results were normal. She never received any follow-up about her mammogram, so she assumed it was normal as well.Unfortunately, the mammogram results contained vital information: Kidwell had breast cancer.The results went unreported because they were sent to the wrong doctor: there was an orthopedic surgeon at the same medical center with the same last name as Kidwell's gynecologist. The folder containing Kidwell's mammogram results sat on his desk for a year-until it was tracked down at Kidwell's next yearly appointment.The doctor administering her physical informed Kidwell of the mistake, and told her she needed to undergo breast cancer treatment immediately. The delay had given the cancer time to spread to her chest wall, and Kidwell would need a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment.When the cancer reappeared the next year, Kidwell underwent a mastectomy.While there is no way to tell if the delay made a difference in her case, the sheer magnitude of the error was cause for compensation: Kidwell sued and won her medical malpractice lawsuit.If someone you love has been the victim of a delayed diagnosis in DC, get advice from an experienced Fairfax medical malpractice lawyer. Call Shevlin Smith today at 703-591-0067 for a free consultation.
Virginia DOT Driver Causes Truck Accident In Bedford County
Officials report that a Virginia Department of Transportation truck caused a car accident in Virginia on the morning of December 2, 2011.According to State Police, the driver of the Virginia Department of Transportation dump truck pulled into traffic in front of a small family car on Route 221 near the intersection of Route 671. The car was unable to stop and crashed into the back of the VDOT truck.The crash occurred around 7:30 a.m. and affected morning traffic between Bedford and Forest until the vehicles could be cleared from the road.The VDOT truck driver has been charged with failing to yield the right of way.The driver and passenger of the truck as well as the car driver were taken to the hospital, although no injuries are believed to be life threatening.The Fairfax auto accident attorneys of Shevlin Smith extend their best wishes for a quick recovery to all those injured in this Virginia truck wreck.
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