Marietta Injury Lawyer Blog

For nearly two decades, the American Cancer Society has been recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40. However, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government panel of doctors and scientists, recently issued a controversal report that mammograms are not recommended until age 50 and then only every other year. In response to the government report, the Cancer Society's chief medical officer, Dr. Otis Brawley stated "This is one screening test I recommend unequivocally, and would recommend to any woman 40 and over,"

Dr. Brawley went on to offer this sharp criticism of the report: "The task force advice is based on its conclusion that screening 1,300 women in their 50s to save one life is worth it, but that screening 1,900 women in their 40s to save a life is not, Brawley wrote. That stance "is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40 to 49 saves lives, just not enough of them," he added.

As a Georgia Injury Lawyer that deals with insurance companies on a daily basis, I'm concerned about the insurance implications this task force report will have on healthcare. Although research shows annual mammograms beginning at age 40 save lives, I fear health insurance companies will use this recent report to justify refusing payment for mammograms before the age of 50 and then only authorize mammograms every other year. Like prexisting conditions and other insurance created concepts, this will give insurance companies additional opportunities to accept premiums without providing appropriate benefits.

Continue reading "The American Cancer Society Sharply Critical of New Mammogram Standards; "Annual Mammograms From Age 40 on Save Lives"" »

With all the reports recently of preventable medical errors, today CNN printed an informative article "How to avoid falling victim to a hospital mistake." The average person would be shocked by some of the stories I hear on a regular basis as a Georgia Medical Malpractice Lawyer. The Joint Commission, which provides accreditation for hospitals, reports that wrong-site, wrong-side and wrong-patient procedures occur more than 40 times each week in the United States.

The above CNN article arms patients with simple practical knowlege that can help prevent these types of errors. One example is to repeat your name, date of birth, and the procedure you are having to each and every nurse, tech and doctor involved in your care. I would recommend reading this article for anyone undergoing any hospital testing or surgery in the near future.

Insurance companies are spending millions of dollars each year lobbying State and Federal government to limit medical malpractice victim's access to the courthouse with various tort reform measures. Insurance companies justify their endless attack on the right to trial by jury with the argument that the majority of medical malpractice claims are frivolous. However, the recent studies published by the non-partisan National Institute of Medicine indicate 44,000 to 98,000 patients die each year as a result of preventable medical errors and as many as 1,000,000 are seriously injured.

Nearly every day as a Marietta Medical Malpractice Lawyer, I hear another heartbreaking story of death or serious injury due to preventable medical errors. A recent report of the AAJ highlights several true stories of medical error victims including that of Blake Fought. Blake was only 19 years old when he was set to be discharged from the hospital following an illness that required a central line IV. His nurse had never been trained to remove the IV and did not follow proper procedures, causing air bubbles to invade his heart and brain. As a result of this preventable error, Blake died in front of the nurses and his parents.

Continue reading "Georgia Victims of Medical Malpractice Need a Fair Chance at Justice; 98,000 Americans Die From Preventable Medical Errors Each Year." »