I have heard of diagnoses gone wrong, but this takes the cake. Mark Templin of Montana visited the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center in early 2009 because of chest pain. They put in a stent, but a week later Templin began experiencing headaches, memory issues, and problems with his vision and speech. Templin was sent to various specialists, including an ophthalmologist and a neuroradiologist. The specialists thought it possible Templin had had a stroke. Other possibilities included a brain tumor. The neuroradiologist concluded that further testing would be needed to make a definitive diagnosis.

Obviously Portland is not the only city that has issues with buses. There’s a bus company in the Midwest and East called Megabus that offers low-price tickets that has had its share of accidents. In 2010 a Megabus hit and killed a man, and in 2012 a Megabus hit and killed a woman in downtown Chicago.

There’s been a rash of norovirus outbreaks lately. Last month there was a norovirus outbreak at a meeting for the Oregon Department of Forestry that was held in Forest Grove. The meeting was catered by Forest Grove restaurant Maggie’s Buns, which has been in business for some 16 years. The outbreak was likely caused by a fruit tray, but Maggie’s Buns claims to have served fruit from the same source at another event as well as in the restaurant with no illnesses. It is not known when the fruit may have been contaminated. Maggie’s Buns also contends that no employees were ill.

A couple of months ago a 12-year-old cancer patient at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital was involved in a freak accident in the hospital in which she suffered severe burns. The fire was caused by a “perfect storm” of ingredients that included olive oil, hand sanitizer, and static electricity.

Initially Stephen Lane, the patient’s father, had stated he did not plan to sue the hospital; he acknowledged it was a tragic accident and felt she had received good care as a cancer patient at Doernbecher. Since the accident, however, more scrutiny has been placed on Doernbecher and OHSU’s fire safety policies, and some believe they have fallen short. The fire marshal’s investigation ruled that the medical staff at Doernbecher did not have proper fire safety training, but hospital representatives argue that the report did not hold Doernbecher responsible for the fire.

The Environmental Law Foundation of Oakland, California, has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to prompt more than two dozen baby food manufacturers to print warnings on their product labels alerting consumers to possible lead exposure.

The organization alleges that a number of baby foods, including carrots, peaches, pears, and fruit juices, carry dangerous levels of lead. The group has the grounds to prompt the manufacturers, which include such baby food heavyweights as Beech-Nut, Del Monte Foods, and Kroger, to print such warnings under California’s consumer-safety law, Proposition 65.

A lot of people have anxiety about going to the dentist. Well, a couple hundred dental patients in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have a very valid reason for now being scared to go to the dentist. Oral surgeon W. Scott Harrington of Tulsa has been charged by the Tulsa Health Department with unsanitary practices to the point of creating a public health hazard.

Among the unsanitary practices discovered by the Oklahoma Dentistry Board include reusing needles and drug vials, administering expired medication, and improperly sterilizing and using instruments. In addition, dental assistants who were not authorized to give sedatives to patients were.

In December a Canadian tour bus full of Asian and Asian-American tourists crashed near Pendleton. Nine passengers were killed and dozens injured. The weather conditions had been poor, and the driver, who also served as the tour guide, was allegedly going too fast for the conditions. A number of passengers have filed lawsuits against Mi Joo Tour & Travel, the tour company.

The Oregonian reports that the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure completed a safety audit of Mi Joo in early January and found the tour company to be in violation of a number of laws and rules. As a result, the Ministry has ordered Mi Joo to cease operations in Canada until the situation is resolved. The company had already been banned from operating in the United States after the crash.

Last week an 87-year-old woman living at an independent living facility died. This is not out of the ordinary, but what makes this case unique is an employee of the facility called 9-1-1 for help when the 87-year-old passed out then refused to administer CPR as instructed by the dispatcher. The employee, initially identified as a nurse but later identified as a X, told the dispatcher it was against company policy to perform any procedures on residents and that she must wait for emergency personnel. The dispatcher pleaded with her to perform CPR and even asked her to hand the phone to someone else who might be willing to perform CPR.

Early this year two young women from the Gresham area were in Portland having some fun. They knew they would be drinking, so they did the responsible thing and did not drive. As they waited for their ride to pick them up, a drunken, irresponsible person drove into them.

Brandi Butner and Rebecca Bray were out celebrating Butner’s 21st birthday in Old Town when Brent Warstler ran into them. He allegedly had three passengers in his pickup truck, he was speeding, he ran a red light, and he was drunk. He killed Bray and seriously injured Butner. Butner has endured two surgeries and is still in rehabilitation, and it is unclear whether she will fully recover.

In 2009, as you may recall, there was a salmonella outbreak caused by tainted peanuts. The peanuts ended up in peanut butter and many other products and sickened some 700 people, including Jacob Hurley, a Portland boy who was just three years old at the time. He got sick from eating Austin Toasty Crackers with Peanut Butter. Nine people died from that outbreak.

The manufacturer behind the tainted peanut products was  Peanut Corp. of America. The company has since gone bankrupt, but the U.S. Department of Justice aims to hold them responsible for the outbreak. It recently indicted several former executives of Peanut Corp., including owner Stewart Parnell and his brother Michael, who served as the company’s vice president. The charges claim Peanut Corp. was aware of the salmonella contamination but sold its products anyway.