Remember the Portland Police officer who accidentally loaded live shotgun rounds into his beanbag shotgun then shot a man several times? It happened in SW Portland this last summer. Well, a Multnomah County grand jury decided Dane Reister should be held accountable for his mistakes. After hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses, the grand jury voted to indict Reister on third-degree assault, which is a felony, and fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor. Reister will also be charged with “negligent wounding,” which is typically only used in hunting cases.

You would think that having automated defibrillators everywhere would really help save lives, but the latest research seems to indicate this is not the case, at least in hospitals. Yes, that’s right–the old-school, low-tech defibrillators seem to have saved more lives than the fancy, supposedly easy-to-use, automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

In 2000 a committee with the American Heart Association made a blanket recommendation that hospitals should equip themselves with AEDs. It turns out this wasn’t really based on any actual evidence or research but just a general belief that, well, OF COURSE lives will be saved if new defibrillators that more people can operate are on hand. one estimate suggests, though, that nearly a thousand patients die each year because of the equipment.

A Chicago man recently filed a lawsuit against the Chicago police, claiming he was wrongfully identified and tased unnecessarily. Josue Tapia was pulled over by police in May of 2010 for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, but he was allowed to go soon aftewards. He didn’t make it very far, however, before he was stopped by police again. The police claimed Tapia had violated other traffic laws then, according to Tapia, they pushed him to the ground and tased him nearly a dozen times in less than 5 minutes. Tapia claims the attack was unprovoked.

Lawsuits have been filed against Advanced Bionics, manufacturer of the Advanced Bionics HiRes90k cochlear implants, by attorney Tim Edwards. The suits allege that the implants have a high degree of failure and that the company was long aware of the issues yet continued to market the implants.

Toy manufacturer Henry Gordy International, Inc. has agreed to pay a $1.1 million penalty in an agreement with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) over a toy gun set that allegedly caused several deaths. An investigation by the CPSC found that Henry Gordy knew about the defect in its “Auto Fire Target Set” but chose not to report it. The gun set, which sold in Family Dollar Stores across the nation from 2005 to early 2009 for about $1.50 a set, included a toy gun, soft plastic darts, and a target. The darts were found to be choking hazards.

It’s unfortunate, but we often hear about problems with assisted and senior living facilities, and in many cases, the victims are defenseless. Well, one Philadelphia family captured some pretty clear evidence on camera. The family of Lois McCallister, troubled by Lois’s allegations that the caregivers at the senior living facility where she lives were abusing her, planted a spy camera in her room. The camera caught several employees abusing McCallister.

Medical spa doctor Jerrold Darm of Aesthetic Medicine has filed a $1 million libel lawsuit against local blogger Tiffany Craig for allegedly defaming him in a blog post and in a tweet.

In a blog post in June of 2011 Craig blogged about Dr. Darm and his television commercials for his medical spa. In the post Craig reveals that Darm lost his medical license in 2001 due to a disciplinary action by the state’s medical board. The board investigated an allegation that Darm treated a patient after hours, then following the treatment he inappropriately touched the patient and indicated that would constitute payment. The medical board issued a reprimand that included a number of requirements, including the presence of a chaperone whenever Darm treated female patients. The order was terminated two years ago.

Here’s an interesting case. A Portland couple is suing a hospital, clinic, doctor, and nurse practitioner for not diagnosing Duchenne muscular dystrophy in their second son. The couple had a third son who also has Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The couple says if their second son had been diagnosed earlier, that is, before they had their third son, they may have decided NOT to have the third child. This is because Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is due to a genetic defect, is not curable and is often fatal.

Over in Mississippi two lawsuits have been filed against Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA) and the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMC) over two kidney transplants from a single donor. It turns out the donor had been infected with encephalitis. Of the recipients of the donor’s two kidneys, one died less than three months after receiving a kidney, and the other suffers from partial blindness and continued poor health. The lawsuits contend the kidneys are to blame.

Seven weeks ago a Bend teenager riding a bicycle was killed when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Erik Mackenzie Conn. Conn claims he had been glancing at the speedometer and thus did not see the rider, who was riding a bicycle with his friend. Conn’s story may not hold up, as he was just arrested on a number of charges, including reckless driving, criminally negligent homicide, and second-degree manslaughter.