Attorney Gregory Kafoury, who represents six of the victims, indicated in court filings that the hospital knew about the misconduct months prior to notifying the authorities. In addition, a complaint about abuse from as early as 2007 was found. Nurses allegedly knew of Field’s inappropriate behavior and made a point of not being left alone with him. One nurse filed a complaint against Field in May 2010 for inappropriately touching her. Many of the patients who filed complaints against Field were abused while they were incapacitated and thus unable to defend themselves.

Dr. Field was arrested in the summer of 2011 and was released pending trial in December. He has yet to enter a plea.

For more information, see this article.

The original post is titled Dr. Feelbad , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

The patient, Lisa Nasseff, was in the treatment center for 15 months and believes her psychologist was involved in the hypnosis. She also believes the motive for the hypnosis may have been partly financial, a ploy to keep her in treatment to extract medical insurance reimbursements for as long as possible. Nasseff also says the center used psychotropic drugs in addition to hypnosis to “treat” her anorexia.

Castlewood Treatment Center plans to fight the lawsuit and denies Nasseff’s allegations. The psychologist named in the lawsuit, Mark Schwartz, says hypnosis was not used in Nasseff’s treatment. Hypnosis is not a recognized form of treatment for eating disorders.

For more information, see this article.

The original post is titled I’ve been hyp-no-tized , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

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.

Back in the day, when hospitals had the traditional defibrillators, only a small percentage of hospital staff, namely doctors and critical care nurses, could run the equipment. Many hospital nurses did not have the knowledge to use the defibrillators. The new defibrillators, on the other hand, actually provided verbal instructions. Also, AEDs had proven useful in other environments, such as airports.

Among the problems with the AEDs in hospitals are equipment failure (many of the AEDs have been recalled by manufacturers) and inappropriate use. Hospital patients who go into cardiac arrest tend to be in poor health to begin with and may have cardiac arrests that are non-shockable; in other words, the electrical shock from a defibrillator doesn’t help. Another issue is that though the AEDs are more user friendly, many of the potential users shy away from them, so response is still impeded.

For more information, see this article.

The original post is titled Be still my not-beating heart , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

Advanced Bionics began selling the device in 2004 and ran into several problems with it. The company ceased shipment of the device on one occasion in 2004 and in early 2005 indicated continued problems with the implant. The company also received a warning from the FDA about the implant. The warning stated manufacturing and quality control failures and other concerns. The following year, in 2006, Advanced Bionics issued a global recall of the implant (it was the second such recall), but it was limited to those devices using a component produced by AstroSeal. Advanced Bionics claimed the component was the culprit, and that about a third of devices with this component would likely fail.

In 2007 the FDA filed a complaint against Advanced Bionics and sought $2.2 million. Advanced Bionics agreed to settle but did not admit to any wrongdoing. Another voluntary global recall came in November of 2010 due to a couple instances of implant failure. Those suffering from these cochlear implant failures can be subject to very loud noises and severe pain. The failed implants must be surgically removed. Still, the company is hopeful it will soon be able to end the recall.

For more information, see this press release.

The original post is titled Now hear this , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

McCallister’s daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Paul French, initially approached management of the facility, Quadrangle Sunrise Living Facility, owned by Sunrise Senior Living Inc., which runs more than 300 senior living facilities. Quadrangle were unresponsive to the Frenches’ concerns, however, and blamed McCallister’s dementia. Undeterred, the Frenches went to the local police, who arrested three Quadrangle workers–Samirah Traynham, Ayesha Muhammad, and Tyrina Griffin–for assault and harassment, among other charges. The video showed the workers verbally abusing and assaulting a half-naked McCallister. The three women will go to trial in November.

In addition, the Frenches have filed a lawsuit against the workers and the facility for negligence. The lawsuit claims the facility did not properly train workers, was understaffed, and violated state regulations. They are suing for $50,000 in damages, but their primary goal is to raise awareness of the situation and ensure nobody else has to suffer the way Lois McCallister did. The Frenches have also removed McCallister from the facility, and she is now living with them.

For more on this story, see this article and this one.

The original post is titled Granny cam catches culprits , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

Let’s take a look at the timeline. The couple’s second son was born in 2003 and the third in 2008. The second son had some developmental issues from infancy but wasn’t diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy until 2010. The disease is usually diagnosed by age 5 and affects only boys. It is relatively rare, though, and afflicts about one in 3.000 boys. Diagnosis is done with a muscle biopsy or a blood test and is not complex, but most doctors wouldn’t think to test for it unless they made a connection between the symptoms and the disease. Symptoms include frequent falling, difficulty ascending stairs, delays in walking, and large calf muscles.

The Portland couple, Kerry and Scott Tomlinson, blame their medical providers for failing to recognize the symptoms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in their second son and thus failing to properly test him and diagnose him. They are seeking a total of just over $23 million.

For more information on this story, see this article.

The original post is titled Lack of diagnosis leads to lawsuit , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

MORA and UMC allege the patient who died, Ellecia Small, died from medical conditions that had nothing to do with the kidney itself. The parasite that caused the encephalitis was identified after the organs had been donated, according to UMC. In most cases organs from cancer patients or those with infectious diseases are not used for transplants. The parasite in this case, Balamuthia mandrillaris, is rare.

For more information see this article about the transplants and this article about the lawsuits.

The original post is titled Transplant trouble , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

An article in the Oregonian states that one of the women, a 66-year-old, reported the abuse to the Mid-Columbia Medical Center several months before the hospital contacted the authorities. She felt as though the hospital was not taking her allegations seriously. The hospital claims it was first notified of any alleged sexual abuse by Dr. Field in May and that it acted promptly to call in police.

Since Field’s arrest more information has come out about his actions. Apparently there is a recording in which Field admits he inappropriately touched a patient while she was sedated. The allegations against Field include being inappropriate touched by him while under anesthesia, being forced to touch him while under sedation, and being forced to have intercourse. Not all of the victims were patients; some were hospital employees who were afraid to come forward.

For more information on this story, see this article.

The original post is titled And the numbers grow against anesthesiologist Field , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

The 45-year-old Field began practicing in Oregon in 2005 and has no history of disciplinary actions or malpractice claims against him, according to the Oregon Medical Board. Field is currently in jail at the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility and has hired criminal defense attorney Stephen Houze to defend him. In the meantime, we’ll have to wait and see how the story unfolds. For more on this story, see this article from the Oregonian.

The original post is titled Having a field day , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .

Rite of passage though it may be, the long hours medical residents have been subjected to have caused fatigue-induced errors and may have put patients in harm’s way. Not everyone agrees with the new guidelines. Some medical educators feel residents won’t learn as much with the restricted schedules and also believe residents must learn to think and work under pressure and while fatigued.

For more on this story, see this article.

The original post is titled Will residents wake from the nightmare? , and it came from Paulson Coletti - Portland Oregon Law Firm .