Posted on September 29, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Patient Death

OHSU was among several state organizations that enjoyed protection against hefty lawsuit damages, but that ended in December 2007 when the Oregon Supreme Court removed the $200,000 cap on damages. As a result, OHSU finally settled six ongoing cases—cases that were filed in 2001 or earlier—agreeing to pay damages totaling $38.5 million. The settled cases… read more

Posted on September 26, 2008 in Our Blog,Public Safety

Here in Portland, Oregon, people who don’t obsessively drink coffee are in the minority (and perhaps even frowned upon). We love our coffee, and perhaps related to this is our reliance on caffeine. But how much caffeine should one person consume on a daily basis? And when should caffeine consumption begin? Teenagers and young adults… read more

Posted on September 22, 2008 in Our Blog

By now who hasn’t heard about the fatal Metrolink collision in southern California on September 12. In a tragic accident, a railroad engineer failed to stop the commuter train at a red light, possibly because he was distracted by text messaging. The crash resulted in 25 deaths (including the engineer’s) and some 135 injuries. A… read more

Posted on September 16, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care

A story that appeared in the September 15, 2008 New York Times reports that E.R. patients often leave the E.R. confused about how to care for themselves after they are released. A Michigan study tracked 140 E.R. patients and their comprehension in terms of their diagnosis, their treatment in the E.R., their instructions for self-care… read more

Posted on September 12, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care

In contrast to the recent post about restrictive caps on noneconomic damages, this post is about Oregon’s trial lawyers and Oregon Health & Science University’s ( OHSU) agreement to increase liability caps for damages caused by government (OHSU falls under the umbrella of the state government) negligence. According toa story in the Oregonian, the caps… read more

Posted on September 9, 2008 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Public Safety

If the U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of barring lawsuits against Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, pharmaceutical companies will be quite pleased. Earlier this year the Supreme Court reinterpreted a 1976 amendment that had originally been intended to protect the public against dangerous medical devices by requiring the FDA to review and approve such… read more