Posted on April 28, 2011 in Our Blog,Patient Care

Washington State patients can breathe a bit better now that law SHB 1493 has been signed. It increases transparency with medical boards that discipline physicians receiving complaints. Prior to the law, patients who complained about medical errors to state disciplinary boards found their concerns entering a black hole. This is precisely what happened to Yanling… read more

Posted on April 26, 2011 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Patient Death

There’s a new measurement tool in town for assessing hospital errors and safety, and it’s finding that there are more errors than we originally thought. In fact, according to this tool, a third of patients in the U.S. will be victims of a medical error during hospital stays. The new tool was developed at the… read more

Posted on April 21, 2011 in Our Blog,Public Safety

For as many bad stories one hears about the police, there are just as many good stories, right? We all want to trust the police and believe they have the community’s best interests at heart. Police officers should also be approachable. Sadly, Officer Aaron Dauchy of the Portland Police was not very approachable when he… read more

Posted on April 18, 2011 in Our Blog,Patient Care

Dr. Vishal Makker just can’t seem to get enough of spinal fusion surgeries. In fact, he outperformed all other spinal fusion surgeons in the nation in 2008 and 2009. Makker operated on 61 Medicare patients in 2008 and 2009, and on 16 of those patients he performed more than one spinal fusion. The Wall Street… read more

Posted on April 11, 2011 in Our Blog,Public Safety

File this one under the practically unbelievable category. Just over a year ago a police officer in Gilbert, AZ, was shot and killed during a traffic stop. The shooter was the passenger in the vehicle. The driver then fled the scene and engaged the police in a high-speed chase. During the chase the passenger threw… read more

Posted on April 7, 2011 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Patient Death

Legacy Health of Portland implemented a new initiative two years ago with the aim of lowering infection rates and patient deaths, and it looks like they have succeeded. According to an article in the Oregonian, infection rates have dropped by about 45 percent, and patient deaths declined about 14 percent over the past two years…. read more

Posted on April 5, 2011 in Our Blog,Public Safety

You know how a lot of people complain about frivolous lawsuits? Well, listen to this story and decide if you think it’s a frivolous lawsuit. Vitaliy Suzhik of Federal Way, WA, has filed a lawsuit against Hansen Beverage Company for negligence and product liability. Suzhik claims he discovered a mouse in a 16-ounce can of… read more

Posted on April 1, 2011 in Our Blog,Patient Care,Patient Death

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating tainted IV nutrition fluid that may have contributed to the deaths of nine patients in Alabama. So far no evidence directly linking the bacteria to the deaths has been found, but the investigation is still young. Some nineteen patients in six hospitals in Alabama were… read more