All Topics

• Will Florida No-Fault Automobile Insurance Survive?

  Bob Carroll | January 08, 2006 8:34 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Under Florida's No-Fault Automobile Insurance Law medical expenses and lost income are paid (to a limit of $10,000) by a policyholder's own insurance company regardless of who was at fault in the accident. It places limitations on the right to sue a wrongdoer for damages, creating a verbal threshold, such as, "permanent injury." But, some immediate money is available to victims at a time when...

• Infections make scar removal potentially dangerous

  Robert Blanchard | January 05, 2006 4:48 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  If you think you are developing an infection following a surgery of your skin, such as scar removal, there are some things you should know. Signs and symptoms of wound infection usually present in an escalating manner from days 4-6 after surgery and include redness, tenderness, and swelling at the surgery site. Pus may be present. If the infection is caught at an early stage, the patient may be...

• Paraplegia from Simple Surgery?

  Robert Blanchard | January 05, 2006 4:45 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  Paraplegia following a simple surgery, such as a thoracotomy, is a disaster with obvious legal implications. Most documented cases involve arterial bleeding. Unexpected paraplegia following a simple lung resection is a devastating injury. Fortunately, it rarely occurs. The incidence of paraplegia after thoracotomy is unknown but has been estimated to be approximately 0.08%. The culprit may be...

• Wing Detached from Older Plane

  Robert Blanchard | January 05, 2006 4:29 PM | 0 CommentsPensacola, FL

  With aging fleets of aircraft, we may see more disaters like this in the future.The right wing detached from a vintage seaplane before it plunged into the sea off Miami Beach and killed 20 people, but it was unclear what caused the wing to break off.Amateur video obtained by CNN showed the fuselage slam into the water, followed by the wing falling through the sky on fire and leaving a trail of...

• Snowbank Saves Florida Man From Serious Injury

  Bob Carroll | January 05, 2006 6:52 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  If you are not going to wear a seatbelt you may want to drive only in snowy conditions. A Florida man was ejected from his vehicle in a head-on collision and managed to land in a snow bank. Bryan Wieland, 20, who suffered only minor injuries, was able to walk out of a hospital just hours after the crash. The Hartford Courant has the full story of the snowbank landing and one lucky Floridian.

• Electronic Patient Records May Cause Medical Errors

  Bob Carroll | January 03, 2006 6:08 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  When a bad result occurs during medical care there may be a culprit hidden from view. Even though electronic health records have been proposed as one way to reduce medical errors, their design can contribute to errors as well. Melonie Nance, M.D., at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation: "The way doctors work, and the way we think about...

• Social Security Disability Claims Need To Be Fast-Tracked

  Bob Carroll | December 31, 2005 8:29 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  My thanks to Charles T. Hall of Raleigh, North Carolina, for his post on his Social Security News blog: "The New York Times has an article (registration required) that demonstrates the human costs of delaying filing a claim for Social Security disability benefits -- and the human costs of delay in adjudicating disability claims at SSA. This formerly middle class family was thrust into dire...

• Doctors, Pharmacists Need More Training on Prescription Drug Abuse

  Staff Writer | December 28, 2005 4:04 PM | 0 CommentsMiami, FL

  A study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University finds that almost half of doctors and pharmacists have limited training in prescribing and handling controlled prescription drugs.See complete article--Under the Counter: The Diversion and Abuse of Controlled Prescription Drugs in the U.S. at...

• Deputy Claims Taser Training Ends His Career

  Bob Carroll | December 26, 2005 7:54 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  There must be a better training protocol then to have a deputy sheriff take a jolt from a Taser that ends his career. On the other hand, there must be a better way to disable a subject than to expose him to the same risk. Unfortunately, Deputry Sam Powers was unable to convice a jury that Taser International should be liable for his disability. From Court TV we get more of the details.After...

• Bullied Teenager Settles Claim Against School

  Bob Carroll | December 25, 2005 3:18 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  If our schools are going to have strict policies against bullying and other harassment of students they will need to enforce them. A Kansas teenager who was bullied by his classmates because they believed he was gay was awarded $440,000 in a settlement, ending his longstanding legal battle with his school district. The student claimed he was harassed with homophobic slurs from the seventh...