All Topics

• Your elected officials - taking away your rights!

  Lauren Ellerman | February 05, 2008 2:05 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  I wish this were a joke - but right now, as I type, your elected officials may be drafting laws that limit your rights in nursing home and medical malpractice cases.In Tennessee, a law is being considered that would forbid nursing home residents from filing suit for negligence - In Virginia, there is a Bill in the House that would allow doctor defendants to offer settlement amount, and if the...

• United States to Pay $750,000 To Settle Claim

  Ben Glass | February 04, 2008 10:10 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  The United States has agreed to pay $750,000 as a settlement for a medical malpractice suit filed by the family of a woman from Florida who died after undergoing eight surgical procedures in a little over a month at Jacksonville Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida in 2005. Justice Department attorneys and relatives of Betty Jean Plato informed their court-appointed mediator on Wednesday,...

• Actor John Ritter's Death Spurs Lawsuit

  Dan Frith | February 04, 2008 10:48 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Comic actor John Ritter's widow says a wrongful death lawsuit going to trial Monday is more about seeking accountability and educating the public about the condition that killed him than the $67 million in damages she is seeking from two doctors.On Sept. 11, 2003, his daughter's fifth birthday, Ritter experienced severe nausea and vomiting and went to went to nearby St. Joseph's Medical Center...

• The Stella Awards(2)

  Dan Frith | February 01, 2008 1:24 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Sure you have heard about them...the Stella Awards! The awards are named after that lady who recovered millions of dollars from McDonald's after spilling coffee in her lap! The award draws needed attention to the thousands of frivilous lawsuits filed every year by unscruptulous plaintiffs and their greedy lawyers! But, do you know the real truth? I bet not!The "Stella Awards" is a collection...

• Medicare Rarely Pays for Nursing Home Care

  Dan Frith | January 19, 2008 6:39 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  We hear comments all the time from elders who believe that Medicare will pay for nursing home care. These same people are shocked to learn the reality is far different than what they assumed to be true!Medicare's coverage of nursing home care is quite limited. Medicare covers up to 100 days of "skilled nursing care" per illness, but there are a number of requirements that must be met before the...

• $2 TRILLION DOLLARS for Health Care in 2006

  Lauren Ellerman | January 08, 2008 9:15 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  NPR reported this morning from the journal Health Affairs."For the first time ever, the total spent on health care topped $2 trillion.""Health spending in the U.S. accelerated slightly," he says. "It picked up in growth to 6.7 percent in 2006. That's up two-tenths of a percentage point from 2005."That's not much of an increase in growth if you're an economist, especially when you consider it's...

• Heart Attack In A Casino is Safer Than In The Hospital

  Dan Frith | January 08, 2008 6:46 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Pretty outrageous isn't it! Can the above title be true? Yes, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.If you have a heart attack in an airport, or even a casino, there is a 50% chance you survive, compared to just one third if your heart attack takes place at a US hospital, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It seems that all too often patients...

• Specific Allegations of Abuse

  Lauren Ellerman | December 19, 2007 2:00 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  Because of our duty of confidentiality, we cannot blog about many case details. We can't share statements made by nurses, unless they are public record. Well, here is a public record about nursing home abuse and neglect, that is almost too awful to believe. Faye Clark, a nurse aide at Heritage Hill in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, had her license revoked in August after the board found her guilty of...

• Detecting Breast Cancer

  Dan Frith | December 12, 2007 2:16 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  We all know how important it is to detect breast cancer early before it metastasizes into surrounding tissue. Frankly put, the earlier the diagnosis ...the earlier the treatment...the greater the likelihood of a good outcome! One tool used by doctors to make that early diagnosis is the mammogram. The scary part of the story is how frequently doctors (radiologists) misread this diagnostic...

• Politics and Healthcare

  Lauren Ellerman | November 26, 2007 11:00 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  How will our next President feel about tort reform? Medicare? Health insurance for all? What about healthcare in children - will they have a plan?So many candidates, so many ideas... and yes, they are only ideas. You can say that Gov. Romney, or Sen. Clinton have plans, but it takes a few in congress to make that plan a reality.This morning I heard an interesting feature on NPR about national...