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An Overview Of The Prescription Medication Process

Do you want to learn more about the prescribing medication process? Watch our video to receive an overview of the prescription medication process. Learn More: Who Should You Call When Prescription Medications Cause Issues? Issues That Can Arise With Prescription Medications Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:18 An Overview Of The Prescription Medication Process: Process Of Prescribing Medication 2:03 What Things Can Go Wrong 2:55 Helpful Videos We can think about the prescription medication or medication prescribing process as a series of steps or milestones. 0:18 An Overview Of The Prescription Medication Process: Process Of Prescribing Medication First, you have to order the medication. You have to write the prescription. You can do that in different ways today, but in ordering or writing that prescription, you then have to document that ordering of the prescription, and you can document it either manually or digitally or electronically if you will. Once you’ve written your order and documented your order, then there has to be a transcribing process, a translational process because in at least the United States, one professional orders and documents the prescription, but another professional transcribes that order and dispenses that order. So when we move from ordering and documenting, which typically starts with a physician or a physician extender in some states, then the transcribing of that order is typically done by a professional, that in most jurisdictions, is known as a pharmacist, and that pharmacist not only interprets or transcribes the order, but they have to do that in a way that then enables them to dispense the medication. And once the medication is dispensed, then it can be administered either by the individual for whom the medication is intended or by a caregiver and then ultimately, this whole process and its end result should be monitored. 2:03 What Things Can Go Wrong So whether it be the ordering or the documenting or the transcribing or the dispensing or the administration or the ultimate monitoring, things can go wrong at each of those steps, and we just want to give some brief examples of what can go wrong. So obviously, a prescriber can write a prescription for the wrong medication or they can write a prescription for the wrong dose of the medication or they can write a prescription for the wrong route by which the medicine is to be administered. Those are some examples of things that can go wrong at the ordering stage, that’s not all, but just an example. Then we come to the documentation of the prescription. What can go wrong there? Now that we’ve described the medication prescribing process, I would invite you to look at a series of short videos that will follow this video to explain in more detail what some of the challenges are and what some of the things that could go wrong at each of the stages of the prescription medication process that I just went through. The Importance of Acting Quickly Medical malpractice claims are governed by a strict statute of limitations. If you have been harmed by a medication mistake, you have a short amount of time in which to file a claim. If you miss this narrow window of opportunity, you could forever miss your chance to receive compensation for your injuries. Although taking on a doctor, hospital, or nursing home can seem daunting, speaking up for yourself could also mean giving a voice to others who have been harmed due to medication errors. Tragically, some medication mistakes happen because of bad policies in doctors’ offices and hospitals. In many cases, it takes just a single patient to stand up and bring attention to bad practices. Your case could be the one necessary to bring about an important change that saves lives and prevents others from experiencing life-threatening injuries. Contact Our Nationwide Medication Error Attorneys today if you have been catastrophically injured due to a medication error. Drug mix-ups and medication mistakes have become more common in recent years. As the baby boomer generation nears retirement age, a growing number of people are turning to pharmaceuticals to treat medical conditions, extend their lifespan, and improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, this has led to an increase in medication errors. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a doctor or pharmacist’s medication-related negligence, don’t wait to seek help.

Jackson Snyder, M.D., J.D.

Watch our video to learn more about Jackson Snyder, M.D., J.D. one of our expert medical negligence attorneys. Learn More: The Consequences Of Medical Malpractice What Is The Difference Between Medical Malpractice And Medical Negligence? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:06 Introducing Jackson Snyder, M.D., J.D. 0:49 Area Of Focus 1:26 Certified Member Of The Bar 0:06 Introducing Jackson Snyder, M.D., J.D. My name is Jack Snyder, and I am trained as a physician as well as an attorney, and that’s part of what LawMD is trying to bring to you…  the combined skills of a physician and an attorney. So for me, I trained as a physician, and shortly after I completed my medical school training, I moved and began to work on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C. A the same time, I studied law at the law school that is nearest to Capital Hill, which is the Law School of Georgetown University. 0:49 Area Of Focus I became a physician, I became an attorney, and I worked on Capital Hill for a number of years before deciding that I was going to become and make my professional career basically about drugs and everything that has to do with chemicals in our environment.  I pursued this as a physician as well as an attorney learning anything and everything I could about the world of chemicals and drugs. 1:26 Certified Member Of The Bar It is because I developed that kind of expertise and ultimately became a member of the bar as well as certified as a pharmacologist and toxicologist and as a pathologist that I came to be part of LawMD because the specialties of pharmacology, toxicology, and pathology are an integral part of not only the practice of medicine, but they are major contributors to the practice of law, whether it be in the realm of professional malpractice, or the realm of environmental torts or environmental law generally, or what we call occupational medicine or occupational law. That’s a little bit about me, and if you want to learn a little bit more about me and the firm, you can always go to the website for greater detail. At LawMD, our physician-attorneys are committed to supporting our clients who have been devastated by a medication error diagnosis. As doctors, we understand the medicine in your case. As medical negligence attorneys, we know how to use our medical knowledge to get justice for our clients. Over 10 of our lawyers are also physicians.  If you or your loved one has been permanently or seriously injured due to negligence, contact the medical-legal team at  LawMD.com.  LawMD is the right medicine for justice.  It’s just that simple.

HOW MUCH DOES A DOCTOR’S WORKING ENVIRONMENT CONTRIBUTE TO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

Plenty of research studies over the last couple of decades have identified that the working environment for physicians as well the training you receive can have a significant impact on medical malpractice. Doctors are expected to go through rigorous training and often work long hours in order to qualify for residency and other opportunities. The public, however, has recently shown concerns about the relaxed doctor-in-training work schedules and shifts. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is reviewing residency programs at teaching universities and hospitals. In 2011 the ACGME mandated restricted work hours for residents in their first year including one 16 consecutive hour cap for each shift. The American Medical Student Association and Public Citizen both shared evidence about concerns of lifting this cap despite allegations that the caps may not improve outcomes for patients. Physicians in a residency program work extremely long hours and sometimes on very little sleep. Combined with the advanced pressure of preparing for a career as a physician, this drove some to have psychological breakdowns or even experience physical illnesses. The push back from the graduate medical community was there needed to be a cap on hours in order to protect patient safety and allow doctors to do their jobs with plenty of sleep and opportunities away from work. The public is opposed to lifting the 16-hour cap for any interns. The study included 500 likely voters and the project managers found that an overwhelming majority of people supported a 16-hour maximum shift duration for not just first year residents but all the residents. Public Citizen represents 40,000 doctors in residency programs and in training. Healthcare systems are under the spotlight for reducing medical errors particularly since programs like the Affordable Care Act and Medicare penalize hospitals that have poor care or high rates of error. Many different research studies have evaluated the number of preventable medical errors occurring in the United State, stipulating that it is often patients who pay the price when residents are pushed too far. Some physician educators and hospitals have argued that these caps do not actually contribute to better patient safety outcomes since it usually means that a patient’s medical care is passed off to another physician or a healthcare specialist when the doctor has reached the 16-hour cap. This is why the ACGME delayed their decision on whether or not to lift these caps. What to Do If You’ve Been a Victim of Medical Malpractice If you or someone you know has already been injured as a result of medical malpractice, you may have grounds to file a medical malpractice claim by consulting with an experienced attorney. Speaking with an attorney immediately may help you uncover the legal aspects of your case and allow you to begin collecting evidence that will support your claim for medical malpractice recovery. You can anticipate that the physician involved and his or her representative in the form of lawyers and insurance companies will act swiftly to avoid any and all allegations of medical malpractice. Get Help from Washington, DC Medical Malpractice Attorney Today Serious medical errors could lead to costly medical treatments for you as well as pain and suffering compensation depending on the specifics of your case. You need to have an advocate in your corner working for you from day one and this is why you need to hire a medical malpractice lawyer who you can trust.

How Do Medication Errors Arise? Examples Of Medication Errors

“How do medication errors arise?” is a common question we get. Watch our video to learn how medication errors arise and learn how to navigate medication error issues. You’ll also get some examples of medication errors than can arise. Learn More: The Consequences Of Medical Malpractice What Is The Difference Between Medical Malpractice And Medical Negligence? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:06 LawMD Offers Education Services 0:43 Medication Errors 1:20 Roles Drugs Play 1:37 Provider Healthcare Failure 2:28 Monitoring Healthcare 0:06 LawMD Offers Education Services As we talk about drugs and those who develop expertise with regard to drugs as well as lots of other substances in our environment, it may also occur to you that, yeah I want to learn more about this. So one of the things we would like to do is encourage you to explore a variety of videos at this website to learn more about how the various professionals involved with LawMD might be able to assist you, guide you, educate you about a particular issue. 0:43 Medication Errors Importantly, as you explore some of these videos, I’d like to impress upon you the probability that medications or other substances in the hospital, in the clinic, in the environment around you might play a role in whatever adverse consequence has occurred. Whether that be a problem at the time of birth or a problem in the operating room or a problem with an anesthetic or a problem in the children’s clinic. 1:20 Roles Drugs Play Think about the probability, certainly the possibility if not the probability, that one or more drugs could have played a role, or at least the possibility of their playing a role would need to be explored and better understood. 1:37 Provider Healthcare Failure Finally, as we learn more about various drugs and environmental agents as we call them, I’d like you to think about the concept of a professional failing to do that which he or she is supposed to do as a healthcare professional. Maybe they have a responsibility to warn you about a particular desirable or undesirable effect of a medication of an over-the-counter product of a dietary supplement or of a product in the workplace or in the home. Maybe that professional has, once they decide to write a prescription for you, maybe that professional has a duty not only to warn you but to monitor the situation, to check in with you. 2:28 Monitoring Healthcare Or have you check in with them from time to time about how things are going as you are using that prescribed medication or experiencing undesirable effects and you’re not sure whether it could be related to a medicine or to something else in your environment or to a combined exposure. The Importance of Acting Quickly Medical malpractice claims are governed by a strict statute of limitations. If you have been harmed by a medication mistake, you have a short amount of time in which to file a claim. If you miss this narrow window of opportunity, you could forever miss your chance to receive compensation for your injuries. Although taking on a doctor, hospital, or nursing home can seem daunting, speaking up for yourself could also mean giving a voice to others who have been harmed due to medication errors. Tragically, some medication mistakes happen because of bad policies in doctors’ offices and hospitals. In many cases, it takes just a single patient to stand up and bring attention to bad practices. Your case could be the one necessary to bring about an important change that saves lives and prevents others from experiencing life-threatening injuries. Contact Our Nationwide Medication Error Attorneys Today at (833) MY-LAWMD Drug mix-ups and medication mistakes have become more common in recent years. As the baby boomer generation nears retirement age, a growing number of people are turning to pharmaceuticals to treat medical conditions, extend their lifespan, and improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, this has led to an increase in medication errors. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a doctor or pharmacist’s medication-related negligence, don’t wait to seek help.

ESSENTIAL STEPS FOR SUING A HOSPITAL FOR MALPRACTICE

Hospitals are facilities that are supposed to uphold a certain level of care. Patients expect to be treated well and be made better, not be subject to negligence. Unfortunately, negligent care does happen and patients have a legal right to receive compensation due to any resulting injuries. Medical malpractice laws were designed to help protect patient rights. These laws are in place to provide assistance when a patient has been given below standard medical care. The steps to fighting medical malpractice begins with the patient. Read on below to find out what steps need to be taken to ensure your case goes to court. Statute of Limitations Patients have to understand that there is a statute of limitations when it comes to filing a claim of medical malpractice. Time limits are set and vary by state. Essentially, a patient needs to contact an attorney at once and file a legal claim. The time frame can be from one from the date of the treatment, so it is essential to act quickly. Consulting a Medical Malpractice Attorney To get started, you will need to see if you have a case. A medical malpractice requires certain knowledge and experience, so you want to work with an attorney who has vast experience in this category of law. Such cases can be complex and include legal, medical, and procedural terms that standard attorneys may not understand. An attorney who is familiar with such needs will be better equipped to help you with your case. A free initial consultation will help you to receive advice and find out if you have a case. Bring along any information you can provide to help support your claims. The attorney will review your information and give you advice as to if you should file a claim or if you do not have a case. Who is at Fault? You must also determine if the hospital is at fault or an independent contractor. Just because the negligence took place at the hospital does not mean that the facility is at fault. If an individual doctor provided the below standard care, then the doctor will be at fault. If the hospital is at fault, then you will have a different case altogether. Your attorney will be able to help you with the determination. Obtaining Medical Records The next step will be to obtain medical records. A request will be made to the hospital so that the copies of records will be provided to the patient. This information can be used to help build your case. Damage Determination If you are suing the hospital for damages, the facility may decide to make you an offer so the case can be settled outside of court. Because of this, you need to determine the value of your case. Losses and harm from the malpractice need to be considered. This would include past and future medical bills, wage losses past and future, pain and suffering, etc. Your attorney will be able to help you add value to your claims. Compliance of Procedural Rules One reason you should work with a medical malpractice attorney is their knowledge of legal procedural rules. The requirements will vary by state, with the requirement to file an affidavit of merit in place. You may have to submit a claim to a medical review board before a suit can be filed or other measures. Make sure you follow all procedures so your case will be handled the right way. Moving ahead with the complaint Once you have finished all the above, you will be ready to have your complaint drafted and filed. The complaint will include your name, the names of those responsible, a description of the injury and how it happened as well as the harm it has caused. The amount of money the patient seeks as compensation must also be included. Get Help with Your Medical Malpractice Case Today Visit our site to learn more about medical malpractice. A free consultation is offered to assist you in learning more about the potential for a case based on your specific needs.

WHAT CAN DOCTORS DO TO PREVENT MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

Medical malpractice, or any situation in which a doctor’s negligent behavior leads to injuries for the patient, can lead to significant trauma and costly treatments for the victim. A victim’s only recourse may be to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in order to recover damages. While no amount of money can compensate a victim for his or her injuries, a lawsuit may be critical for allowing the victim to focus on recovery and moving on from such an unfortunate incident. Knowing where to turn after a medical malpractice incident is key. This is often the basis of a medical malpractice lawsuit in Baltimore. Since far too many cases of medical malpractice are completely preventable, the duty of preventing these cases should fall to doctors, hospitals, and managers of any healthcare facility treating patients. It goes without saying that medical malpractice affects far too many individuals today and leaves them with life-changing injuries. In the worst possible scenarios, a victim’s medical malpractice may even sustain fatal injuries. This can have devastating repercussions for a victim who survives as well as the family members who take care of him or her or the family members of someone who has passed away as a result of medical malpractice. The most devastating reality about many cases of medical malpractice is that they are largely preventable. Doctors have a responsibility to exercise the proper standard of care when working with patients in any capacity. When a doctor fails to do this, he or she could be held accountable in a medical malpractice lawsuit. In addition to the damages sustained by someone who has suffered in a medical malpractice situation, it is very costly for a doctor to go through a medical malpractice lawsuit. He or she may be facing higher insurance rates, problems with their employer, and of course, the stress of going through a medical malpractice lawsuit. What follows are several things that doctors can do in order to prevent medical malpractice. Have Clear Guidelines for Patient Care This is especially important for any physician who runs his or her own office or works within a partnership of other doctors. Having high-quality standards across the board immediately decreases the potential for a medical malpractice situation. Making sure that every doctor is committed to the same quality of care can help increase positive patient outcomes as well. Stress the Importance of Accurate Details on Behalf of Staff Hiring a new staff member in a medical office should initiate a training protocol. Staff members should be clear about asking for clarification when a doctor’s written or verbal instructions are not clear, for example. Staff should also be instructed about properly notating materials and sharing it. Many of the most common mistakes associated with prescription errors, for example, are as a result of a miscommunication or misunderstanding about a doctor’s instructions. Having all staff be on the same page and committing to training each one of these new individuals as they join the team can go a long way towards minimizing challenges and problems. Getting Enough Sleep and Maintaining Focus A doctor’s job can be extremely stressful, but to the extent to which a doctor can maintain focus and get adequate sleep, he or she will dramatically decrease their chances of being involved in a medical malpractice event. Proper sleep and focus are critical for approaching every single patient as a new opportunity to clarify the patient’s problems and determine an appropriate course of action. Being distracted or tired, on the other hand, put additional stress on the physician and can increase the chances of small mistakes. When it comes to small mistakes in the medical field, these can have unfortunate implications for a victim. Get Help from Medical Malpractice Attorney at Maryland Today All of these steps can be taken on behalf of doctors to help prevent medical malpractice. When medical malpractice does happen, it can initiate a legal case and add additional stress for the physician. This is to say nothing of the repercussions experienced by a patient who is suffering after a medical malpractice event. Everyone should get on the same page in order to make a commitment to decreasing the incidence of medical malpractice today.

Retained Surgical Foreign Bodies After Surgery

Watch this video below to learn what occurs after there’s been retained surgical foreign bodies after surgery and foreign body retention. Learn More: The Consequences Of Medical Malpractice Do I Have A Medical Malpractice Case? – What Is The Attorney “Taking On?” The Consequences Of Medical Malpractice Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Retained Surgical Foreign Bodies After Surgery: Intro 0:24 Retained Foreign Bodies – Retained Surgical Bodies (RSBs) 0:59 Foreign Body Retention: Preventable Negligence One of the common kinds of negligence that can occur and does occur in the operating room is that the doctors and nurses use various instruments. 0:24 Retained Foreign Bodies – Retained Surgical Bodies (RSBs) One thing that happens of course is that you don’t want to leave one of those instruments in the body when operating. You don’t want to leave a  pad or a sponge inside the abdomen or inside the chest or inside the skull. When you close the incision, you want to remove all of those things. Those things were not intended to stay in the abdominal or chest cavities, and it’s the responsibility of the doctors and the nurses to remove every single one that they put in. 0:59 Foreign Body Retention: Preventable Negligence All too often, that does not happen. They leave behind a clamp or a forceps or scissors or a scalpel or a sponge, and those can cause injuries. They erode the surrounding tissue when this occurs. It’s always preventable. It should never happen. It’s clearly negligent and the patients always suffer substantial injuries and sometimes death as a result. Medical negligence is now the third leading cause of death in the United States, and many of these deaths occur during surgery and in the period immediately following surgery. Hospitals are busy places, and many doctors have too many patients to truly spend quality time following up with each one. Far too often, patients get shuttled to the side after a surgery, where they are not properly monitored for possible complications. At LawMD, we help victims of postoperative negligence. Our medical malpractice lawyers, many of whom are also licensed medical professionals, assist families who have lost a loved one due to a hospital’s negligence or a doctor’s mistake before or after surgery. Our clients trust us to help them get the compensation and closure they deserve after a postoperative error.

Cervical Herniated Disc Medical Malpractice

Watch the video below to learn more about cervical herniated disc medical malpractice and wrongful death medical malpractice cases. Learn More: What Is The Difference Between Medical Malpractice And Medical Negligence? What Are The Odds Of Winning A Medical Malpractice Suit? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:19  Cervical Herniated Disc Medical Malpractice: Joint Disease – Osteoarthritis (OA) 1:13 Hematoma 3:24 What Is A Wrongful Death Claim? I mentioned that the elements of medical malpractice are negligence, damages,  and causation. I’m going to give you an example of how all of that pulls together and some of the decisions that are made about moving a medical malpractice case forward, such as a cervical herniated disc medical malpractice and wrongful death claim. 0:19 Cervical Herniated Disc Medical Malpractice Degenerative: Joint Disease – Osteoarthritis (OA) There’s a case that I have down in Florida and it’s a tragic case. There are huge damages. This 52-year-old man, he had arthritis in his neck. It’s called degenerative joint disease, and so as a result of that, he started having numbness and tingling in his fingers. He started having some weakness in his upper extremities. And so he went in and had an MRI, which is a fancy x-ray, a real sensitive x-ray that showed that some of the discs that are like bushings and cushions for the bones in his neck were slipping back and pushing on his spinal cord. As a result of that, he had surgery. The surgery went fine, they kind of stabilized the cervical spine. They got the bushings, the disc off of the cervical spine, and he was discharged home. As soon as he got home, after being home for a couple of hours, he noticed that he had some swelling in his shoulder. 1:13 Hematoma So he came back to the emergency room and he had what’s called a hematoma. That is basically bleeding around the area of the surgery. So they had operated on his neck and so he had swelling and the swelling was kind of closing off his airway, and so necessarily they had to put a tube in so that he could breathe, and then he went back to surgery and they cut into the area and let the blood out that was causing the swelling. And so he was doing fine, and probably five days after that, the nurse that was taking care of him came in and noticed that he had started leaking again, bleeding from the wound area from the wound side in the back of his neck from the surgery. And you know the nurse was a male nurse, he put pressure there and then probably four or five hours later, he came back in and it was still bleeding. He put some more pressure. Two hours after that, the wife of the patient called the nurse and said, hey my husband can’t move his upper extremities and he has weakness in his legs right now. And so the nurse called the physician assistant who was covering for the neurosurgery team. Didn’t speak with a neurosurgeon, but called the physician assistant and the physician assistant just incredibly said, hey, we’ll just wait and get an x-ray or MRI in the morning. You know some seven hours later, obviously, this was like ridiculously, catastrophically wrong advice. This physician assistant did not pick up the phone and call the neurosurgeon and say, hey, you know this guy was moving his extremities earlier, he’s not moving them now. As a result, there was a delay of eight hours, eight to nine hours before the MRI was done. It showed he had another collection of blood, another hematoma, and this hematoma was pushing up on the spinal cord. They rushed in the surgery, they got the blood off the spinal cord, but as a result of the duration the length of compression, the time of compression on the spinal cord, this man never recovered the use of his arms or his legs again. He was a quadriplegic. 3:24 What Is A Wrongful Death Claim? This is a case where the damages are clear. I mean huge, huge, huge damages. Well, this man lived for about another four years. He just died probably a couple of months ago, and we modified the complaint from a medical malpractice claim to a wrongful death claim claiming that his death was caused by the quadriplegic, and we had to do that just because, you know, there are some timing issues. But in order to make that connection, you have to have expert testimony. You have to have neurosurgeons, neurologists, who can say okay, the quadriplegia, the fact that he couldn’t move his arms and legs is what caused his death. Well, the autopsy showed that he had extensive coronary artery disease, hardening of the arteries. He had some scarring in his heart as a result of uncontrolled high blood pressure. He did not have any blood clots in his lungs and things of that sort, and so the nexus, the connection between the quadriplegia and his death became quite frankly, speculative. There’s no physiological way to correlate the two. It could, clearly him being a quadriplegic could relate to his death, but there is no textbook. There is no expert who can come and connect the dots and that’s what juries demand. That’s what you have to prove. As a result of that, he died. His death was caused by the quadriplegic and by the negligence of the PA and the nurse, but we don’t have the requisite expert testimony needed to tie his negligence or the negligence that was keeped on him to his death, and so this is a classic example of how those elements and how they work in the legal system. Again, I consider medical malpractice and laws like doing brain surgery with an ax, meaning that it is very inexact. Sometimes you know, I didn’t create the system, you didn’t create the system, but this is what we have, and so we have to use the tools and the rules that are given to us and do our best in bringing people justice and accountability. In this case, there will be no accountability for the man’s death, but there will be accountability for the four years that he spent lying on his back, in a wheelchair, not able to hug his wife and kids. If you believe that you have tremendous damages or have a situation with a friend or family member who has tremendous damages that you believe are due to the negligence of a healthcare provider, reach out to Law MD, hit us up online at www.LawMD.com.

Who Should You Call When Prescription Medications Cause Issues?

Watch our video to learn more about prescription medical malpractice and who you should call when prescription medications cause issues. Learn More: What Is The Difference Between Medical Malpractice And Medical Negligence? The Consequences Of Medical Malpractice Video Transcript TImestamps 0:00 Intro 0:30 Prescription Medications Causing Issues: Who Can You Talk To? 1:41  Prescription Medications Causing Issues: Is A Pharmacologist? 1:58 Prescription Medications Causing Issues: What Is A Toxicologist? 3:18 More Than Just Prescription Medications 4:33 Combining Medications Have you ever been in a situation where you were concerned about something you took as a medicine, or what you took as a combination of medicines might have led to some kind of health problem? 0:30 Prescription Medications Causing Issues: Who Can You Talk To? There are medical professionals who make it their business to know something about what some of these interactions can be between various medications, or medicines and food, or medicines and beverages of some sort, or drinks of some sort, or interactions between medications and something in a person’s environment. If you think you may have encountered any of these issues, then you might consider contacting a physician’s attorney. You might wonder who would I consult for such an issue? Is there somebody I could talk to with regard to this kind of issue that I’m raising? Well, there are certain specialists out there who are known as pharmacologists and toxicologists. What is a pharmacologist and what is a toxicologist? 1:41 Prescription Medications Causing Issues: What Is A Pharmacologist? Well, a pharmacologist obviously studies pharmacology and pharmacology is basically the study of the desirable effects of medications. 1:58  Prescription Medications Causing Issues: What Is A Toxicologist? Toxicology is the field where toxicologists learn and study and do research on the undesirable effects, not only of medications but of many substances, and many agents in our total environment. So when it comes to health issues and whether or not something in your medicine cabinet or in your household or in the environment around you, that can include your garage, it can include your place of work, it can include places that you travel to when you have issues that you think could have arisen at least in part because of where you’ve been or what it is that you’ve encountered or exposed yourself to, then there are certain types of experts, again like pharmacologists and toxicologists who are in a position to help you understand at least what may be known about various types of exposures and whether or not we know that those types of exposures at least could possibly cause a human health problem. 3:18 More Than Just Prescription Medications When we talk about this invite, this totality of a person’s environment, we’re not just talking about the prescription medication that the doctor wrote for you, but we also can think about anything you might go to buy in the grocery store or the drugstore, so-called over-the-counter products. We could also think about that very large world on the internet whereas many of you have probably figured out by now, you can buy just about anything, and that includes not only over-the-counter products, but also dietary supplements, or counterfeit drugs. The kinds of products where you’re being told on the internet what might be in that product but you don’t really know and you don’t have a way of necessarily assuring yourself that when you purchase a product on the internet that what you’re going to receive is something that contains what you expect or believes it contains. 4:33 Combining Medications But we also have the situation of folks using their medicines, using them properly, but then also combining those medicines with over-the-counter products, or with taking those medicines in the context of exposures to other things, other agents in their home or in their workplace. So we have, for example, a variety of products in the home that when inhaled or when taken by mouth either intentionally or accidentally, not only have the potential to cause harm by themselves, but you may find a situation where exposing oneself to the product in the household as well as the medication. either prescription or over-the-counter, where the combination of those exposures can lead to an illness that might not happen if exposed to only the medication or the over-the-counter preparation or only the substance in the household or in the workplace. There are many different examples of these types of exposure patterns that we can talk about, but at this point in our conversation, we just want to sort of paint the picture of what the possibilities are. The Importance of Acting Quickly Medical malpractice claims are governed by a strict statute of limitations. If you have been harmed by a medication mistake, you have a short amount of time in which to file a claim. If you miss this narrow window of opportunity, you could forever miss your chance to receive compensation for your injuries. Although taking on a doctor, hospital, or nursing home can seem daunting, speaking up for yourself could also mean giving a voice to others who have been harmed due to medication errors. Tragically, some medication mistakes happen because of bad policies in doctors’ offices and hospitals. In many cases, it takes just a single patient to stand up and bring attention to bad practices. Your case could be the one necessary to bring about an important change that saves lives and prevents others from experiencing life-threatening injuries. Contact Our Nationwide Medication Error Attorneys Today Drug mix-ups and medication mistakes have become more common in recent years. As the baby boomer generation nears retirement age, a growing number of people are turning to pharmaceuticals to treat medical conditions, extend their lifespan, and improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, this has led to an increase in medication errors. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a doctor or pharmacist’s medication-related negligence, don’t wait to seek help.

What Are Examples Of Health Insurance Fraud?

Watch this video to learn more about the examples of health insurance fraud and what to do about different types of health insurance fraud. Learn More: Health Insurance Fraud Or Healthcare Fraud The Consequences Of Medical Malpractice Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:37 Types Of Health Insurance Fraud Well, for instance, if you have a service that was allegedly provided but not actually provided yet billed to Medicare/Medicaid/Tricare federal employee’s benefit program, that’s just clearly direct healthcare fraud. 0:37 Types Of Health Insurance Fraud The more common issues with healthcare fraud are a violation of the Medicare conditions of participation or any kickback is very common where an individual is paid an amount of money or receives remuneration of some kind in consideration of a referral of a Medicare/Medicaid/Tricare patient to healthcare rendered for treatment. That’s a very common scenario. Then again, self-referral is another common entity. You can also have the billing in the case of oncology patients. Many times, chemotherapy is provided free of charge to cancer patients by foundations and other charitable entities. Providers wrongfully bill for that chemotherapy, when in reality, they’re not entitled to do that unless they actually purchase the chemotherapy. Those cases are actually somewhat common too among oncologists. They violate the prescription drug marketing act. That is, you cannot charge for drugs you don’t pay for. Those are some of the more common examples. Because we have in-house medical know-how, we can evaluate the medical questions in your case and provide answers without a lengthy wait. Our internal process involves getting the issues in your case quickly in front of the right physician-attorney who, based on his or her medical experience and training, is most likely to have the answers you seek about whether you have a case and how we might help you get the compensation you deserve to help secure a brighter future for you and for your loved ones. At LawMD, our attorneys are not just award-winning legal professionals; most of them are also medical doctors. Our team comprises medical professionals with specialties and capacity in emergency medicine, surgery, pediatrics, radiology, dentistry, and a number of other specialties and subspecialties. We also consist of highly respected trial lawyers, seasoned negotiators, and experienced litigators. It is this winning combination of legal and medical knowledge that earns our reputation among many as the legal team with “the right medicine for justice.” If you want to learn more about our practice, visit us at https://www.lawmd.com/ or call us at (833) MY-LAWMD.

Issues That Can Arise With Prescription Medications

Watch our video to learn more about issues that can arise with prescription medications and prescription malpractice cases. Learn More: What Are The Odds Of Winning A Medical Malpractice Suit? What Is The Difference Between Medical Malpractice And Medical Negligence? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:00 Issues With Prescription Medication 1:50 Signs Of Problems With Medication Well hello everyone. My name is Jack Snyder, and I am trained, licensed, and experienced as both an attorney and a physician.  In that context, I’m going to talk to you today about some issues that are really near and dear to my heart, that have to do with the world of drugs. Most people around the country know me as somebody who knows something about drugs and helps other people learn and know what they need to know about how to deal with drugs. 1:00 Issues With Prescription Medication So the first thing I want to share with you is a few scenarios that you may have encountered along the way, either in your own life personally or professionally, or maybe among your family members.  What we want to talk about is medications and the problems that sometimes can arise when people have prescribed medications or are otherwise exposed to a variety of substances in our world. Most of you are aware that medication-related treatments are very common today in just about every aspect of healthcare, and when it comes to medicines, some of them are prescribed, some of them are not. When we talk about prescription drugs today, we can encounter a host of issues that you may or may not have confronted or considered. 1:50 Signs Of Problems With Medication For example, do you think you’ve ever been given too much of a particular medication? Do you ever think that you’ve been given the wrong or incorrect dose of medication? Maybe you’ve even been given the wrong medication. Maybe it was improperly labeled or you thought maybe there was some kind of problem with the packaging or the way the product was dispensed to you. Sometimes medicines are given the wrong way. Sometimes they’re taken orally when they were supposed to be injected in one way or another. Sometimes you’re given medicine and it’s habit-forming and nobody told you that, or you certainly didn’t expect that that medication might lead to some dependence on your part on that medication. Maybe you’ve been prescribed medicine or someone in your family has taken medicine and it led to an unexpected effect or an undesirable effect. Maybe someone took medicine and developed a skin rash all over their body or maybe they developed some unanticipated or unexpected kidney problems or they lost all their hair or they started bleeding in ways that they weren’t anticipating that they would do. Sometimes folks take medicines but they also eat or drink other things. Sometimes it’s about the food they take in or the beverages that they consume, and maybe sometimes there are some interactions between those medications and the other beverages that might be consumed or the food that might be consumed. So just trying to give you an idea of some of the areas in which problems can arise, and what folks like myself are in the business of serving as consultants, lawyers, attorneys, and physicians we can help you understand what it is that you may or may not have experienced. We can give you some ideas as to whether or not you should proceed in any way because you think you’ve been harmed in some way. So these are some of the topics that I’d like to cover with you in more detail. Contact Our Nationwide Medication Error  Physician Attorneys Today Drug mix-ups and medication mistakes have become more common in recent years. As the baby boomer generation nears retirement age, a growing number of people are turning to pharmaceuticals to treat medical conditions, extend their lifespan, and improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, this has led to an increase in medication errors. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a doctor or pharmacist’s medication-related negligence, don’t wait to seek help.

Examples Of Nerve Damage From Surgery

Watch the video below to learn more about examples of nerve damage from surgery and what to do about this common medical malpractice case. Learn More: The Consequences Of Medical Malpractice What Is The Difference Between Medical Malpractice And Medical Negligence? Video Transcript Regarding examples of nerve damage from surgery, that’s a broad topic. We know what nerves are; nerves are the tissues that carry electrical signals that allow people to feel and muscles to twitch and move. When a person undergoes surgery, and you’re thinking about how it is that you can avoid nerve injury, it’s almost like talking about, it’s like two different languages, okay? The first language deals with damage to nerves as a result of the actual procedure you’re doing. What do I mean by that? I’m going to give you some examples. Let’s say that a person has a hip replacement where you go in, and you take out the old bone and saw off the top of the femur, and you know you’re putting in titanium and steel in this socket. In that process, to get in the prosthesis, you necessarily have to elongate or pull the leg, which sometimes causes damage to the operator’s nerve. There’s a big nerve that runs up in your hip. Now, that’s an example of how doing a particular seizure could cause damage to the nerve or a nerve. Another example is if somebody’s having some type of facial surgery. Some nerves run on the face, and the seventh facial nerve is there. So let’s say somebody’s having some surgery, bony surgery on the face, and then after the surgery, the whole face doesn’t move anymore because the doctor has quite frankly cut the facial nerve accidentally. You know, those things happen and that is medical negligence. When doctors are tasked with going in and performing specific surgeries, they must be aware of the anatomy. Most people think that it’s just, you know, second nature, you know. How can a doctor who’s been through four years of medical school go through all this training? How could they just blow it without properly identifying the nerves that you know are necessarily associated with the procedure? Well, it happens. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Those are some of the more straightforward cases of medical malpractice because it’s rare that you have a situation where if there’s damage, then that necessarily means that there was negligence. Those cases come close to it because often, with particular surgeries, everybody knows that you have to identify these nerves before you move forward. So that’s one type of nerve damage. There’s another type; also, this being the second language is when it is due to positioning. If you have prostate surgery and you’re doing it robotically and somebody’s upside down for six hours, you must move and reposition the patient. You’ve got to make sure that elbow pads are in the right spot, and that there are no pressure points that are putting constant pressure on nerves that could cause permanent nerve injury. That’s another situation. So those are the two scenarios you typically see dealing with nerve injuries. Once again, when there’s injury due to misadventure of the surgeon, they cut a nerve that everybody knows is associated with the procedure, and the second is more positional, and you know, you think about it, you’re unconscious, you’re helpless, you’re subject to the maneuvers of the surgeon and the surgical team, and it’s their responsibility and duty to put you in paths and to put you in a position that’s not putting chronic pressure on nerves where after the surgery you come up and wake up, and you can’t move a leg or an arm. But if you or any of your family members undergo surgery and you come away with something you didn’t expect, at a minimum, allow somebody like me, an M.D., J.D., or somebody who’s got some kind of medical acumen and medical experience to look closely at the medical records to tell you what happened. Any honest medical malpractice attorney will tell you that one of the greatest expenses in a medical malpractice case is having to pay physician experts to study the details of the medical issues in your case and, if necessary, provide testimony at deposition and trial. While even our physician-attorneys may also need to hire outside medical experts for your case, our medical know-how allows us to perform a significant amount of the medical analysis necessary for your case in-house which may translate into significant savings at the conclusion of your case. Because we have in-house medical know-how, we can evaluate the medical questions in your case and provide answers without a lengthy wait. Our internal process involves getting the issues in your case quickly in front of the right physician-attorney who, based on his or her medical experience and training, is most likely to have the answers you seek about whether you have a case and how we might help you get the compensation you deserve to help secure a brighter future for you and for your loved ones.

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