Every drug with two names, brand name and generic name, is a medication error waiting to happen, writes Theresa Brown in her latest Opinion in The New York Times blog.
A system that would keep only the brand name with a “-G” appended at the end of the name for generic would make more sense and reduce confusion.
Read the complete opinion
The car accident that killed Angel Figueroa, a 74-year-old Bronx resident, last month was the latest of many other accidents on Tremont Ave near Westchester Square in the Bronx New York.
At a recent presentation in front of the Community Board 10, the NYC DOT highlighted that between 2007 and 2011 traffic accidents in this area resulted in 149 motor vehicle passengers injuries, 30 pedestrian injuries and 4 bicycle injuries. During the presentation the DOT proposed a list of measures that would make the area safer and prevent future car accidents. This proposal was accepted on Monday by the Community Board 10 and work will begin next spring.
Human error seems to be the cause of the Metro-North train accident that caused the death of 4 people and injured 63 others. According to sources, William Rockefeller, the train engineer was “in a daze” seconds before the train accident happened. The Bronx District Attorney’s office has launched its own probe to determine if there is evidence enough to file criminal charges. (see New York Daily News).
Steven Harrod, an expert in railroad safety said it “looked bad for the engineer” because a fail-safe design on this type of train would activate the brakes in case of a rupture in their air-pressure system. The evidence also suggests that Rockefeller didn’t downshift the throttle that controls the speed or activate the brakes until the train was right on the curve. (see New York Daily News)
Our partner, New York Personal Injury Attorney Chris Sallay, was on ABC news yesterday to comment on the deadly train accident that happened Sunday morning in New York. According to the most recent information the train was traveling at 82 miles per hour as it approached a sharp curb where the speed limit was 30 miles per hour. The National Transportation Safety Board said the train’s sudden power shift came “very late in the game”. The train engineer, William Rockefeller is at the center of the investigation. Rockefeller was a veteran of the line and knew the road well. The investigation will determine if the speed was the result of a human error or faulty equipment.
Our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this horrible tragedy.
A defective air pressure switch in some Crown Home Heating Boilers can fail to shut down the burners allowing the boiler to emit excessive amounts of carbon monoxide, exposing consumers to CO poisoning hazard. Carbon monoxide poisoning is extremely dangerous because it is a deadly odorless gas. Carbon monoxide poisoning is the leading cause of poisoning death in the United States.
The models involved in the recall are Crown Boiler CWD series cast iron hot water boilers that use natural gas or liquid petroleum to heat water in home baseboard, floor or radiator heating systems. The boilers are red and gray, about 37 inches tall, about 23 inches deep and range from about 16 to 42 inches wide. The Crown Boiler logo is on the front of the boiler. Recalled boilers have model numbers that begin with CWD and were manufactured between May 1, 2005 and July 1, 2013.
For complete information on model numbers and repair go to the CPSC website
The risk of physician-related ED medication errors among seriously ill and injured children in rural EDs can be significantly reduced with telemedicine consultations according to a study published in the current issue of Pediatrics, the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The study looked at 234 seriously ill and injured children presenting to 8 rural EDs with access to pediatric critical care physicians from an academic children’s hospital. 73 received telemedicine consultations, 85 received telephone consultations, and 76 received no specialist consultations. Medications for patients who received telemedicine consultations had significantly fewer physician-related errors (3.4%) than medications for patients who received telephone consultations (10.8%) or no consultations (12.5%).
An alleged drunk driver killed a man and injured another in a car accident that happened early Saturday morning in Queens New York. A 23 year old driver crashed his car into another car driven by 39 year old Jimmy Sinisi. The impact was so strong that Sinisi was crushed in his car and died at the hospital. The passenger was injured but in stable condition. The 23 year old driver appeared to be drunk but he refused a Breathalyzer test. He was taken to the Hospital in critical condition where his blood was being drawn to test for alcohol.
Read more in the New York Daily News
To prevent dangerous and defective products from reaching American consumers, the CPSC has been using a state-of-the-art risk assessment tool pilot called risk assessment methodology (RAM) for its port surveillance. As a result, the screenings led to the identification of about 680 shipments containing violative or defective products, totaling about 6.1 million units for the first half of the 2013 fiscal year. About 600 of the product shipments stopped were children’s products totaling about 1.2 million units. This compares to approximately 450 product shipments stopped with a total of 900,000 units during the same period in the 2012 fiscal year.
Read more on the CSPSC website
A doctor can commit medical malpractice if he is not properly trained to use the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. In a recent case study Web Morbidity and Mortality looks at the case of an epileptic patient who experienced temporary toxicity because of a medication error linked to improper use of EMR.
After being treated in a hospital for seizures, a patient was discharged with an outpatient plan that was to begin phenytoin 500 mg once daily. The resident doctor who prepared the prescription was not familiar with the Electronic Medical Record and failed to notice that the EMR default frequency for phenytoin was “TID” which means 3 times a day. Because the dose was much bigger than normally prescribed an alert was triggered by the EMR but this alert was overridden by the resident doctor who also seemed to suffer from alert fatigue.
Read the complete case and commentary on WebM&M.
A temporary brain injury that is linked to later problems with memory and thinking may affect patients that have been recently released from an intensive care unit. According to a recent article by Laura Landro in the Wall Street Journal, 80% of ICU survivors have some form of cognitive or brain dysfunction and some never recover. Among the most at risk are the patients who have Sepsis. In her article, Laura Landor looks at the most recent research in this field and how hospitals are starting to change standard ICU practices such as giving patients breaks from constant ventilation, avoiding over-sedation, monitoring them closely for signs of delirium and getting them out of bed to walk as soon as feasible.
New York Personal Injury Attorneys Blog