Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Clients of Cleveland Spinal Injury Attorneys May Be Eligible for Stem Cell Study

Clients of spinal injury attorneys in Cleveland may be eligible for a new study designed to improve treatment through stem cell research.

Rush University Medical Center scientists are researching a potential new therapy to use human embryonic stem cells to treat spinal cord injuries within 14 to 30 days of an injury. The stem cells contain progenitor cells that support nerve cells and can potentially make poorly functioning nerves function better.

“There are currently no therapies which successfully reverse the damage seen in the more than 12,000 individuals who suffer a spinal cord injury each year in the United States alone,” Dr. Richard G. Fessler told Science Daily. Fessler is a professor of neurological surgery at Rush University Medical Center and principal investigator for the Phase 1 clinical trial involving AST-OPC1 (oligodendrocyte progenitor cells).

“These injuries can be devastating, causing both emotional and physical distress, but there is now hope. This is a new era where we are now able to test whether a dose of stem cells delivered directly to the injured site can have an impact on motor or sensory function,” says Fessler. “If we could generate even modest improvements in motor or sensory function, it would result in significant improvements in quality of life.”

The trial will test three escalating doses of AST-OPC1 in patients with subacute, C5-C7, neurologically-complete cervical spinal cord injury.

“In the future, this treatment may be used for peripheral nerve injury or other conditions which affect the spinal cord, such as MS or ALS,” Fessler said.

The trial is currently looking for patients, many of whom may be the clients of a spinal injury attorney in Cleveland.

Enlightening News for Cleveland Nursing Home Injury Lawyers: Nursing Home Antipsychotic Prescriptions Decline 21%

Our nursing home injury lawyers in Cleveland recently came across a study that is good news for the families of nursing home residents. Antipsychotic medicine is being subscribed to nursing home residents less often, declining 21.7 percent over the past four years, according to a new report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services.

Though the use of antipsychotic medicine can be very beneficial to some residents, there have been concerns of over-prescription by nursing homes as a way to easier control of residents. This can put some elderly residents in danger and limit their alertness and ability to enjoy the sunset years of their lives.

The data was compiled by the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes, which operates under the direction of CMS.  In the first quarter of 2015, 18.7 percent of nursing home residents received antipsychotic medicine compared to 23.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. The American Health Association reported that its members had decreased use among residents by 23 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.

“This represents the progress we’ve made in bettering the lives of those we serve every day,” AHCA President and CEO Mark Parkinson told McKnight’s Long Term Care News.

The progress is a result of an initiative launched in 2012 by The American Health Care Association to reduce antipsychotic medication by 30 percent by 2016. This means the care is improving for residents and families, with less need for litigation by a nursing home injury lawyer in Cleveland.

Study: Nearly 1 in 20 US Adults May Need a Cleveland Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawyer in Their Lifetimes

It’s a startling figure that a cancer misdiagnosis lawyer in Cleveland knows all too well. Nearly 12 million people every year suffer a cancer misdiagnosis, at least 1 in every 20 US adults, according to a study published in the journal BMJ Quality and Safety.

About half of those errors had “the potential to lead to severe harm.”

“Diagnostic errors pose an important threat to health care quality and safety in outpatient settings,” Drs. Hardeep Singh of the Houston Veterans Affairs Center for Innovations in Quality and Eric J. Thomas of the University of Texas at Houston wrote in their paper.

“The question is, can we eliminate human error, and the answer is no,” Singh told the Boston Globe. “We have just now begun to understand what [these errors] are and what we can do.”

The rate cancer is misdiagnosed in outpatients has surprisingly not been looked at in many studies.

“The problem of diagnostic errors in general has not been front-and-center in the patient safety movement until recently. And the problem of outpatient safety and diagnostic safety in the outpatient setting has been even more overlooked and harder to get our hands around,” Gordon Schiff, associate director of the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, told the Boston Globe. “This [new study] is a very good first pass at trying to really in a more rigorous way establish the incidence of diagnostic errors.”

The clients of a cancer misdiagnosis lawyer in Cleveland are not alone. It is surprisingly common. As the medical community becomes more aware of the problem, hopefully more will be done to decrease the rate so cancer can be discovered well within a treatable phase.