Articles Tagged With:
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Court Orders New Trial After Finding Hospital’s Expert Lacked Necessary Qualifications
This case shows how expert testimony plays a crucial role in establishing the cause of injuries and determining liability in medical malpractice litigation. It also highlights the importance of selecting an expert who is not only qualified to offer an opinion on general causation, but one who is qualified to offer an opinion on specific causation. The difference between the two is the difference between a favorable verdict and a retrial.
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Employee Curiosity Sometimes Overcomes HIPAA Training
Recently, a hospital in Washington was fined $240,000 in a settlement with the Office for Civil Rights over allegations that 23 security guards snooped in the medical records of 419 patients — a reminder that this pernicious type of HIPAA violation is difficult to eliminate.
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Plan Now for Eventual HIPAA Changes
HHS has been expected to finalize proposed modifications to HIPAA in 2023, but it now appears that will not happen until December 2024 — or later. Whenever the changes come, covered entities will need to review their compliance policies and update them within 180 days of final rulemaking.
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Differentiating MELAS from Bland Ischemic Stroke: Clinicoradiologic Criteria
Stroke symptoms in mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) are difficult to diagnose correctly, which leads to missed opportunities to provide MELAS-specific treatment. Delay in diagnosis also complicates efforts to investigate acute treatments for MELAS. Khasminsky et al proposed clinicoradiologic criteria based on a single-center validation study. Although there are methodological limitations, the concepts highlighted by the authors are valuable.
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Treatment of Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease
After a four-year, complex clinical trial of an anti-amyloid antibody, solanezumab, there was no benefit in reducing the likelihood of progression of cognitive impairment in patients with positive amyloid positron emission tomography scans who started the trial cognitively unimpaired vs. placebo.
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Super-Refractory Status Epilepticus: Clinical Characteristics, Treatment, and Outcome
Patients with super-refractory status epilepticus (SRSE) differed from patients with first-time status epilepticus in clinical presentations and the treatment course. Although seizure control was achieved in most SRSE patients, the in-hospital mortality and the chance of severe disability at discharge were high.
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Cumulative Number of Head Strikes Contributes to the Development of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Researchers recently evaluated the connection between head impact and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in male athletes. They found the total number and severity of head impacts throughout life better predicted CTE than the number of symptomatic concussions.
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Tarlov Cysts of the Lumbosacral Spine
Tarlov cysts (root sleeve cysts) are common incidental findings on magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbosacral spine. However, they rarely are correlated with electrophysiological findings or clinical symptoms. Undertake extreme care and caution before recommending surgical intervention for these common imaging abnormalities.
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Crisis Case Management Helps Prevent Teen Suicides
Rates of attempted and completed suicides have increased sharply in recent years, particularly among adolescents. A crisis care program at a children’s hospital provides case management help to teens and their families.
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How Case Managers Coordinate Care for Youth in Crisis
Adolescents are at risk of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. In response, a health system created a program that uses case management to help them.