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Neuroleptic malignant syndrome is a disease process usually occurring in patients who use neuroleptic agents; classically, it is characterized by altered mental status, muscular rigidity, fever, and
autonomic instability.
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The telemetry rhythm strip shown in the Figure was obtained from a 67-year-old woman who presented with heart failure. A permanent pacemaker had been implanted a number of years earlier. Interpret the tracing initially by looking only at lead MCL1. How does the addition of a second simultaneously recorded lead (lead II) help in your interpretation? How many findings can you identify on this two-lead telemetry tracing? (Hint: Some of these findings are very subtle.)
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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of hip fractures presenting to the emergency department with negative initial radiographs.
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This is a retrospective study of consecutive head injury patients admitted to a single Level 1 trauma center.
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Public health officials from the California Department of Health Services have recognized epidemics of three types of Clostridium-associated diseases: wound botulism, necrotizing soft-tissue infections, and tetanus. These emerging infections and intoxications have been associated with the use of contaminated black tar heroin, an association known as "the clostridial connection."
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New drugs are constantly added to the market, many of them legal. Many new drugs with abuse potential are often called “legal highs,” as they are not banned by the federal government or states. Also, products may be labeled “not for human consumption” to avoid the label of illegal. The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Addiction Europol says 41 new drugs entered the market in 2010. The legal status of the more familiar recreational substances has encouraged users to seek newer options that offer the advantages of being legal, less expensive, less contaminated with adulterants, more readily available, or with more desirable pharmacological effects.
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The fact that an expert witness recently prevailed after suing a specialty society for suspending him for allegedly giving improper testimony in a medical negligence case wont affect the ability of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) to discipline unethical expert witnesses, according to Louise B. Andrew, MD, litigation stress counselor, founder and principal of www.MDMentor.com, and former chair of ACEPs Professional Liability Task Force Expert Witness subcommittee.
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An expert witness for the plaintiff takes the stand and proceeds to tell the jury patently false statements regarding the standard of care. While this problem is certainly not unique to emergency medicine, it is exacerbated by the number of experts allowed by judges to testify based on limited exposure to emergency medicine, who are not themselves emergency physicians, says Hugh F. Hill III, MD, JD, FACEP, an assistant professor in the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.
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If an ED claims to have certain services available, that creates a duty to provide them, according to Douglas S. Diekema, MD, MPH, an attending physician in the ED at Seattle Childrens Hospital and director of education for the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics at Seattle (WA) Childrens Research Institute.
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Can the ED attending physician be held liable for a patients bad outcome even if he or she never saw the patient? In almost all cases, the answer is yes, at least to some degree, according to Kevin Klauer, DO, EJD, chief medical officer for Emergency Medicine Physicians in Canton, OH, and a member of the board of directors at Physicians Specialty Limited Risk Retention Group.
