Detroit Medical Malpractice Blog

Recent drug recalls and withdrawals of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval evidence serious safety concerns over many pharmaceutical drugs placed on the market. The pharmaceutical industry has grown tremendously over the past several decades and drug manufacturers have been reaping the benefits with record-setting profits.

In the drug industry, the medical needs and safety of consumers has often been placed at a lower priority than sales figures. Pharmaceutical companies routinely rush drugs onto the market without conducting medical studies that properly examine the side effects and effectiveness of the medication. The U.S. government is seeking ways to halt this dangerous practice and a soon-to-be-implemented rule is an important step toward this goal.

A newly published study in the International Journal of Hospital Infection concluded that bacteria that can cause a life threatening infection, Clostridium difficile, is spread when lidless toilets are flushed. The lack of a toilet lid allows bacteria-laden material into the air which can contaminate surrounding surfaces. The researchers found bacterial counts in the area near the toilet handle to be 12 times higher in a lidless toilet than one with a lid.

"It is a very rare event, but it is not zero, and it's devastating," says James Rathmell, a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "We used to say this is so safe." As David Armstrong reports for Bloomberg Businessweek, steroid injections - epidurals near the spinal cord - in some cases cause paralysis in patients.

Such is the case with 60-year-old Rollie Parrish, who, now wheelchair-bound, brought a claim for medical malpractice against his health care providers after suffering paralysis (from a stroke) after doctors administered a steroid injection meant to ease chronic pain in his neck and back.

Norovirus is a virus which can cause severe gastrointestinal illness (nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea). The illness usually lasts between 24 and 72 hours and can lead to dehydration in children, debilitated persons, and the elderly. This virus has been isolated as the cause of widespread illness on cruise ships. A recent study published in the December 8, 2011 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine reports promising results for a vaccine to prevent norovirus illness.