Indiana Injury Law Blog

As far as Indiana medical malpractice attorneys are concerned, there is no particular season for a spike in hospital-acquired MRSA infections. These infections tend to occur all year round. However, a new study indicates that there is a significant increase in the incidence of these infections during the summer and fall months.

The researchers conducted their study at Rhode Island Hospital Authority, and analyzed the risk of MRSA infections in the summer and fall months. Compared to adult patients, pediatric patients had a much higher risk of acquiring community-associated MRSA infections. These patients had a 1.85 times higher risk of developing community-associated MRSA infections during the winter and spring months.

Further, the risk of developing hospital-associated MRSA infections was 2.94 times higher during the summer and fall. Besides, the researchers found that adult patients had up to 1.14 times as many community-associated MRSA infections during summer and fall. However, as far as the patients are concerned, there were no differences found in the rate of hospital-associated MRSA infections in the summer and fall.

Pediatric patients were susceptible to hospital-associated and community-associated MRSA infections. The researchers have no answers to why there's a difference in pediatric patients’ susceptibility to hospital-associated MRSA infections. They are calling for additional research to understand why summer and fall seem to result in more incidences of MRSA infections.
An increase in community-associated MRSA infections could have something to do with the fact that many infections are contracted during recreational activities or sports in the summer months. The Staphylococcus aureus which causes MRSA infections often resides in the skin.

According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was a decline in the number of central line -associated bloodstream infections in the United States between 2001 and 2009. According to the research, in 2001, they were an estimated 43,000 central line -associated bloodstream infections. In 2009, those numbers had dropped to 18,000.
The drop in central line infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus, were much more pronounced than the drop in infections caused by gram-negative rods.

Besides, in 2009, they were an estimated 23,000 central line bloodstream infections that occurred among patients in inpatient wards. In 2008, 37,000 central line -associated infections occurred in patients who were receiving outpatient hemolysis.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the decline in the number of central line -associated infections could be due to the fact that local, state health agency has coordinated to reduce these infection rates.

This has had hospitals take steps to divide the risk of infections through high hygiene standards, and the use of sterile procedures, especially when inserting and removing catheters. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 lives have possibly been saved because of the decline in central line-associated bloodstream infections. This decline has also resulted in health care cost savings of as much as $1.8 billion. The number of lives saved between 2001 and 2009 is likely to be as high as 27,000.

The Indiana medical malpractice lawyers at Theodoros and Rooth represent injured victims of medical malpractice including surgical errors, emergency room errors, birth injuries, misdiagnoses and other forms of medical malpractice across Indiana.

Across Indiana and most of the rest of the country, traffic accident fatalities in 2010 dropped to their lowest levels in decades. For purposes of analysis, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was grouped into Region Five, which also includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan. This region recorded a drop of 3.9% in accident fatalities over 2009.
Indiana's traffic accident fatality rates had already declined last year along with most of the rest of the country. Overall nationwide, traffic accident rates declined from 2009. Last year, 32,788 people died in traffic accident fatalities, compared to 33,808 traffic accident fatalities in 2010. Those were the lowest numbers on record since 1949. It was also a drop of 25% from traffic accident fatalities in 2005.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not provided any explanations for this continuing decline in traffic accident fatalities. However, Indiana car accident attorneys believe that much of this decline has had to do with increasing seat belt usage rate around the country. Across the country, seatbelt use rates have spiked over the past decade, at a respectable 84%. Besides, there's also the fact that automobiles are now back with more safety features to prevent fatal crashes. Most automobiles come packed with a range of auto safety technology, including forward collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems, side airbags and other features that help save lives in accidents.

The decline in auto accident fatalities across the country has also coincided with a continuing decline in the number of people killed in drunk driving accidents every year. DUI accident rates have declined sharply, due to harsher penalties for DUI and lowered tolerance of such practices. This has also contributed to a drop in the overall accident fatality rate.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is drawing attention to the special risks that motorcyclists face from drivers who are snacking, applying makeup or using cell phones while driving. Such distracted drivers have been the target of a nationwide initiative against distracted driving, and dealing with these drivers has become priority number one for the Department of Transportation. However, according to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, motorcyclists have special risks from such distracted drivers.

Motorcycle accident rates have been increasing over the past decade. Much of this increase is due to the fact that motorcyclists are now competing for space on the roads with more numbers of automobiles. Besides, motorcycles today are all-powerful, and faster than they were back in the 70s. These and other factors have contributed to motorcycle accidents, but a large number of distracted drivers on the roads now also poses serious risks to motorcyclists.

Even under normal circumstances, motorists very often fail to notice motorcyclists. A motorcyclist has a narrower field of vision, and does not fall within the motorist’s field of vision. When he is distracted by cell phones or texting devices, or because he is performing other distracting activities, the ability to see the motorcyclist becomes even more diminished. It's not hard to understand why the Motorcycle Safety Foundation is especially concerned about the effect of distracted drivers on motorcycle safety.

There are no definitive studies that show exactly how many motorcyclists are killed every year due to distracted driving. However, according to the Department of Transportation, every year approximately 6,000 people are killed in accidents caused by distracted drivers. Some of these are motorcyclists. However, it has been years since we have had an intense study into the causes of motorcycle accidents. That will soon change. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is currently engaged in a naturalistic study into the causes of motorcycle accidents in the city. Indiana motorcycle accident lawyers would not be too surprised if distracted driving features prominently on that list.

According to a new study by Consumer Reports, the American public wants hospitals and healthcare facilities to be more transparent in sharing information about hospital error and infection rates. The study was released this week by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, but it has few findings that really surprise Indiana medical malpractice lawyers.

More than 75% of the respondents in the study were highly or moderately concerned about being hurt by a hospital infection or something similar happening to a family member. 71% of the respondents were concerned about a medication error in the hospital, while two thirds were worried about surgical errors.

But when it comes to access to information or hospital infection or error data, an overwhelming majority of respondents wanted hospitals to make such error data available to the public. 96% of the respondents said that hospitals should inform the health department of the state about medical errors that occur in their facilities. 82% of the respondents believed that such information should be made accessible to the public as well.

This corresponds with what Indiana medical malpractice attorneys have believed for long - that patients need and want accurate, updated information about the infection and error rates of the hospital that they are planning to check into. We have access to information on about just about every product out there, but when it comes to checking into a hospital, Americans are required to make a blind decision without access to information.

Currently, only 10 states require hospitals to voluntarily report the data to their local state health department. In other states, hospitals voluntarily report their error data to the Leapfrog group. In a charged patient safety climate where approximately 90,000 people die every year from hospital-required infections, it seems absurd not to make such important information available to the public.