Indiana Injury Law Blog

Prostate biopsies are common procedures with more than 1 million people undergoing these annually, but many of these procedures end with serious bloodstream infections. A study at the University of Toronto has found that the rates of bloodstream infections from these infections that are serious enough to require hospitalization, is actually increasing.

The University of Toronto study echoes the results of another study by John Hopkins University. The John Hopkins researchers found that out of more than 100,000 patients who underwent prostate biopsies, 7% suffered complications. Out of these complications, many were infections. What is worrying is that the rate of infection- related complications from prostate biopsies has increased, while there has been no change in the rate of other complications from these biopsies.

These infections are being seen even though doctors usually give a person an antibiotic course before a biopsy to prevent infections. The rise of antibiotic-resistant microbes has meant that these antibiotics may not work as well as hoped to prevent an infection.

What is also worrying is that these infections are often bloodstream infections. These are deadly infections that often lead to complications like sepsis. Bloodstream infections have been a source of concern for Indiana medical malpractice attorneys for years now. However, there are signs that doctors are beginning to take the risks from prostate biopsies a little more seriously, and are evaluating the criteria they use before they prescribe a biopsy.

The risk of bloodstream-infections from prostate biopsies has meant that doctors are now less likely to simply prescribe a prostate biopsy, and more likely to evaluate whether the person really needs one before recommending a biopsy.

Contrary to belief, teaching hospitals, which are conventionally believed to have the highest patient safety standards, may not be that safe for patients. According to an analysis of academic hospitals, consumers who choose these hospitals may be just as much at risk of infections as any other hospital.

The analysis was conducted by Consumer Reports, and studied the rates of central line-associated bloodstream infections. Researchers were surprised to find teaching hospitals that are held up as models of the right way of doing things, may not necessarily be the safest for patients.

Of all the hospitals that were rated for central line-associated bloodstream infections, 142 hospitals or 12.7% reported a rate of zero central line -associated bloodstream infections. Most of these hospitals were small to medium size. That should be an eye-opener for people who believe that large-size hospitals always deliver on quality and safety. In fact, according to the study, many community hospitals that are smaller in size performed better on infection prevention scores.

Central line -associated bloodstream infections are typically contracted through tainted central lines which are used to deliver drugs and nutrients to the patient at a quick pace. When these central lines become contaminated because of unsterile handling practices, any infection that results can also be spread to the patient very quickly.

What makes it worse is that these infections are delivered directly into the bloodstream, resulting in serious illnesses that can quickly get worse. Indiana medical malpractice attorneys advise the use of sterile practices, especially during the insertion and removal of catheters, and training of staff in the handling of catheters to reduce infections.

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration finally took the much-anticipated decision to restrict the ability of diabetes drug, Avandia. Under new rules, patients who take Avandia and doctors who prescribe it will be required to enroll themselves in a federal registry. Avandia will no longer be made available on pharmacy shelves, but through a mail-order system.

What the Food and Drug Administration has done here is severely limited a person's accessibility to Avandia, making sure that the drug reaches as few people as possible. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration has made the process of acquiring Avandia so cumbersome, that doctors are very likely to now prescribe other substitutes instead.

The concerns with Avandia have to do with its link to an increased risk of heart attacks. Several studies have shown that diabetic patients who are already at a high risk of heart attacks, have their risks of a heart attack increase through Avandia use. Avandia has also been linked to a number of other problems, including osteoporosis and eye conditions, but its links to heart disease have been the most worrying to Indiana product liability attorneys. It's very likely that prescriptions for Avandia will drop as doctors look for other substitutes instead.

If you are an Avandia user, don't simply stop taking the medication. Discuss alternatives with your doctor.

Unfortunately, Avandia substitutes have also been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Avandia’s closest competitor Actos has been linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. A study has shown that patients who were on Actos had a much higher risk of suffering bladder cancer than those on other diabetes drugs.

The failure of the federal administration to shut down unsafe bus companies has meant that these companies continue to operate on our streets, placing Indiana passengers at risk of accidents. There are a number of uncomfortable truths about the federal administration's policies on bus safety that are tumbling out of the closet, and Indiana bus accident lawyers are extremely concerned about the impact on passengers.

These concerns about bus safety have to do with a fatal bus accident in Virginia last month that killed four people. In that incident, the company that operated the bus was on a 10-day extension that had been granted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The company, Sky Express had a number of safety violations to its credit, and had failed several roadside inspections.

Technically, the company’s buses should have been pulled off the streets. However, the federal agency decided to grant an extension. The Virginia accident occurred during this extension, when a bus flipped over on a highway, killing four and leaving dozens injured.

It has emerged since the accident that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has since October granted such extensions to at least eight other bus operators. The extensions allow these operators to stay on the roads, while they prepare to appeal the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s decision to take them off the roads.

Transportation safety advocates and federal transportation officials, including Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood have been disappointed at the manner in which the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been randomly handing out extensions. There's no reason why an unsafe bus company with multiple violations to its credit, should be given additional time to operate while its safety is under review.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, surgical site infections occur in between one and three out of every 100 patients. A new study indicates that high noise levels in an operating room can increase the risk of surgical site infections.

The study was conducted by a team of Swiss researchers, who reviewed data involving people who had undergone major abdominal surgery. The only variable in all of these cases was the level of noise in the operating room. The researchers found that persons, who had undergone the surgery in an operating room with high levels of noise, were more likely to develop surgical site infections compared to the others. The researchers are taking this to mean that high noise levels could increase stress in the operating room, and increase the risk of surgical site infections.

This is an interesting study, and it ties in with the role that distractions or inattention play in contributing to infections and errors in the operating room. High noise levels in an operating room are likely to drag doctors’ or nurses’ attention away from the task they're performing, with possibly serious consequences for the patient.

However, there are a number of other factors that could increase the risk of surgical site infections. The failure to use a checklist before, during and after surgery, often contributes to such infections. Failure to sterilize equipment, lack of a sterile environment in the OR –these factors are often associated with surgical site infections.

Symptoms of a surgical site of infection include inflammation and pain in the surgical site area, fever and drainage of fluid from the wound. Typically, an antibiotic program is administered to treat the infection. However, in some cases, the infection may become so severe that another surgery may be needed to treat it.

The Indiana medical malpractice lawyers at Theodoros and Rooth represent persons who have been injured due to surgical errors, emergency room errors, birth injuries, misdiagnoses and other forms of medical malpractice across Indiana.

If all goes well, trucking companies around the country would have access to a single database that will include truck driver drug test results from around the country. This will allow trucking companies to screen out drivers with a history of drug use.

The database is part of a set of recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office. A piece of legislation called the Safe Roads Act has been introduced in the Senate to move towards the establishment of the database. The database will contain drug test results from commercial truck drivers from around the country, and trucking companies, medical officers and others will be required to enter their records into the database. The database will be updated frequently, providing vital information that will allow a trucking company to screen a truck driver for drug use before he is hired. Concerns about privacy have also been addressed in the Safe Roads Act.

Drug use is widespread in the trucking industry. Some of the most frequently used drugs in the industry include methamphetamines that are often used by truck drivers to stay awake for long periods of time. Indiana trucking accident attorneys have always felt that current federal trucking safety rules don't attack the problem of drug use by commercial truck drivers with the seriousness it deserves.

The creation of a single database containing records of drug test results from drivers that will be accessible to trucking companies and others from around the country, could solve this problem. Currently, there are too many drivers who conceal their past drug use history. The database would take care of this issue.

Truck drivers who have been cited for violations in the past or have an accident history are more likely to be involved in accidents. That shouldn’t be a surprise to any Indiana truck accident lawyer.
The American Transportation Institute has come up with a study that shows an increased risk of accidents, when drivers have poor driving records. The study draws from an analysis of more than 582,000 truck drivers, and pinpoints driving behaviors that increase a driver’s risk of an accident by more than 50%.

Leading the list is an accident in the past, which, not surprisingly, was the biggest factor influencing a driver’s crash risk. An accident in the past increases a driver’s accident risk by 88%. Improper passing violations also increased crash risks by a similar percentage point.

Apart from this, improper turn convictions, improper lane changes and improper lane/location convictions increased crash risks by 84%, 80% and 68% respectively. Other convictions that increased crash risks were failure to obey traffic signs, speeding and reckless driving. Just about any conviction increased an 18-wheeler driver’s crashes by about 65%.

The study underscores the need for trucking companies to conduct background and verification screenings before they hire a truck driver. Trucking companies have a responsibility to hire responsible, trained and experienced drivers with a safe driving record. Failure to do so could place a trucking company at liability in the event of an accident.

The Indiana truck accident attorneys at Theodoros and Rooth represent persons injured in 18 wheeler and truck accidents across Indiana.