Medical Malpractice

• Depression Device

  Staff Writer | April 17, 2006 9:25 PM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  A Senate Finance Committee found that a top FDA official overruled the unanimous opinion of his scientific staff when he decided last year to approve a pacemaker-like device to treat persistent depression, according to an article in the New York Times. The device has been used since 1997 to treat epilepsy, and when patients began reporting improvements in mood, the manufacturer sought approval...

• Dogs smell cancer

  Staff Writer | April 15, 2006 9:17 PM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  As if we needed convincing, here's more proof that dogs really can be man's (and woman's) best friend. An article in HealthDay News reports a new study showing that dogs can detect lung and breast cancer in breath samples.Here's an excerpt:"When we heard anecdotally that there was a device out there that might be able to detect cancer at its earliest stages, before it even shows up on an MRI...

• Pharmacy Misfills A Fact of Life

  Staff Writer | February 21, 2006 10:54 AM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  The statistics over the last 20 years have remained fairly consistent: 3-5% of all prescription fills at retail pharmacies result in errors, or "misfills" as they are known in the pharmacy business. This means that for every 100 prescriptions that you or your loved ones have filled, it is a statistical fact that 3-5 of them will be dispensed with some kind of error. Sometimes the wrong drug is...

• Strengthening Medical Device Safety

  Staff Writer | February 14, 2006 1:37 PM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  FDA has announced a new program that is designed to transform and strengthen medical device safety.This initiative will work toward an electronic reporting system and is expected to provide unique ways to identify medical devices including standardized and globally accepted names. Information in patient records about device information will be improved as will collaboration on post market...

• Guidant gives green light to Boston Scientific Offer

  Staff Writer | February 06, 2006 6:20 PM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  Guidant Corp. has accepted Boston Scientific's acquisition offer of about $27 billion in cash and stock. Boston Scientific had been vying with Johnson and Johnson for a chance to acquire Guidant and gain entry into the fast-growing $10.3 billion cardiac-rhythm management market. Boston Scientific's enthusiasm for the merger was not dampened by Guidant's 1-23-06 announcement that it was...

• FDA Announces New Program to Transform and Strengthen Medical Device Safety

  Staff Writer | January 30, 2006 7:30 PM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  In the wake of the recent and too-numerous-to-count recalls of medical devices, the FDA announced on January 20, 2006 that it is launching a new program to transform and strengthen the way it currently monitors the safety of medical devices after they reach the market -- both new technology and existing products.The FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health's (CDRH) Postmarket...

• Tort Reform, Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death

  Staff Writer | January 19, 2006 9:12 AM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  A story from the Denver Post talks about the non-profit group Colorado Citizens for Accountability and their battle to inform the public about medical malpracticeand tort reform. Founded by Patty and David Skolnik, whose son was diagnosed with a brain cyst. Only after he was operated on did the family find out that the doctor who performed the surgery had pending malpractice suits in other...