When you pursue a wrongful death lawsuit, you’re seeking to hold accountable those responsible for your loved one’s premature demise. The other side seeks to avoid or minimize liability to the greatest extent possible. That defense position often entails making the litigation process as burdensome on you as possible within…
In 2018, CNBC reported that “more than 250,000 people in the United States die every year because of medical mistakes, making it the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer,” according to research conducted by Johns Hopkins. The Journal of Patient Safety concluded that the number of…
Last month I wrote about the problems plaguing Portland’s Unity Center for Behavioral Health. According to The Oregonian, serious reports of neglect and abuse began to emerge almost as soon as the facility opened in 2017. In short order there was evidence of at least 16 incidents that ought to…
A recent CNN investigation highlights a problem that is both widespread and under-reported: the abuses that can arise when drug companies pay doctors to prescribe their medications. Though not widely known or appreciated this is a common practice in the medical and pharma industries. But, as CNN outlines, it can…
On Wednesday the US House of Representatives passed the misleadingly-named “Protecting Access to Care Act” on a largely party-line vote of 218-210 (all of the ‘yes’ votes came from Republicans; the noes included 191 Democrats and 19 Republicans). There is no indication yet whether the Senate will take up this…
An Oregon Supreme Court ruling issued last week has received remarkably little coverage outside of the specialized legal press, but it deserves much more attention. In the case of Smith v Providence Health & Services (361 Or 456) the court reversed rulings from both the trial and appellate courts, and…
The sentencing this week of a former Kaiser Permanente nurse on charges of sexually abusing five women under his care should remind us all of the responsibilities hospitals, nursing homes, other care facilities and their staffs have toward their patients. According to The Oregonian the 38-year-old man “pleaded guilty in…
The extraordinary news of a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles alleging that a major university looked the other way as a school doctor abused students, some of them Olympic-level athletes, is a stern but necessary reminder of the role our courts play in holding abusers to account. According…
A story published this week in The Oregonian focuses on the suicide of a teenage boy who was living in a Corvallis residential treatment facility and on accusations that the facility falsified care records in an attempt to evade responsibility for its actions. There are broader issues also raised by…
A lawsuit filed last week by Oregon’s ACLU is shining a light on the state’s obligations to provide medical treatment for prisoners, according to a news release from the group and coverage in The Oregonian. Last week the group filed suit on behalf of a transgender woman who is currently…