Posts Tagged medical malpractice
Device Helps Children with CP Find their Voice
Posted by Sean at Sokolove Law in Therapy and Treatments on June 17, 2009
A new device has been developed that helps cerebral palsy patients struggling to speak find their voice. The device is called VitalStim and it is a small electrical current that contracts facial muscles in order to strengthen them. Patients use the VitalStim device three times a week for about an hour, in combination with speech therapy. “The more we can eat and swallow and practice that movement while we’ve got those electrodes on, the better results you’ll see,” Polly Bohannon, M.S., C.C.C.-S.L.P., a speech language pathologist at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare in Tallahassee, Florida.
For Jude Countryman and his family, they have already noticed the benefits of VitalStim. Jude has cerebral palsy and during his birth his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, damaging nerves that control his mouth and tongue. His parents couldn’t be happier with Jude’s progress and even a little progress means everything. “I realized when he was talking at one point that something was different about his face, and I couldn’t quite figure out what it was at first, but then I realized his upper lip was moving when he was talking,” said Jude’s mother, Erin Belieu. “I was just like, ‘Wow!’” VitalStim is FDA-approved to use on kids and infants.
LikeRobotics To Help Those Who Suffer From Cerebral Palsy
Posted by Evan in Therapy and Treatments on May 27, 2009
U.S. engineers are using robotic devices that have been used to help stroke patients as a model for devices that could help cerebral palsy victims.
The devices help to guide the limbs of patients as they try to make specific movements. It is believed that this will rebuild brain connections and improve the patient’s mobility essentially improving their every day life.
The MIT team responsible for the robotic devices have shifted their focus from stroke victims to people who suffer from cerebral palsy.
“In the long run, people that have a stroke, if they are 70 or 80 years old, might stay with us for an average of 5 or 6 years after the stroke,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Hermano Igo Krebs. “In the case of cerebral palsy, there is a whole life.”
Virtual Reality Device Improves Walking for People with CP
Posted by Sean at Sokolove Law in Current Events, Research on May 19, 2009
A new virtual reality device may prove to be an effective therapy for people with cerebral palsy. The virtual reality device, named the GaitAid Virtual Walker, can help people with cerebral palsy to improve their balance and potentially walk normally again. A virtual reality is a realistic simulation of an environment, including three-dimensional graphics, by a computer system using interactive software and hardware.
The GaitAid Virtual Walker was developed by MIT-educated Computer Science Professor Yoram Baram, PhD. The device consists of a cell-phone-size, lightweight control unit and a set of comfortable high-tech goggles that provide sensory feedback of visual images and sounds in response to the patient’s movements. The device is worn for practice-walking just 20-30 minutes a day. The GaitAid improves walking (sometimes from the first step) and “rewires” the wearer’s brain to follow a healthier walking pattern–an effect that often continues even when it isn’t being worn.
Clinical studies involving children and young adults with cerebal palsy have shown that 80% of patients experienced an improvement in stride length and walking speed after only ten minutes of walking with the GaitAid. Moreover, participants reported an improved feeling of balance and confidence in walking.
UNH Therapeutic Horse Riding Program to Remain Open While Under Review
Posted by Josh at Sokolove Law in Therapy and Treatments on May 6, 2009
At The University of New Hampshire a horse riding program that is designed to help children with disabilities like cerebral palsy, autism, and down syndrome is in danger of being shut down.
The program has been in operation for 20 years and has been self funded through fees and fundraising, but the decision recently came down to stop the program. No specific reason has been given for the stoppage of the program, but the university has said it has to do with the reshaping of the equine science program.
Luckily the program will continue to operate while it is under review and a suggestion will be made by June 1st on whether or not to continue on with the program or eradicate it from the UNH community.
A number of parents who’s children are involved in the program are devastated that such a great program which impacts children’s lives in such a positive light might be done away with.
St. Louis Children’s Hospital Performing Surgery to Help Children With Cerebral Palsy
Posted by Josh at Sokolove Law in Current Events, Research on April 15, 2009
A medical team in St. Louis is working to help children with cerebral palsy with a new surgery that can be potentially life changing for children suffering from the disease.Cerebral Palsy stiffens the muscles and makes movement difficult and painful and can make tasks that many would consider routine, like walking up and down stairs difficult.”The muscles don’t keep up with the growth of the bone, so if the bone grows, it’ll just pull on it and it can’t stretch,” physical therapist Dr. Karen Bandersypen.The St. Louis Children’s Hospital has refined a life changing surgical technique to relieve stiffness and improve mobility in children suffering from cerebral palsy. The surgery is a spinal surgery. In the procedure doctors remove vertebrae and cut nerve rootlets in order to stop spasms brought on by cerebral palsy.The operation may not be for all children that suffer from cerebral palsy but it has already helped 1800 children at a 100% success rate.
Claim seeks $100,000 for birth injury
Posted by Evan in Current Events, Litigation/Legal on April 28, 2008
A mother of a two-year-old girl is seeking $100,000 in damages from the physician who failed to properly deliver the child in April of 2006. Lisa Fletcher claims that Kevin Michael Scharff, M.D., did not deliver her child in a timely manner, and following the birth, he failed to properly assess the girl’s condition.
Before labor, Lisa showed symptoms signaling the need for emergency care, but Scharff took no immediate action. Lisa insists that because of the delay, her daughter sustained permanent and severe mental, physical, and developmental injuries which will continue to affect her as she grows. Lisa fears that her daughter will experience prolonged pain and anguish which will demand expensive medical attention and could impact her quality of life greatly.
Almost 20 Years Later, Jury Awards $30 Million
Posted by Evan in Current Events, Litigation/Legal on April 8, 2008
A jury in southern Florida ruled that a hospital’s delay in administering a caesarean section in 1991 caused Jacob Tomlian’s cerebral palsy, mental retardation, spastic gait, and deafness in one ear. As a result, the 16-year-old and his family were awarded $30 million in what is being called the area’s largest malpractice settlement.
Westside Regional Medical Center in Plantation, Florida and Dr. Mark Grenitz are responsible for the damages. About ten years ago, a jury ruled in favor of the doctor, but the appeals case has now overturned the verdict.
During Jacob’s birth, heart-monitors indicated fetal distress. Eventually, Dora Tomlian underwent a c-section, but it clearly was not soon enough. After waiting 16 years, this decision will change the lives of the Tomlians. Jacob requires constant care: he walks with the aid of arm-brace crutches, reads at a first-grade level and attends a special education program for handicapped children. The settlement will help alleviate the medical debt the family has incurred, as well as fund the care Jacob will require in the future.
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The Sokolove Law nurse desk is led by Kathy McGinn, R.N., B.S.N., L.N.C.C., a 25-year nursing veteran who has worked in the field of legal nurse consulting since 1990. From early on in her career, Kathy was passionate about making patient advocacy the core of her nursing practice. She has been instrumental in cultivating a strong and knowledgeable team of nurses, each with a genuine desire to make a difference in the lives of others.