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Patient Safety Awareness Week 2021 brings focus to the work of health care organizations and personnel to maintain the safety of patients. Working toward zero harm should be the aim of all hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers, and Patient Safety Week helps everyone focus on this important consideration. Unfortunately, preventable medical errors is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. The Patient Safety Authority in Pennsylvania receives over a quarter million reports of incidents and serious events. As a result of the obstacles to bringing meritorious medical liability claims, many of the preventable medical errors go uncompensated. Through various campaigns and attempts to raise awareness during the week of March 14-20, healthcare organizations hope to spark discussions and actions to improve the safety of the entire healthcare system, leading to better outcomes for patients and everyone involved. Importance of Advocating for Patient Safety According to the World Health Organization, 2.6 million deaths annually are related to adverse events in hospitals and clinics. Avoiding many of these deaths would likely be possible with an increased focus on and awareness of patient safety. Many preventable…

If you are injured because of a medical negligence, you may wonder, how does medical malpractice differ from an ordinary negligence claim? Negligence is a legal theory called a tort, covering a wide range of cases. Medical malpractice is a specific type of negligence case for injuries caused by healthcare professionals, hospitals, or other organizations. If you have been injured while getting medical care, you may feel betrayed by someone you trusted. You are probably frustrated by their lack of accountability for your suffering. It is a familiar story for Clifford A. Rieders. He has spent decades sharpening his skills and representing Pennsylvania families who suffered an injury or loss due to medical malpractice negligence and defective medical devices. Cliff is a past president of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers, now Pennsylvania Association for Justice, and he literally wrote the book on medical malpractice in Pennsylvania used by Pennsylvania lawyers and judges. Ordinary negligence cases seek compensation for people injured by the lack of due care, sometimes called reasonable care, on the part of others. These claims are a way to resolve disputes when parties disagree about who is legally responsible…

Part of the Money Will Be Set Aside to Resolve Future Cancer Claims Bayer announced in June that it will pay more than $10 billion in a Roundup settlement to cancer victims or their estates. The money will settle thousands of lawsuits that allege the well-known Roundup weed killer caused non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other cancers. The Roundup herbicide was first sold by Monsanto in 1974. Since then it has been used worldwide to kill weeds and other unwanted plants. Workers on farms and golf courses, gardeners, groundskeepers, property owners and others who used the product regularly may have suffered potentially deadly exposure. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup that is linked to cancer. Even though Monsanto denied that its product causes cancer in people, the World Health Organization’s cancer research agency concluded in 2015 that glyphosate is probably a human carcinogen. Bayer bought Monsanto in 2018 and inherited the Roundup lawsuits. In its announcement, Bayer noted that its settlement with cancer sufferers does not mean that the company admits liability or wrongdoing. And, unfortunately, Roundup has not been removed from store shelves. Roundup $10 Billion Settlement Does Not Cover…

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PSA) is a world-renowned, independent state agency collecting information on patient safety from Pennsylvania healthcare facilities, which was intended to make state residents safer. Mr. Rieders was the President of the Trial Lawyers in Pennsylvania the year the law creating the PSA was debated. He was also part of the negotiating team in connection with the legislation which led to the creation of the Patient Safety Authority. The agency analyzes serious events and incidents. Serious events must also be reported to the Department of Health and to the family or relevant relatives. Incidents are not reported to the family, unfortunately, but they are utilize to detect any dangerous trend going on in the healthcare field or to determine if a single instance might be repeated and threaten patients’ health. Liaisons in the field are supposed to be giving feedback to hospitals and to regions in connection with incidents. The legislation also provides that the Patient Safety Authority can report infrastructure failures to the Department of Health. The Patient Safety Authority communicates information in multiple ways to healthcare providers. It has also taken some steps in…

The statute of limitation for medical malpractice in Pennsylvania is generally two years from the date the cause of action accrues. In some cases, the cause of action accrues when the medical care is rendered, such as a surgical date. However, there are many other circumstances in which the statute of limitations could begin to run later.  Pennsylvania’s 7-year statute of repose was recently held unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In certain circumstances, a “tolling” will apply. This may occur, for example, in cases of fraud or where a reasonably diligent patient could not have discovered the relationship between the medical care and the harm suffered within the two (2) years. In those circumstances, the statute of limitations would begin to run when such discovery can or should have taken place. Again, this is a very complex field and is factually intensive.  Minors do not have to begin an action for medical malpractice until two (2) years after reaching the age of majority. According to Pennsylvania law, medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional commits medical negligence by violating the generally accepted standard of care. The resulting injury must have been directly caused by the professional’s actions…