Category: Construction, Environment, Medical & Healthcare Prevent Hospital-Acquired Infections During Construction Projects TASA ID: 931 The issue of hospital acquired infections is a serious problem. According to several sources, three to four million hospital-acquired infections occur annually, with up to 80,000 fatalities. The costs of these infections are estimated to be between $4 billion and $5 billion per year (Air-Treatment Systems for Controlling Hospital-Acquired Infections, HPAC Engineering, April 2, 2008). Read more
Category: Medical & Healthcare Vision and driving: Is it time for a change in the licensing standard? TASA ID: 1843 With more and more automobiles on the road, despite the high price of gasoline, has the time come for ophthalmologists to take a second look at vision and driving? What ophthalmologist has not had to perform the unpleasant task of advising a patient and his family that the patient's vision doesn't meet the standard for maintaining a driver's license? Often, older adults consider cataract surgery in order to pass their driver's test. Read more
Category: Medical & Healthcare Article Series: Abnormal Sleep Behavior and the Legal Profession. Article #1: Forensic Sleep Medicine...REM Sleep Behavior Disorder TASA ID: 1165 The impact of parasomnias and other sleep disorders on individual behavior has become well documented. Indeed, due to knowledge of the legal implications of these disorders, a new field in Sleep Medicine has emerged and has been termed Forensic Sleep Medicine....It is not uncommon for patients suffering with these disorders to be charged with civil and criminal charges. Read more
Category: Legal Technology, Medical & Healthcare The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A Deeper Look into Electronic Medical Records TASA ID: "Chicken scratch," "scribble scrabble," and "illegible" are all perfect works to describe the handwriting of some physicians. How can a document so vital be so indecipherable? It's hard to believe, but the days of having an unreadable script may be behind us. Read more
Category: Medical & Healthcare When a Medical Malpractice Trial for Wrongful Death is Challenged by New Technology (And the Dog That Did Not Bark) TASA ID: 2375 This is presented as an example of both the changing standards in contemporary medical practice and the introduction of new state-of-the-art advances in technology applying genetic testing of patients (pharmacogenetics) to determine drug toxicity specific to that patient. Read more