Posts by Crandall & Pera Law, LLC

Drug-resistant germs, known as superbugs, infect more than two million people each year, 23,000 of which die from their infections, according to a recent NBC News article. Although doctors have been warned of the problem for decades, up to half of prescriptions written for antibiotics are unnecessary, making the superbug problem even worse. C. difficile…

The increase in about 25 million newly insured patients under the Affordable Care Act arrives at a time when the nation already has 15,000 fewer primary-care doctors than it needs, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.  Currently, uninsured patients are more likely to not go to a doctor when sick or skip…

Young women diagnosed with cancer in one breast may be driven to remove them both due to fear, not facts, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.  The study finds that women younger than 40 who opted for a second mastectomy of a healthy breast did so to reduce the…

New studies show that many patients do not benefit from costly screening tests, that can also come with false positives and excessive radiation.  Here are 5 medical tests that may prove to do more harm than good, according to ABC News: Bone-density test – Aside from those who are at high risk for weak bones,…

The University of Toledo Medical Center is asking a state court to dismiss a lawsuit filed after a nurse threw away a kidney meant for transplant last year. Paul Fudacz, Jr., then 20 years old, donated a perfect-match kidney to his then 24-year-old sister Sarah, who was in end-state renal failure last August. But the…

Hospital infections is not only extremely dangerous to a patient’s health, but expensive as well, according to a recent article in the Columbus Dispatch.  The Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine estimates the annual cost of five common and preventable healthcare-associated infections at $9.8 billion. These infections can drag out hospital stays, put patients in intensive…

About 1 in 4 deaths of heart disease could be averted with better prevention efforts and treatment, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Heart disease is the leading killer in the United States; it accounts for nearly 800,000 deaths a year, equaling about 30 percent of all deaths…

National Church Residences, the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing for senior citizens, will now offer health care along with medical care and other services to elderly patients where they live, according to a recent article in The Columbus Dispatch. NCR serves more than 25,000 residents with more than 300 facilities in 28 states…

Nurses will be more in demand than ever when the Affordable Care Act goes into effect next year, but a lack of educators has led to a nationwide nursing shortage, according to a recent NBC News article.  Nurses will take on the lion’s share of work when millions of Americans get health insurance for the…

Implementing a transitional care program for patients from hospital to home could reduce readmission rates up to 20 percent, according to a recent study.  Researchers found that helping people recently released from the hospital understand how to care for themselves and informing their primary care doctors about their stay may reduce their risk of being…