Atlanta Injury Lawyers Blog

Atlanta dental malpractice lawyers have found the failure of the Food and Drug Administration to warn the public adequately about the dangers of mercury dental fillings or amalgam fillings, perplexing. The calls for the agency to limit the use of mercury fillings, or warn the public about the risks of these fillings, are getting louder.

This month, dentists, consumers and health care experts are calling on the agency to warn consumers about the risks of these fillings. Among the people adding their voices to these calls is a woman, who alleges that her children were severely harmed by the mercury fillings that were inserted into her teeth during her pregnancies.

It's not as if scientists, environmental groups and health experts do not agree on the risks to human health from mercury exposure. There is an almost unanimous opinion that exposure to mercury damages human health and risks the environment. However, in spite of this evidence, the Food and Drug Administration has been painfully slow to act on the matter.

Continue reading " Calls for Action Against Mercury Dental Fillings Grow Louder " »

It’s not the most comforting thought for a patient who is scheduled for a hospital visit. A couple of recent studies indicate that seemingly innocuous items in a hospital, like doctors’ and nurses’ clothing or hospital curtains may be teeming with deadly infection-causing bacteria.

It’s not as if Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers are not aware that surfaces can be contaminated in hospitals. However, you don't expect your doctor’s or a nurses’ uniforms to be covered with MRSA. Yet a study conducted by researchers in Jerusalem found exactly that. They swabbed these uniforms, and analyzed the samples. They found potentially dangerous infection-causing pathogens on more than 60% of the clothing that they tested. Nurses’ uniforms were found to be much more dangerous, with 65% of the uniforms testing positive for pathogens, compared to 60% of doctors’ scrubs.

The researchers are quick to point out that there may be no need to worry, because there is minimal chance of infection from doctors’ or nurses’ clothing. However, considering the unchecked spread of hospital-acquired infections in the country, hospitals need to be setting stricter standards about staff changing uniforms every day, because this seems to reduce the growth of pathogens.

Continue reading " Hospitals Are Breeding Grounds for Infection-Causing Bacteria " »

There has been a number of reported cases of bladder cancer caused by the diabetes drug, Actos. According to a major health-related website, there have been over 22,000 reported incidents of side affects from patients who have taken Actos and 0.22% of these have reported bladder cancer.

The longer someone has taken the drug, the more likely they are to contract bladder cancer. If you have been diagnosed with bladder cancer and suspect it may be related to an Actos prescription, seek medical help immediately. Bladder cancer is an extremely aggressive form of cancer.

In June of 2011, France and Germany banned the sale of Actos because of links to cancer. Recently, the FDA has announced that it was reviewing the link between Actos and bladder cancer.

Continue reading " Actos Bladder Cancer Link " »

An ex-Marine, who was left severely injured after a stroke that resulted from a botched dental surgery, has been awarded $17.5 million in damages.

The Marine, Christopher Ellison, had visited a Veterans Administration Medical Center for dental surgery in 2007. He needed to have at least eight teeth removed. While he was undergoing surgery for the removal of the teeth, his blood pressure began plummeting. However, the dentist did not stop the surgery as he should have.

After the surgery, when Ellison was driving back home, he suffered a stroke. He was driving alone, and was not in any position to rush to the hospital for emergency treatment. As a result of the dental malpractice, he suffered severe brain damage, and now needs twenty-four hour care.

Last week, a federal judge awarded him $17.5 million. According to Assistant US Atty. Thomas Johnson, the verdict will be appealed.

Continue reading " Ex-Marine Awarded $17.5 Million after Botched Dental Surgery " »

Most of the dental malpractice claims that I come across as an Atlanta dental malpractice attorney involve lingual nerve injuries or alveolar nerve injuries caused during dental procedures. However, there's more than one way that a dentist can be reckless.

A woman in Somerset UK is suing her dentist for malpractice, after he extracted the wrong tooth. The story doesn't end there. The dentist, who had discarded the extracted tooth into a waste bin, then retrieved the tooth, and replanted it right back on to the patient.

According to the 44-year-old patient, her dentist erroneously extracted a perfectly healthy tooth instead of the rotting teeth. She realized it when she went home, and contacted the dentist. He called her back to his dental office for remedial measures, and proceeded to replant the extracted tooth. By this time, he had already discarded the healthy, extracted tooth into the waste bin. Her tooth was retrieved from a bin that had a lot of medical waste, including bloodied tissues, used needles and saliva wipes.

Continue reading " Woman Claims Dental Malpractice Compensation after Wrong Extraction " »