Welding - On-The-Job Welding Injuries

Once again I’m asked a question I find an interesting one about worker’s compensation. In this instance it has to do with a worker from California that welded for a living, now is older and having medical problems. It’s a difficult question to ask because at this point in the man’s life I’m not sure any legal solution will be enough. Perhaps that is why this question needs to be considered; so that younger workers realize the dangers of breathing the fumes from your work as a welder. Question: Can working with welding rods cause strokes, brain damage or other work related medical conditions?

Question: Why do I need a doctor’s opinion, I know how I was hurt.

Answer: In Iowa every workers’ compensation case requires a medical opinion for causation, medical treatment, permanent impairment and restrictions. You know how you got hurt but you’re not qualified to express a medical opinion linking it up to the work environment or accident-mechanism of injury. Of course a single event causing injury, like falling down and breaking your leg is much easier to establish as a work injury than a repetitive injury type of case. In some cases the causing event is so obvious it goes unstated, but that doesn’t mean it’s not required. It’s injuries like carpal tunnel, cubital tunnel, lung injuries, brain damage, head injuries, spinal injuries involving ruptured discs all require a clearly and carefully worded medical opinion as to causation.

How to get paid when horseplay is a part of the history for a workers’ comp injury.

There is a news item out of the Business Insurance site discussing the “horseplay doctrine” in the context of a restaurant worker suffering a shoulder injury caused when he raised his arm for protection from ice being thrown by a co-employee. I actually disagree with the characterization that raising one’s arm can cause this injury. I suspect the waiter or server’s shoulder was injured from a wear and tear injury first caused by lifting heavy bus trays and the raising the arm simply put it over the edge of tearing completely or seriously. It should be noted the server did not win his case because of pre-existing shoulder conditions from previous shoulder dislocations.

What is the average settlement for a workers’ compensation case in Iowa?

This is a question I’m regularly requested to answer. It can’t be answered in fact the question indicates a clear misunderstanding of personal injury claims and the desire to avoid the process of law. Here is how I answered the question. An average settlement for a moderate work related injury is usually a moderate settlement. You can see I'm being intentionally vague. I don't know what you do for a living; how you were hurt and how serious the injury affected your ability to earn a living. That said allow me to use an example and demonstrate how the question is way too vague to answer. If you were a farmer and I asked how long it would take an average farmer with an average tractor to plow an average field the farmer would look at me and say, "Don't lose that day job."

Mill Workers Fall From Crane in Pella

Two men working from a crane on the feed mill last Friday fell from heights. The details are sketchy and only one news item was found. See Two men injured after fall at feed mill in Pella. In other news a South Dakota worker died on a job site in northwest Iowa. The Sioux County Sheriff’s office was noted to have reported the death of Andrew Lambert, 46 of McCook Lake, South Dakota after he became trapped in the auger of some drilling equipment. He died at the job site and worked for Certified Testing Services, Inc. of Sioux City. There is a Siouxland Certified Testing Services, Inc., a testing lab at 419 W 6th Street, Sioux City, Iowa 51103-4332 and phone 712-252-5132.

Playing lawyer - Not telling the doctor it's a work injury - Dah!

Frankly I don't care why you think it's important to not inform the doctor it's a work related injury, by holding back that piece of information you screw up your own case. Top five reasons why people don't tell the doctor: 1. Because then it might not be covered under the BCBS health insurance policy.

Labeling the Opposition Isn't Winning the Health-Care Reform Debate

My wife and I were talking about this health care debate and how it is attracting society’s fringe protesters, who to me simply hate this President and nothing more. Their side of the debate offers speculation for arguments and little more. Listening to them say the word death-squad is meant to conjure up Nazi death camps. The volume of their rhetoric is intended more to drown out anyone who wants to honestly debate the subject of health-care reform. Shouting out death camps or liar has more to do with fear mongering than to really add any content to the subject. Yelling about death-panels seems to be more of a ploy to scare the elderly than and demonstrates who is really behind this fringe element.

Health care reform advocates pitch program over protests, Des Moines Register

Carpet baggers like South Carolina’s Congressman Joe Wilson shouting out “You lie!” during President Obama’s address to the nation and to congress clearly demonstrates what this is all about. For Wilson it’s about votes back home and solidifying his position with voters. Like most political debate Wilson’s isn’t about truth and consequences but appearances and trying to get votes by appealing to the lowest common denominator in society – fear.

Heckling Of President Rare In US History, AP and KCCI-TV Iowa

Shameful really and it applies to both parties and that is where Barbara and I differ. She blames it on Republicans, of which I’m one. I say it has nothing to do with party labels and to do so, does nothing to advance the discussion.

Party labels aren’t working for us any more. Think back to the Bush Administration lying about the reasons we needed to go into Iraq. There were clearly no weapons of mass destruction; only made-up and exaggerated intelligence data. Where was Wilson then? Why weren’t he and the other Republicans shouting out “Liar!”? And where were the Democrats who voted for the war with Iraq? Why weren’t they shouting out in opposition for more concrete data about the reasons for the war?

How dumb are we, the Parrot Heads?

I’ve written previously about the use of labels and how using labels does nothing to advance the debate. It’s a technique that money grubbers like Ann Coulter, Hannity and Limbaugh have perfected. It’s about raw nerves that turn the brain off, rather than on towards productive thinking.  There are as many Republican voters who are sick and tired of Congressional lies for the sake of special interest campaign contributions and increasing profits as there are Democrats. And there are as many Democratic voters who are in favor of profitable businesses and lower taxes as there are Republicans. Starting out any debate with reference to either Republicans or Democrats is simply a way of polarizing the discussion without regard to content. It derails the discussion and that’s exactly what the special interests hope to do; derail the health care reform discussion to protect special profit interests. Fear is their weapon of choice and it’s the W.M.D. for health-care-reform. It’s a lie and even Republicans who would want health-care reforms can see it is.

The Republican Party does not endear itself to intelligent Republican voters by aligning itself with the fringe in health care reform any more than they did with Palin and her ilk. Their arguments meant to avoid discussing the underlying facts are just as pathetic as arguing, I can see Russia from my kitchen window in Alaska so I must be qualified on all issues of foreign policy.

Get real. Stop dumbing down the discussion with using fear and polarizing labels. It was pathetic then and it is pathetic now. Remember being a voter in a two-party system in which I call myself a Republican doesn’t make me an idiot.  Now that the Cold War has cooled they are pitting us against each other with a new angle. Smarten up America it’s the same game just a different approach. They are still wasting your tax dollars but instead of on implements of war the new war is on health care cost containment. And where is the serious discussion; still wasting away in Margaretville.

And still we don’t have the cheeseburger in paradise. And why?

Thank you Jimmy Buffet and Alan Jackson.

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Workers Compensation: How else can the Republican Party insult Iowa's work force?

Here is how Mike Gover of the AP reports it:

"DES MOINES, Iowa - A House panel has approved a measure that would give Iowa workers greater rights in choosing a doctor when they're injured on the job.

A subcommittee of the House Labor Committee approved the bill along party lines on Monday, with Democrats supportive and Republicans opposed. It was the latest in a series of labor-backed bills being pushed by Democrats who hold majorities in the House and Senate. "

The Republicans who oppose a worker choosing what doctor should treat their injuries are  publicly stating that most workers will act like Rush Limbaugh did and shop for doctors who will give them pills to excess. That argument is ridiculous. If it were generally true that people who get to choose their own doctors end up prescription drug addicts we'd all be addicted. Choice of physicians under most if not all health insurance policies has been a cornerstone of this country's medical insured industry. To claim that most people can not be trusted to wisely choose a treating doctor is disingenuous and panders to popular opinion that workers don't understand the global economy. Iowans are good solid workers with a history of acting rationally and in a way to save money. There is no evidence to the contrary. To assume the worst is a fabrication of the worst kind.

No worker in Iowa has to join a union. If the unions have in the mind of owners and managers caused concerns over costs and production it shouldn't be a factor in Iowa. Maybe it is a problem in Detroit but not Des Moines.

"Iowa is a Right to Work State. Employees who work in Iowa, except on federal property or for a railway or airline, have a right to resign from union membership and not pay union dues or fees. If you are an employee in Iowa and have legal questions regarding your union membership, click here to learn about your rights."

This is why the Republican's lost the last election. They assume the worst when workers are concerned. There are many laborers who claim to be Republican or at least to have Republican values. If this weren't true then Bush would never have been elected and then re-elected. Workers pay taxes just as management does. Workers understand and fully appreciate the competition we have with China over jobs. To assume all workers are either not smart enough to understand this issue or down right dishonest, is stereotyping of the worst kind.

Get over it. Workers built this country. If they abuse the privilege the Iowa Industrial Commission will take corrective action.

 

Choice of doctor bill isn’t about choice so much as it’s about controlling the outcome

The choice of doctor bill in the Iowa Senate is getting a lot of press lately. There are stories here, here and here. After 28 years of practicing workers compensation I’ll throw in my two-cents, for what it’s worth. I’ll warn you at 54 I’m cranky, have little tolerance for being patronized and say it like I see it. If that’s too much for you then you needn’t read any further.

The Issue: Iowa’s workers’ compensation laws don’t allow the injured worker the right to choose the treating physicians. Treating physicians under Iowa law are selected and paid by the employer; which in many instances is a workers’ compensation insurance company. There are a few self-insured manufacturers in Iowa; they tend to be quite vocal about wanting control over selecting the company doctor.  There is a bill before the Iowa Senate that would change which party has the right to select the treating doctors. The bill would allow injured workers the right to say which doctor can cut on them. Now you know the issue – it’s who will pick and then pay for medical treatment.

The employer’s position is being stated in the Des Moines Register by someone from Pella Corporation. Pella is a good business in Iowa and no one would want to see them go. Being a good corporation is only part of the game though; being a good citizen is also essential. When employers say it’s about getting the injured employee to the right doctor I find it hard to believe. Qualified doctors are all around Iowa. This isn’t Tanzania, Africa. We are talking the Midwestern United States. This isn’t about an employee picking his or her family doctor versus the employer having specialized knowledge and access to which doctors know best how to treat a particular injury. Let’s not patronize the people of Iowa. Posit all you want but let’s not be insulting to the good people of Iowa and their elected officials; they weren’t born yesterday.

Here is what I mean:

“Myron Lynn, compensation manager for Pella Corporation, says the doctors companies choose are familiar with the kinds of injuries workers suffer and can save time in diagnosing injuries a family doctor rarely sees. "It's access to quality medical care, getting the person quickly to the right doctor whose specialty is treating the kind of injury that the individual has, working with the physician to get the person back to work as quickly as medically advisable to do so," Lynn says, "and back to full wages."

The position Mr. Lynn states is disingenuous at best. Those doctors the employer selects aren’t specialists that only they have access too. Injured workers have the same access to any of the orthopedic surgeons available in the market place. What the employers really are talking about is controlling the words that the doctor speaks and when. The doctors know to sing the right tune or they won’t be on corporate America’s workers’ compensation dance card.

Here is what the employees face. They are injured, off work, earning 3/4rds of what they normally do and trying to make ends meet on the home front. Already nervous and facing an uncertain future they have little if any control over the medical care and opinions. They are totally beholden to this tug-of-war between the big insurance business, the AMA and some lawyer trying to help them get back to square one with the bills and work. Even if you’ve never been involved in such a claim you should be bright enough to figure out the little guy is backed into a corner with a six-shooter half loaded with bullets. You may wonder how bad it can get. Well allow me to give you one example. I’m familiar with a doctor in central Iowa who will treat an injured worker and as soon as the medical treatment is finished he is known to say the injury isn’t work related. Why would it take orthopedic surgeon months to come to the sudden realization an injury he’s treated for months is not work related? You may wonder why that is. Well it’s really pretty simple. There is no co-insurance or schedule of fees for workers’ compensation medical treatment. There is no trying to get the co-insurance payment from the patient or worse yet, a waiver of the co-insurance as negotiated by BCBS. In other words the reimbursement rate is higher. And why would the workers’ compensation carrier continue to send injured workers to this doctor. It’s all about money. They know these are compensable injuries. They know we know. But because they can generate a report from a ‘credible physician’ that says otherwise they have a 50-50 chance of walking away and paying less or even nothing.

Doctor’s Position: If a surgeon is licensed by Iowa’s Board of Medicine, then so be it they can slice and dice with the rest of them; it’s really about what comes out of their mouths at the conclusion of the doctor-patient relationship that matters to those who choose the “who”. Doctors aren’t dumb; they know how to get employers to keep sending them a stream of patients. If the doctors don’t cozy up the patient and limit their opinions on permanency, restrictions and when to send the injured patient back to work, then the steady stream will continue to break the threshold of the clinic entrance door. And they know that if they are too friendly in their opinions to the injured employee, then the clinic door bell will stop ringing. For the doctor’s it’s about paying the overhead. They are simply caught in the middle and probably want to be left alone to treat their patients without interference from case mis-managers, insurance mal-adjusters and attorneys trying to straighten out or to bend the facts.

Let’s not try to fool each other this isn’t about it having access to a better cadre of medical experts; it’s about controlling the expert opinions.  The doctors that regularly deal with workers’ compensation patients just want to know who to send the bill. Whoever has the out right choice rules the roost and they will suck up to either, just to get the bill paid. But what if they didn’t have to suck to either? Then what?

Employer’s Position: If Pella Corporation really wants to do what is right by their injured employees then they would allow them to choose their own doctors, but they don’t and won’t. And all of us involved in the system know why.

Employee’s Position: Many of these employees have serious medical conditions that require surgery that can kill them. Many employees feel degraded by this system that takes from them the right to be taken seriously. It’s their body. They should have the absolute right to say who gets to cut on it.

The Iowa Industrial Commission Position: When they are awake they are sick and tired of seeing what they see and hearing what they know to be true but politically they aren’t allowed to voice. If it were them they would want to know they had the choice of which surgeon to choose. That said they don’t want any more work and would rather see a system in place that reduced the tension and acrimony within these claims.

The Politicians Position: The politicians just want the campaign contributions to keep coming in. This isn’t brain surgery. Employees don’t contribute like the Iowa Medical Association contributes to political campaigns. And politicians don’t worry about “the employer” selecting their treating physicians. After all they get special handling by insurance companies. When did any politician not get to  select their doctors?

“Republican Sen. Pat Ward of West Des Moines said she thinks those are isolated incidents.

“There’s no question that misdiagnosis occurs on occasion and that’s a very sad thing,” Ward said.

Ward predicted that one of every 100 injured workers is satisfied with their care from their employer-chosen doctor. To change the law would add unnecessary expense for businesses, she said.”

I believe there is a better way.

The “Pool of Doctors” Solution: Here is a solution falling somewhere in between what both want. Let’s first set forth each of their positions. Any doctor could apply to the Iowa Industrial Commission for privileges to be in a workers’ compensation medical pool. Any doctor in the medical pool could be selected by the employee for appropriate treatment. The employers would have the right to object to any doctor in the pool but once into the pool the employee could select them for treatment.

A pool of doctors would give the employer the right to encourage all of their company doctors to submit their names into the pool. The employees would not be allowed to go outside the pool unless doctors within the pool were not qualified to treat the condition or didn’t have privileges in the hospital system where the employee resided. Physicians outside the pool could be selected by agreement or application to the Industrial Commission.

Truthfulness would be restored to this system and doctors like Dr. No Causation would find themselves out of work.

Who chooses the Medical Care? 

The employer provides medical care reasonably suited to treat the employee’s injury, and has the right to choose the medical care. If the employee is dissatisfied with the care offered, the employee should discuss the problem with the employer or insurance carrier. In certain situations the employee may wish to request alternate care. If the employer, or insurance carrier, does not allow alternate care, the employee (through appropriate proceedings) may apply to the workers' compensation commissioner for alternate medical care. (85.27)

If the employer-retained physician gives a rating of permanent impairment, which the employee feels is too low, the employee does have a right to another examination by a doctor of the employee’s choice at the employer’s expense. (85.39)

What types of benefits does the law provide?

Medical Benefits - The law provides for the payment of all reasonable and necessary medical care incurred to treat the injury. This includes reasonably necessary transportation expenses. Mileage for use of a private auto is reimbursed at a rate set by the state of Iowa, currently at 58.5 cents per mile. (85.27)

Under certain circumstances an employee who has to leave work for medical treatment may be eligible for payment of lost wages. (85.27)

While a contested case proceeding or a dispute on reasonableness of a fee is pending, the medical care provider cannot seek payment of its charges from the employee. (85.27)

Iowa Workers Compensation – Sixteen tons, what do you get… Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go … I owe my soul to the company store…

The bill before the Iowa Legislature that would grant workers the right to choose their own treating physician isn’t about jobs so much as it’s about respect for another human being and their right to control their own body and what is going to happen to it.

When a worker in Iowa is hurt on the job and needs medical care, it’s covered under the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance. One of the initial decisions is to choose a treating physician. Under Iowa’s workers’ compensation law it is the employer that has the right to choose the treating physicians. So long as what that physician does is “reasonable” the employer can continue to direct the medical care.

But choosing a treating physician really isn’t about what labor backs or employer’s bottom line.

To those not involved with the Iowa workers’ compensation system it may seem like not that big of deal but it is to someone needing surgery. The moment you realize surgery is going to be required that decision becomes the watershed of how you may live the rest of your life. In selecting the physician the employer also selects the anesthesiologist, the surgical team and the hospital. That’s about as un-American as you can get. It’s about as far removed from the Bill of Rights as China is from allowing criticism of corrupt government officials taking bribes and letting dairy producers add melamine to infant formula.

Doctor’s know who has the right to choose them and the doctors can’t help but cozy up to the insurance companies with their opinions. Doctors that are thought by the insurance industry to be “too liberal” are in most instances simply professionals that care deeply for their patients. Those doctors will often times exercise discretion in favor of the patient; rather than what the insurance company wants them to do. The doctors who put marketing ahead of patient care will always cow-tow to the wishes of the insurance adjuster and the case mismanagers. These doctors most workers know as the company doctor because they associate them with the company. This part of Iowa’s workers compensation system reminds me of the town described in the Tennessee Ernie Ford song, Sixteen Tons.  More on that in a minute.

A doctor pandering to the insurance industry isn’t anything new and wouldn’t shock anyone. But consider for a moment that the “insurance industry” isn’t just a big company with educated people running the ship. Insurance adjusters may or may not have a college education. Insurance adjusters aren’t doctors. They don’t hold a medical degree. If the adjuster does have an education that education, or lack thereof, may or may not include subjects like anatomy, physiology, psychology and other subjects that prepare them to understand how to make decisions about medical care. It’s not like that pimply faced kid just out of business school knows anything about medicine. You would think the doctor controls medical care decisions but he/she does not. In practice the adjuster isn’t likely to just go along with the doctor. In my 28 years of practicing workers’ compensation law, the adjuster micro-manages, second guesses and overrides the doctor’s advice. Essentially what happens is the adjuster gets to practice medicine by substituting his or her own judgment for that of the doctors. Yes you can do that test; no you can’t do this one. Yes you can perform and X-ray but no to the CT scan or MRI. Surgery? Why now? Let’s try conservative treatment first and see if a miracle happens. To hell with the idea of permanent nerve damage in the spine; stay the course, no surgery.

Consider for a moment that you are the injured worker. The doctor, that you didn’t select and who really doesn’t even like you has made it clear from the beginning he thinks your just another injured worker trying to get rich off of workers compensation benefits. (The concept of getting rich off of w.c. benefits is just a popular myth. Remember no one every got rich off of $200.00 a week when the bills are $1,500.00 per week.)  The doctor ignores most of what you say, mischaracterizes what you do say and ignores 90% of the questions you ask. You get the picture there isn’t a lot of love in the exam room. So here you are with this doctor now wanting your approval to cut into your back, down to the spine and then with hammer and chisel remove bone spurs and a ruptured disc. If he screws up you’ll live the remainder of your life confined to a wheel chair if lucky, if not so lucky lying in bed or a coffin.

So who selected this surgeon and what made him so qualified? It’s not like anyone gave you the doctor’s credentials and asked you what you think; quite the opposite. You’re pretty much told it’s none of your business, just be quiet and answer his questions. Most of the time there is a high priced spy, called a case manager, hired by the insurance company, who tells the doctor what’s good for the patient and what the insurance company will tolerate to authorize.  She’s probably there looking not too happy that surgery is being recommended. At this moment the doctor just wants you to okay him cutting on you.

Which brings me back to the song Sixteen Tons. All you can think of is, “Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store.” Sixteen Tons sold 20 million copies. Twenty million people knew enough about the company doctor to realize he shouldn’t be cutting into their spine without having first been selected by the patient. Choose your version from YouTube and then sing along, … another day older and we’re deeper in debt….

Tennessee Ernie Ford – 1956 – 20 million copies sold.

Johnny Cash – Live performance. A bit hazy.

Johnny Cash updated version with workers loading coal in a mine.

 

 SIXTEEN TONS

Some people say a man is made outta mud
A poor man's made outta muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's a-weak and a back that's strong

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine
I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion
Cain't no-a high-toned woman make me walk the line

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One fist of iron, the other of steel
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will

You load sixteen tons, what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

20 Million Reasons Why Iowa Workers Should Have the Right to Choose the Treating Physician

Nurse's offer to pray for patient gets her suspended

Medical News: Offering to Pay for Patient’s Well-Being Gets Nurse Suspended.

Huh? Are you kidding? No, this is for real.

I just wrote a blawg post about a Las Vegas jury that failed to follow the law in finding no negligence when a man enters the E.R. complaining of chest pain, isn’t even examined for 41” minutes and then died of a heart attack on the E.R. floor. No negligence? Are you kidding? What are people thinking? Are they thinking? The more conservative people get the dumber they act. Here is an excellent example of idiocy in action in the medical profession.

This blawg post is about a nurse by the name of Caroline Petrie, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset who is being disciplined for offering to pray for a patient. That’s all she did. She offered to pray for a 70-year-old patient. She didn’t pray for the patient, she only offered to pray for her to get better. And for that this married mother of two young boys has been suspended. If the 70-year-old patient complained she should be ashamed. For the employer, who should have just listened and gone on about their day, they should be sacked. So what is wrong with what she offered to do? Is there room in medicine for a belief in a God? Or does offering to pray offend the profession? Let’s look at the definition of a nurse and then a few medical miracles followed by the professional standard she is accused to have offended.

A nurse by Merriam-Webster’s definition is a professional who cares for the sick or infirm; specifically: a licensed health-care professional who practices independently or is supervised by a physician, surgeon, or dentist and who is skilled in promoting and maintaining health. Wikipedia defines nursing is a profession focused on advocacy in the care of individuals, families, and communities in attaining, maintaining, and recovering optimal health and functioning. Modern definitions of nursing describe it as a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by populations, communities, families, and individuals, throughout their life experiences from birth through the end of life. Several of my friends and acquaintances in life have been physicians. Some have described patients getting better when the most advanced medical opinions say they should be dead. That said many doctors I know pray for their patients. I’m by no means a Bible thumping Christian, but I do believe in God. If someone close to me were dying I’d pray for them. Medical miracles are nothing new. Here are a few.

Are There Medical Miracles?

The discovery of Penicillin - Penicillin, the first effective antibiotic, was discovered in 1928 almost by accident.

The treatment for Glaucoma - Millions of people owes their sight to Percy Julian, the African American chemist who transcended racial bias to revolutionize the treatment of glaucoma. Born in Alabama in 1899, Julian was barred from the local public school's college preparatory program because of his race. Nonetheless, he excelled academically and gained admittance to DePauw University in Indiana. As he departed for college, his grandfather, a former slave, waved goodbye with a three-fingered hand — the missing fingers had been severed as punishment for learning to read. After earning his doctorate at the University of Vienna in Austria, Julian returned to DePauw. In 1935, he synthesized physostigmine, a natural substance used to reduce pressure in the eyeball caused by glaucoma, which can lead to blindness. The feat cut the cost of the drug from hundreds of dollars per drop to a few cents per gram, making treatment widely available and earning Julian worldwide acclaim. When DePauw declined to appoint him to its faculty, Julian left academia and joined the Glidden Company. There, he used his knowledge of chemistry to make a variety of products from soybeans, including the hormone progesterone and fire-fighting foams used during World War II. In 1948, he developed a new way to synthesize hydrocortisone, still used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Birth Control – synthesis of the first birth control pill in 1951.

Discovery lead to treatment for diabetes - In a brilliant collaboration Gerty and Carl Cori studied how the human body metabolizes glucose. Their development of the "Cori cycle," the biochemical process by which the body reversibly converts glucose to glycogen, explained how carbohydrates supply energy to muscles during exercise and how carbohydrates are regenerated and stored until needed again by the muscles. In subsequent decades they made many significant discoveries which clarified carbohydrate metabolism. Their work advanced the understanding of the inter-conversion of sugars and starches and proved particularly useful in the development of treatments for diabetes.

Treatment for tuberculosis - The Waksman team isolated about twenty antibiotics, the most prominent of which was streptomycin, the first effective pharmaceutical treatment for tuberculosis. Unlike the chance discovery of penicillin, streptomycin was isolated in 1943 by Albert Schatz using screening protocols developed by Waksman.

DENVER, Colo. -- Miracles do happen. That's what doctors said about 30-year-old Shannon Malloy. A car crash in Nebraska on Jan. 25 threw Malloy up against the vehicle's dashboard. In the process, her skull became separated from her spine. The clinical term for her condition is called internal decapitation. Oh my God, it's a miracle," said Malloy. "It's a miracle that she was able to survive from the actual accident. It's a miracle that she's made the progress that she's made," said Ghiselli.

Medical Miracle? Woman Wakes After Heart Stops, Tubes Pulled, by Karlie Pouliot

Doctors are calling it a medical miracle. A West Virginia woman, who suffered two heart attacks and had no brain waves for more than 17 hours, suddenly woke up, reports NewsNet5.com. Val Thomas’ doctors say they honestly can’t explain how she is alive today.

“Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled,” Thomas’ son, Jim, told NewsNet5.com. “Death had set in.”

Her family said goodbye and doctors removed all tubes. However, Thomas was kept on a ventilator a little while longer as an organ donor issue was discussed. Ten minutes later the woman woke up and started talking.

‘Saving Your Life: Modern Medical Miracles’ - In a weeklong series, NBC's ‘Today’ show features technological breakthroughs in medicine.

Health Care Blog ( I quote )  reporting on a New York Times report of a miracle - On December 7th, Alcides Moreno and his brother Edgar, window washers, fell 47 stories down the side of the Upper East Side apartment building they were working on. His brother was killed instantly, but Alcides survived, consuming 24 units of blood and 19 units of plasma. In a coma, he went through 9 orthopedic operations, and then amazingly - I'm not making this up - awoke on Christmas Day. More incredible still, Mr. Moreno is now on a path to full recovery, at least from the looks of it, walking and talking as he did before his fall. This has prompted Dr. Philip Barie, the chief of the Division of Critical Surgery at the hospital where Mr. Moreno is being treated to comment, “If you believe in miracles, this would be one.”

This one is worth quoting again from the New York Times article as reported by James Barron, ‘Miraculous’ Recovery for Man Who Fell From Sky’, Surrounded by doctors who had helped save her husband, Mrs. Moreno told her story at a news conference at which medical professionals with long years of experience in treating traumatic injuries used words like “miraculous” and “unprecedented” to describe something that seems remarkable: a man who fell nearly 500 feet into a Manhattan alleyway is now talking and, with a little more luck, a few more operations and some rehabilitation therapy, may well walk again. “If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one,” said Dr. Philip S. Barie, the chief of the division of critical care at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, where Mr. Moreno, 37, is being treated.

Try to Explain the Unexplainable

Kim Peek: Idiot Savant – Photographic Memory

Savant Syndrome - Daniel Tammet – Miracle Mathemetician

Savant syndrome, Beautiful minds, Alonzo Clemens – Miracle Sculpturer

Miracle Musical Savants - autism, blindness, pianists

The Human iPod!, as seen on 60 Minutes

Savant Syndrome

Stephen Wiltshire the Living Camera - Savant Drawings

Stephen Wiltshire: the human camera now is in Japan!

So what is the standard she allegedly fell below?

On this occasion, the patient's care giver, who was with him, raised concerns over the incident. Alison Withers, Mrs. Petrie's boss at the time, wrote to her at the end of November saying: "As a nurse you are required to uphold the reputation of your profession.

"Your NMC [Nursing Midwifery Council] code states that 'you must demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity' and 'you must not use your professional status to promote causes that are not related to health'."

Hmmmm… Is this boss trying to justify his job? Get a grip, get a life, and find someone else to pick on. This is a waste of everyone’s time. With all the problems in the hospitals with real malpractice and “never events” you’d think this boss would have better things to do. How about paying attention to wrong site, wrong-procedure or wrong-patient surgeries? Or how about paying attention to stopping Serious Reportable Events?

“The Institute of Medicine estimates that each year in the United States our healthcare system wastes up to 98,000 lives, 2.4 million extra hospital days and $9.3 billion in excess charges due to “serious reportable events”; put plainly, errors/mistakes that were easily preventable.”

Serious Reportable Events

Surgical Events

• Surgery performed on the wrong body part
• Surgery performed on the wrong patient
• Wrong surgical procedure performed on a patient
• Unintended retention of a foreign object in a patient after surgery or other procedure
• Intraoperative or immediately postoperative death in an ASA Class I patient

Product of Device Events

• Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of contaminated drugs, devices or biologics provided by the healthcare facility
• Patient death or serious disability associated with the use or function of a device in patient care in which the device is used or functions other than as intended
• Patient death or serious disability associated with intravascular air embolism that occurs while being cared for in a healthcare facility

Patient Protection Events

• Infant discharged to the wrong person
• Patient death or serious disability associated with patient leaving the facility without permission
• Patient suicide, or attempted suicide, resulting in serious disability while being cared for in a healthcare facility

Care Management Events

 

• Patient death or serious disability associated with a medication error (e.g. errors involving the wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong patient, wrong time, wrong rate, wrong preparation or wrong route of administration)
• Patient death or serious disability associated with a hemolytic  reaction (abnormal breakdown of red blood cells) due to the administration of ABO/HLA – incompatible blood or blood products
• Maternal death or serious disability associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy while being cared for in a healthcare facility
• Patient death or serious disability associated with hypoglycemia, the onset of which occurs while the patient is being cared for in a healthcare facility
• Death or serious disability associated with failure to identify and treat hyperbilirubinemia (condition where there is a high amount of bilirubin in the blood) in newborns
• Stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers acquired after admission to a healthcare facility
• Patient death or serious disability due to spinal manipulative therapy
• Artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or wrong egg

Environmental Events

• Patient death or serious disability associated with an electric shock while being cared for in a healthcare facility
• Any incident in which a line designated for oxygen or other gas to be delivered to a patient contains the wrong
  
  

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