Posts by Christopher Nace
Can a Blood Test Detect Traumatic Brain Injury?
A new blood test being developed may be able to detect traumatic brain injury, or TBI, according to an article published in the Journal of Neurotrauma. TBIs affect about 1.7 million people each year, and it is one of the leading causes of death and disability, according to the CDC. Until this point, doctors relied…
Read MoreCongratulations, Barry Nace and Chris Nace, for Your Best Lawyers Award!
Nace Law Group, is very proud to announce that both founding member Barry J. Nace and partner Christopher T. Nace were named Best Lawyers in America by U.S. News & World Report! Barry has been recognized by Best Lawyers on numerous occasions, and this is Chris’s second year making the list. Both attorneys were named…
Read MoreThe Harsh Reality of the Damages Cap for Amtrak Victims’ Losses
After the tragic Amtrak derailment in May 2015 when eight people died and more than 200 people were injured, victims of the crash received the harsh news that they are unlikely to be fully compensated for their injuries, and survivors for the deaths of their loved ones. A federal law enacted in 1997 limits recovery…
Read MoreFDA Approves Praluent a Pricey New Cholesterol-lowering Drug
On July 24, 2015, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Praluent (alirocumab) the first in a new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as PCSK9 inhibitors (protein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9). This new class of medications hold the promise of reducing heart attacks and strokes, which kill approximately 610,000 Americans every year. The PCSK9…
Read MoreNew Report Links Robotic Surgery to 144 Deaths Since 2000
A team of researchers from MIT, Rush University Medical Center, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have published a paper on Adverse Events in Robotic Surgery, which takes a look at the causes and patient impacts of surgical adverse events in an effort to improve operational systems and practices in the future. After reviewing more…
Read MoreCDC Uncovers a Link to Birth Defect Risk for Pregnant Women Taking Paxil and Prozac
The Centers for Disease Control has published an analysis on the use of a class of SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) such as Prozac and Paxil during pregnancy and whether or not there is a link to birth defects in babies born to women who took these antidepressants immediately before becoming pregnant and in the…
Read MoreFDA Proposes Disclosing Added Sugars on Nutrition Facts Label
The average American male over age 20 consumes about 235 calories from added sugars and women of the same age group consume about 239 calories of added sugars each day. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 150 calories’ worth of added sugars per day for men and 100 calories per day for women.…
Read MoreHow Do Doctors Deal with Medical Mistakes?
Preventable medical errors are frightfully frequent in modern medicine. Research in the Journal of Patient Safety estimates that upwards of 440,000 people die each year and thousands more are injured in the United States from medical errors. This makes medical/hospital mistakes the third leading cause of death for Americans. Doctors (as we and they may…
Read MoreFarid Fata’s Chemotherapy Scam on Hundreds of Patients Gets Him 45 Years in Prison
In what is being called the most serious case of medical fraud in U.S. history, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman sentenced oncologist Farid Fata to 45 years in prison and ordered him to pay more than $17.6 million in restitution for scamming hundreds of patients. His upscale clinics were located in the Detroit area…
Read MoreIs There a Link Between Glyburide and Gestational Diabetes?
A recent study that was published in the JAMA Pediatrics on the risk of birth injury connected to gestational diabetes has been connected to the mother’s use of glyburide during pregnancy. Glyburide, which is sold under the brand names, DiaBeta and Micronage, is an oral diabetes medication that controls blood sugar levels in people with…
Read MoreFlorida Court Lifts Cap on Noneconomic Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases
In July 2015, the Fourth District Court of Appeals in Florida ruled that caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases are unconstitutional, and they do not apply in personal injury cases. This ruling was based on an earlier decision in 2014 of the Florida Supreme Court which struck down damages caps in wrongful death…
Read MoreConsult the Surgeon’s Scorecard Before You Go Under the Knife
People tend to put a tremendous amount of blind trust in doctors. They are willing to allow them to cut them open to fix what is ailing them without knowing much at all about the doctors’ backgrounds, training and success rates with the kind of surgery they are about to perform. But now there is…
Read MoreCentral Line Infections Are Deadly
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 30,100 central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSA) in U.S. health care facilities each year. These are serious infections that cause the prolongation of hospital stays and increased risk of death. These infections are preventable through the use of proper insertion techniques and the…
Read MoreWhen Justice is Served: Public Justice, Rosa Moreno and the AAJ
At Nace Law Group, we are proud of the work we do to ensure that our communities are safe and that victims of injustice are given their day in court. It is why we sit on the executive board of Public Justice, a group of dedicated attorneys who fight against injustice in all of its…
Read MoreStudy Links Sugary Drinks to High Death Tolls around the World
Most people probably understand that drinking too many sugary drinks is not good for their health. Now a group of researchers from Tufts University in Boston have published a study in the medical journal, Circulation, which puts the death toll from consuming sugary drinks at 180,000 adult deaths each year worldwide. Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D. Dr.P.H.,…
Read MoreNew Contraceptives and the Increased Risk of Fatal Blood Clots
Birth control pills have always carried the risk of blood clots and stroke, but a new study published in the British Medical Journal has found that the pill can be linked to anywhere from a two to a more than four-fold increased risk of blood clots when compared to women who are not taking oral…
Read MoreDespite Millions in Research Funding Still No Effective Treatment for TBI
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s 2015 report to Congress in March, there are 2.2 million Emergency Room visits associated with concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). There are 280,000 hospitalizations and 50,000 deaths every year due to MTBI and despite a Congressional allocation of more than $600 million since 2007,…
Read MoreThe Heartbreaking Truths about Stillbirths
When you work in the world of medical malpractice, and especially when your job involves helping the victims of that malpractice, you have to learn to separate your emotions from your work; sometimes it is the only way to effectively help someone. But there are some stories, and some cases, that make it almost impossible…
Read MoreReversing Spinal Cord Injuries May Now be Possible
People who suffer with spinal cord injuries after a serious accident are often faced with life-long challenges. They could be paralyzed, live in excruciating pain, or suffer any myriad effects after the incident. A new study in the Journal of Neurophysiology supports evidence that patients whose nerves have been damaged as a result of an…
Read MoreConsumer Protection Report Finds Toxic Chemicals in Child Safety Seats
Nonprofit consumer advocacy group The Ecology Center released a report in early June that revealed that nearly 73% of child safety seats tested contained hazardous, toxic chemicals. Many of these toxic chemicals such as halogenated and non-halogenated organophosphates which are found in the flame retardants used on the fabric covers for the seats, as reported…
Read MoreCan Sleep Aid Drugs Contribute to Higher Car Crash Risk?
A new study finds a markedly increased risk of car crashes for new users of sleeping pills. The data shows there was an increased risk of car crashes for people who began taking Restoril (temazepam), Desyrel (trazodone) or Ambien (zolpidem), and this increased risk continued for about a year, according to University of Washington researchers.…
Read MoreUnderstanding Emergency Room Medical Malpractice
Emergency rooms are there to help people in the midst of a crisis. The medical personnel who staff emergency departments are generally well skilled individuals who save lives on a daily basis. However, mistakes can happen in the emergency room. People come in with life-threatening injuries, or they present with strange symptoms and the doctors…
Read MoreRecent Surge in Unqualified Plastic Surgeons Puts Patients at Risk for Injuries and Death
There has been such a significant surge in plastic surgery procedures being conducted by unqualified doctors that the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is issuing a warning about the dangers and the failed procedures being done by unqualified physicians. Once they have had unfavorable results from using an unqualified physician, many patients seek out…
Read MorePreventable Medical Mistakes and the Role of Human Behavior
Malpractice events rarely involve “just one” error; in truth, one mistake often leads to a cascade of errors. Sometimes the errors are seemingly minor. Other times, the doctor and the team makes an error so egregious that it is almost inconceivable that it happened. These types of errors are referred to by the medical community…
Read MoreNew Study Explores the Role of Umbilical Cord Accidents in Stillbirths
In a study published by the National Institutes of Health, the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network recently reported on the possible cause of death for 512 stillborn infants whose mothers gave consent for the postmortem exam. Umbilical cord accidents (UCA) accounted for 10% of the stillbirths in the study. A review of the literature on stillbirths…
Read More