Philadelphia Wrongful Death Law Blog

Imagine you haven't been feeling well and your doctor diagnosis hypertension and puts you on medication. There's a laundry list of potential side effects, but you trust your doctor and that taking your medication is preferable to the alternative. Then your face feels a little puffy, and you barely give it a second thought. But hours later you're in the ER, connected to tubes as doctors and nurses desperately try and open your airway which is obstructed by a bloated throat and tongue caused by a condition called angioderma, one of the side effects of the dangerous drug.

It's true that attacks of angioedema are rare, affecting only about 1% of those who take medication to control blood pressure. Some members of the Philadelphia medical community and beyond, however, suggest that with the large number of patients on these medications they should be treated as a dangerous drug and be given a "black box" warning by the FDA. A request was also made in 2002 for such a warning. In both cases the FDA refused to give the warning, believing that existing warnings should be sufficient.

When discussing risks related to medicine, we tend to think of medical malpractice that occurs within a doctor's office or hospital. But injuries or fatalities can also happen after a patient has already safely visited a doctor. Accidents can be just as dangerous when made at a pharmacy.

It's quite scary to think about. Many people depend on prescription drugs, whether the medication is for a specific, temporary illness or an ongoing medical issue. Medication errors such as getting the wrong medicine or getting the wrong dose of medicine can be fatal. Pharmacy-goers need to understand the danger of trusting blindly in pharmacists.

Three sisters, along with other students, were riding a school bus in February when a parent's worst nightmare took place. Driver negligence on the part of not just one but supposedly two drivers led to a severe traffic accident.

The school bus and a dump truck met at an intersection, where alleged wrongdoing on both sides caused the bus accident that took the life of one sister from the set of triplets and severely injured the other two plus more students. Before the criminal investigation has even concluded, the parents of the triplets have filed a personal injury suit in order to try to seek justice on behalf of their children.

Unfortunately, there are things in life that are completely out of our control. We usually can't control that we or a loved one gets ill and, therefore, needs around-the-clock care from a nursing home facility. By putting them in such a facility, however, it is a means to try to take control over a patient's safety.

For the most part, medical staff can be depended upon to care for nursing home residents. They feed, bathe, medicate and provide other such necessary assistance to elderly or otherwise in-need patients. A recent USA Today report suggests that resident neglect is happening during non-everyday circumstances: during natural disasters.