Blog and News

  $227 Million Settlement in Salvation Army Building Collapse Case On June 5, 2013, a deadly building collapse occurred in Philadelphia at the corner of 22nd and Market Street. The disaster left seven people dead, and a dozen more with serious injuries. According to reports, the incident involved the Center City building that was undergoing demolition, which collapsed onto the[...]

The rates of patient readmission are one of the many ways that Medicare measures the quality of hospitals. Hospital readmission rates also matter because no one wants to have to return to the hospital for additional care after being sent home from it, and could be a sign that the hospital has failed to fulfill their responsibilities. A new study[...]

  $227 Million Record Settlement Reached in the 2013 Philadelphia Salvation Army Thrift Store Collapse Litigation Philadelphia, PA (February 9, 2017) - Harry M. Roth and James G. Begley of Cohen, Placitella & Roth were part of a team of trial lawyers that announced the settlement of $227 million in the lawsuit arising from the June 5, 2013 Salvation Army[...]

  TRUMP PROPOSALS TO SLASH FDA REGULATION  PUTS PHARMA INDUSTRY PROFITS OVER PUBLIC SAFETY On February 1, 2017 President Trump promised the nation’s top drug companies that he would slash regulations at the Food and Drug Administration to make it easier for them to manufacture and sell products in the United States. In reality, this means that the Trump administration,[...]

Hospitals are a group that should be held to the highest standards of care. Care can make the difference between life and death. There is no room for shortcomings or preventable errors in a hospital setting. When errors occur, patients are the victims, and the results are often tragic. Unfortunately, a surprise inspection - the third one this year -[...]

  Among the first initiatives of the newly elected Republican Congress and President Donald Trump is to convert Medicaid and SSI to block grants. This may sound harmless enough, but it is not. These proposals will slash the minimal benefits provided to disabled children in low-income families, and if this becomes law these children will be left at risk for[...]

When you are searching for a nursing home for either yourself or your loved one, one of the most seemingly helpful tools is that of the Medicare nursing home compare tool. The nursing home compare tool allows a user to search for Medicare nursing homes in their area, and then provides a list of nursing homes and their rankings. Nursing[...]

Regardless of the type of health insurance that you carry, one thing is for sure: it is important to know which doctors are - and are not - covered under your plan. What’s more, many people make decisions about which type of healthcare to purchase during the federal open enrollment periods based on which doctors are available under each plan[...]

Chemotherapy drugs can effectively treat patients who suffer from a wide range of cancers, stopping cancer cells in their tracks. But chemotherapy can also be dangerous, and many have heard stories of the terrible side effects of chemotherapy treatment. One common type of chemotherapy drug called vincristine is especially risky because it is neurotoxic. This means that while the drug[...]

While the election has ended, the stress and disappointment for some – and the elation for others – still exists. But regardless of your personal views, most people would agree that the doctor’s office is not the place for political discourse. That sentiment is one that Heidi Kravitz Dunn, a woman from Havertown, certainly agrees with. Unfortunately, when Kravitz Dunn[...]

When Celebrex was first introduced to the market in 1999, it seemed like a miracle drug; it could treat pain in patients – much like ibuprofen – but did not cause the serious bleeding and stomach ulcers that other drugs did. But it wasn’t long before questions about risks of using Celebrex were raised. And 10 years ago, the FDA[...]

Patients Treated at the Worst Medical Institutions Are Three Times More Likely to Die An article published this week in The New York Times highlights the fact that some hospitals perform better than others - an issue that has been discussed previously on this blog. However, the problem extends beyond just quality of care issues; those who are treated at[...]

St. Chris Hospital for Children Charged With Failing to Adequately Investigate - and Protect Against -  Children’s Deaths The death of a child is a tragic thing. In a hospital setting where a child is suffering from a terminal condition, death – despite the best efforts of healthcare professionals – may not be preventable. However, nine childhood deaths are unacceptable,[...]

In June of 2016, IKEA issued a recall of more than 29 million dressers manufactured by the company. The recall followed the deaths of at least six children, all of whom were killed when defective IKEA dressers toppled on top of them. Referred to as “tip-over” accidents, the problem is not limited to IKEA-made furniture alone; instead, the Consumer Product[...]

The death of a child is a tragic thing. In a hospital setting where a child is suffering from a terminal condition, death – despite the best efforts of healthcare professionals – may not be preventable. However, nine childhood deaths are unacceptable, and yet this is the precise number that St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, located in north Philadelphia, is[...]