At the Intersection of Law and Medicine

Unless you're a medical professional or have or know someone who has a transvaginal mesh patch, you may not have ever heard of them. They're used in instances of pelvic organ prolapse to support weak connective tissue. Apparently, thousands of women have experienced serious complications after having these surgeries, including bleeding, pain, and severe infections.

You can read more about the complications here. I'm personally shocked to read that a device that was used so frequently, with such poor rates of success was allowed to be continued for many years. I haven't found updates on the FDA's decision on this, but am looking. It seems like these devices should be fully recalled to me. Hopefully doctors are at least paying attention and giving patients proper notification of the risks of their use.

A repetitive motion injury is just a wordy phrase that means you get injured by performing the same action over and over. In most cases, people with these injuries do something for work or fun almost every day for a long period of time. Unfortunately, individuals usually depend on these activities either for their livelihood or for a sense of purpose or as an important form of exercise or recreation. When repetitive motion injuries come up, it can be really tough, because individuals have to put things like work or important activities on hold.

Since lots of these injuries mean work has to be stopped, decreased, or changed, people who got the injury at work may be able to file for workers' compensation benefits. Some companies help employees get this done, but often it's a difficult process and many valid claims are turned down due to minor paperwork errors in filing. I can't imagine the frustration of that, especially if you're trying to deal with an injury and getting better.

The main things I learned about dealing with this type of injury is that it is important to seek medical attention -- the sooner, the better. Also, if your repetitive stress injury has to do with work, it's likely in your best interest to contact a workers' compensation attorney to make sure that you get your needs met in a timely manner.

I used this article from the Chicago injury lawyers of Friedman & Bonebrake, P.C. to inform my opinion on repetitive motion injuries.

Most of us hear "chemical burn" and think of laboratories or big chemical plants. I know I do. My dad is an engineer, and something about working with all those dangerous products in what sometimes amounts to giant tanks and pressure cookers has always been a bit unnerving to me.

However, the truth is that chemical burns can happen anywhere, any time, to anyone -- as long as there are chemicals around and someone is unsafe with them in some way. Hospitals, schools, stores -- these are all places where people might be harmed by chemical burns. Tens of thousands of these cases occur each year, many of them preventable. Of course, usually those responsible did not intend to act in a way that harmed someone, but it seems like so many people have accepted that it's OK to cut corners and disregard regulations in order to save time and money these days. Sure, they probably don't intend for others to suffer -- we just seem to be stuck thinking that nothing serious will happen just because of a simple shortcut we take.