In prior centuries, a severe crushing injury or spreading infection in the limbs ended in either the patient's death or with the amputation of the mangled or diseased limb. Fortunately, modern medicine has advanced to the point where an affected limb may often be...

Anyone who has ever broken a bone knows just how painful a fracture can be. In fact, part of the reason why fractures are treated as emergencies is the pain they cause to the patients. However, in some cases, a broken bone may not be immediately recognized by the...

What if your boss only monitored and reported on your achievements and didn't note your mistakes or count them against you? That would certainly be a pretty cushy position, many employees might think. But that is the reality for many orthopedic surgeons-in-training....

When an orthopedic surgeon makes an error on a patient, that patient's life can be turned upside down. Catastrophic injuries can result from the slip of a scalpel -- or a misdiagnosis. It's always better to prevent medical errors than to attempt to mitigate the...

Any case involving medical negligence will have its own unique set of difficulties to overcome, and orthopedic malpractice is no exception. While courts do not purposely make it difficult for malpractice victims, they do require proof of negligence. If a simple...

Gaining the ability to repair broken bones internally was one of the most important advancements in the field of medicine. Without orthopedic surgery and other treatments, we would suffer from ongoing pain, deformity, amputation and death. While all of us appreciate...

Rhabdomyolysis, or muscle death, isn't a term you hear that often -- although it probably occurs more often than you realize. It's important to understand the causes and symptoms of muscle death -- because what starts out in a small area of the body can suddenly put...

The Spine Journal recently published a study that tracked medical malpractice cases involving spinal surgery between 2010 and 2014. Of the 103 lawsuits during that time frame that were listed in the WestlawNext databases, the following statistics were identified, with...

Could your new CrossFit class kill you? Just possibly. CrossFit classes have a well-known association with a condition called rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo), which is a form of muscle death. Your muscle cells get so overworked that they actually explode and die, leaching...