Early one morning in late August, an 82-year-old woman wandered away from her Batesburg, SC, nursing home. She was found nearly eight hours later; fortunately, she was unharmed. If this incident had occurred during winter weather, or if she had wandered into the path of a vehicle, the outcome could…
On Sunday, November 16, the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston hosted an observance of A Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic accidents. In 2012, 863 people lost their lives on South Carolina highways, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: 38% were occupants of passenger cars;…
With November being Lung Cancer Awareness Month and the 20th being designated as the Great American Smokeout, a day on which smokers are encouraged to make a plan to quit, we were especially interested to learn that South Carolina ranks third worst in the nation for combating lung cancer, according…
In 1791, James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights to provide constitutional protection for individual liberties and prevent the abuse of governmental power. Nearly 200 years later, in 1987, the federal Nursing Home Reform Law was written to include the guarantee of certain rights to some of our country’s most…
On November 2, 2014, a Minnesota patient detached a metal bar from his hospital bed and used it to attack four nurses; one nurse suffered a collapsed lung, another broke her wrist, and the others had cuts and bruises . . . as well as bad memories of the night.…
When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I’d been out ’til quarter to three, would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four?…
At the annual conference of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons earlier this year, Mayo Clinic researchers reported that 2.5 million Americans are living with artificial hips, surgically implanted when their natural joints degenerated or were fractured. Most of these patients found themselves with a new lease on life after…
This is a question currently being debated in South Carolina courts in the case of Alberta Major v. City of Hartsville. Ms. Major was a student at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina in December of 2008. In walking on the city-owned sidewalk and adjacent grassy area on a street…
Bed rails are metal bars used on the sides of beds to keep sleeping people from rolling out onto the floor. They’re most often used by parents of small children or families and caregivers of the elderly. While they may help prevent a rude awakening, they can also inflict injuries…
We usually expect an increased number of car accidents during certain seasons – winter and the summer vacation period being two – but we’re coming up on another season in which roads can be hazardous . . . deer season. It’s a great feeling to be riding along country lanes…