Many New York residents who have been told that they have cellulitis might have been misdiagnosed, according to a study. Researchers from several hospitals including Massachusetts General Hospital found that more than 30 percent of cellulitis diagnoses are incorrect. The misdiagnoses result in unnecessary hospitalizations and antibiotic prescriptions.Cellulitis is a fairly common bacterial skin infection that can be very serious in some cases. People contract cellulitis when they have a wound or a skin irritation that becomes infected by bacteria. The most serious cases of cellulitis involve potentially deadly superbugs like methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. While cellulitis can be life-threatening, the misdiagnosis of cellulitis also poses a health risk to patients.According to the study, 92.3 percent of patients who are misdiagnosed with cellulitis are given antibiotic prescriptions that they [...]

Breast cancer is a serious disease that affects many women in New York and across the United States. Doctors agree that an early diagnosis is one of the most important factors in long-term survival. A delay in diagnosis by as little as three months puts most women in the significantly lower survival rate category of less than five years.Most women are familiar with the common way breast cancer is identified. A lump on the breast is one of the most obvious signs, and it is something that most women and doctors look for regularly. A British study, however, shows that there many be many other signs of breast cancer that do not include a lump. These signs usually consist of other abnormalities such as pain in the breast and nipple [...]

When people in New York enter a hospital, nursing home or rehab center, they are counting on the competency of the health care professionals who care for them. When these professionals are negligent or make a mistake, the consequences can be dire. Patients have lost their lives, independence, and their careers due to a medical or nursing error.When people hear the word malpracticeThere are many different nursing mistakes that can result in a patient's injury, trauma or death. In some cases, it can be as simple as not ensuring that a patient is able to reach their call button. Patients may attempt to get out of bed in hopes of reaching the button so they can call the nursing station. Unfortunately, this can result in an injury for a patient [...]

New York residents suffering from a rare disease could spend years seeking answers from health care providers. Rare diseases present patients and their families with diagnostic difficulties because there tends to be limited information about the conditions. Per the National Institutes of Health, a disease fits the definition of being rare if it is identified in less than one person out of 200,000 in the U.S.At least half of the 30,000 U.S. residents diagnosed with one of the 7,000 identified rare diseases are children. However, it is probable that there are numerous people who have not yet been diagnosed. One of the greatest challenges is the fact that there could be different manifestations of a rare disease for different patients. Symptoms shared by different diseases could create further confusion during [...]