An unusual fatality in a child due to oxycodone

An unusual fatality secondary to oxycodone in a child is reported. A 2-year-old female child was conveyed to a local hospital after exhibiting signs of rubbing of the mouth and staggering. A hospital toxicological immunoassay screen for drugs of abuse and tricyclic antidepressants was performed on a urine sample and reported as negative. She was discharged and found unresponsive the next morning. She was conveyed to a second hospital in full cardiopulmonary arrest and despite resuscitative efforts, was pronounced dead upon arrival. An autopsy was performed and postmortem specimens were submitted and screened for drugs using mainly chromatographic techniques. Quantitation was achieved by gas chromatography with nitrogen phosphorus detection. Confirmation was performed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Oxycodone was the only drug detected in the following concentrations: heart blood, 1.36 mg/L; gastric contents, 7.33 mg in 33 mL (222.34 mg/L); liver, 0.2 mg/kg; and urine, 47.23 mg/L (47,230 ng/mL). In addition, immunoassay testing of the urine was positive for the opiate class of drugs. This case report demonstrates an unusual cause of death in a young child with emphasis on potential limitation in hospital urine screening tests and the importance of complete forensic toxicological testing in all child deaths.     

Etiology of pulmonary thromboembolism in the absence of commonly recognized risk factors

Pulmonary thromboembolism is an often fatal complication of venous thrombosis. Any component or combination of the components composing Virchow's triad (venostasis, hypercoagulability, and endothelial damage) increases the propensity for a thrombophilic state. Hypercoagulable states may be inherited or acquired. While the etiology in many cases may be evident either on physical examination or on evaluation of the decedent's medical history, this is often not the case. We conducted a retrospective study of cases presenting to the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner's Office in Birmingham, Alabama, who were given a diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. A search of cases within the past 23 years yielded 81 cases. An underlying cause was determined in 70 cases (86%). The remaining 11 (14%) cases had no identifiable cause. We believe that a number of these cases may represent an underlying thrombophilic disorder. Since these disorders may be of an inherited or acquired nature, the determination of an etiology may be relevant to the decedent's family. Postmortem blood analyses may in selected cases be useful and appropriate for the detection of some of these disorders. However, such analyses are not practical in all cases, with each case having to be evaluated on its own merits.     

To leave or to stay?: Battered women's concern for vulnerable pets

Consistent with previous research, almost half of a sample of 41 pet-owning battered women reported that their partners had threatened or actually harmed their pets, and over a fourth reported that concern for their pets had affected their decisions about leaving or staying with the batterer. Differences between rural and urban women were not significant, although higher proportions of rural than urban women reported that their partners had threatened or harmed their pets and that concern for their pets had affected their decisions. For the sample as a whole, logistic regression analyses showed that women whose pets had been threatened or harmed were significantly more likely to report that concern for their pets had affected their decisions about leaving or staying. The findings suggest that service providers should inquire about battered women's concern for their pets and should include arrangements for animals in safety planning.     

Proposed changes to the hospital-medical staff relationship to improve quality of care

Medical staff attorney Snelson answers the Colloquium's charge, "What exactly has to change in the hospital-medical staff relationship for health care quality to be improved?" Her response emphasizes the logic of having clinicians vested with authority to establish policies concerning the clinical decision-making. The article discusses the cases defining the medical staff bylaws as contractual in nature, and the problem of hospital attorneys demanding unilateral amendments to bylaws. Bylaw clauses that would chill medical opinion and communication or denigrate clinical recommendations are discussed. Ms. Snelson advocates for the inclusion of the medical staff organization in exclusive contract and other clinical decision-making, and includes sample bylaw language enacting her recommendations.     

Lineup Administrators' Expectations: Their Impact on Eyewitness Confidence

This research focuses on how lineup a administrators influence eyewitnesses' postidentification confidence. What happens to witness confidence when a witness makes an identification that confirms the lineup administrator's expectations; what happens when this expectation is not confirmed? In Experiment 1, participant interviewers (n = 52) administered target-absent photo lineups to participant witnesses (n = 52). The interviewers did not view the simulated crime, but were told the thief's position in the lineup. In every instance this information was false (we used a target-absent lineup). A one-way ANOVA revealed that eyewitness identification confidence was malleable as a function of interviewers' beliefs about the thief's identity. In Experiment 2, participant jurors (n = 80) viewed 40 testimonies of Experiment 1 witnesses (2 participants viewed each testimony). Participant jurors judged all participant witnesses as equally credible despite their varying levels of postidentification confidence.

     

Barriers to achieving a cost-effective workforce mix: lessons from anesthesiology

As pressures to control health care costs increase, competition among physicians, advanced practice nurses, and other allied health providers has also intensified. Anesthesia care is one of the most highly contested terrains, where the growth in anesthesiologist supply has far outstripped total demand. This article explains why the supply has grown so fast despite evidence that nurse anesthetists provide equally good care at a fraction of the cost. Emphasis is given to payment incentives in the private sector and Medicare. Laudable attempts by the government to make Medicare payments more efficient and equitable by lowering the economic return to physicians specializing in anesthesia have created a hostile work environment. Nurse anesthetists are being dismissed from hospitals in favor of anesthesiologists who do not appear "on the payroll" but cost society more, nonetheless. Claims of antitrust violations by nurse anesthetists against anesthesiologists have not found much support in the courts for several reasons outlined in this essay. HMO penetration and other market forces have begun signaling new domestic physician graduates to eschew anesthesia, but, again, Medicare payment incentives encourage teaching hospitals to recruit international medical graduates to maintain graduate medical education payments. After suggesting desirable but likely ineffective reforms involving licensure laws and hospital organizational restructuring, the article discusses several alternative payment methods that would encourage hospitals and medical staffs to adopt a more cost-effective anesthesia workforce mix. Lessons for other nonphysician personnel conclude the article.     

When is the Truth not the Truth? Truth Telling and Libel by Implication

Implied libel cases involve defamatory news stories composed entirely of factual, truthful material. Because they lack the false statements typically required for a successful libel suit, these cases present unique challenges regarding determination of falsity. This article examines how appellate judges articulate and apply conceptions of truth in libel- by-implication cases. It concludes that there exists no common understanding of truth and that judges and courts that favor the correspondence theory of truth tend to favor the media, while those that adopt the coherence theory of truth do not. This disagreement over the fundamental understanding of what constitutes truth leads to confusion and lack of clarity for journalists and judges. The article concludes that the actual malice standard apply in all implied libel cases.     

Managing incidental findings in human subjects research: analysis and recommendations.

No consensus yet exists on how to handle incidental findings (IFs) in human subjects research. Yet empirical studies document IFs in a wide range of research studies, where IFs are findings beyond the aims of the study that are of potential health or reproductive importance to the individual research participant. This paper reports recommendations of a two-year project group funded by NIH to study how to manage IFs in genetic and genomic research, as well as imaging research. We conclude that researchers have an obligation to address the possibility of discovering IFs in their protocol and communications with the IRB, and in their consent forms and communications with research participants. Researchers should establish a pathway for handling IFs and communicate that to the IRB and research participants. We recommend a pathway and categorize IFs into those that must be disclosed to research participants, those that may be disclosed, and those that should not be disclosed.