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Tag: cluster

  • Couple sues Atlanta hospital for allegedly losing part of patient’s skull following brain surgery

    Couple sues Atlanta hospital for allegedly losing part of patient’s skull following brain surgery

    A couple is suing an Atlanta hospital that allegedly lost part of a patient’s skull after it was removed during brain surgery because “several bone flaps” were lacking identification.

    Fernando and Maria Cluster are accusing staff at Emory University Hospital Midtown of negligence that led to an increased hospital stay as well as both physical and emotional damages, according to the complaint filed in DeKalb County, Georgia.

    A spokesperson for Emory Healthcare told NBC News in a statement it does not comment on pending litigation but “is committed to providing high-quality, compassionate care for patients and those we serve in our communities.”

    Fernando Cluster was at an Emory Healthcare hospital in September 2022 because he was suffering from a intracerebral hemorrhage, otherwise known as bleeding into the brain. To treat the bleeding, Cluster required emergency surgery that would include removing a portion of his skull, according to the suit.

    The doctors removed a 12-by-15-centimeter bone flap with a plan to secure it back in place during a second surgery weeks later, the suit said.

    But in November 2022, when Cluster was set to have his follow-up operation, the hospital allegedly struggled to find the bone flap.

    “When Emory’s personnel went to retrieve the bone flap, ‘there were several bone flaps with incomplete or missing patient identification’ and therefore, Emory ‘could not be certain which if any of these belonged to Mr. Cluster,’” the suit said.

    This ultimately required him to get a synthetic bone flap and entailed a significantly longer stay in the hospital. The couple alleges that the synthetic flap also caused an infection and that required another surgery.

    Cluster has incurred “medical expenses in excess of $146,845.60” after being charged for the synthetic flap and the prolonged hospital stay in addition to his surgeries, the suit said.

    The couple alleges in the suit that he has been unable to work, his family relationship has been impaired, and he has suffered permanent injuries due to the hospital’s negligence.

    Their lawsuit doesn’t state an amount the couple is seeking, but notes that they are seeking both general and special damages. In civil suits, general damages are considered more subjective forms of compensation for claims such as emotional distress or harm to quality of life while special damages are more specific economic harms.

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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  • A midnight 4.8 earthquake followed by a cluster of aftershocks rocks the El Centro area

    A midnight 4.8 earthquake followed by a cluster of aftershocks rocks the El Centro area

    The agricultural community of El Centro in Imperial County had a rude midnight awakening: the force of a magnitude 4.8 earthquake and a lengthy series of aftershocks.

    The earthquake struck around 12:36 a.m. Tuesday 2 miles northwest of El Centro, in an area just off the Salton Sea that has active faults, said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Elizabeth Cochran.

    The earthquake was followed by a magnitude 4.5 aftershock. In the 12 hours after that, more than 180 aftershocks of lower magnitude were recorded.

    If the shaking wasn’t enough, some residents were roused by the alarm their phone received from the ShakeAlert app, which initially estimated that the temblor was stronger than it proved to be. “Pretty terrible to be woken up at midnight with a loud alert telling you to take [cover] (in multiple languages) for something we didn’t even feel,” @MattInformed said on X.com (formerly known as Twitter).

    This sort of seismic tumult isn’t an uncommon occurrence in this region, however.

    “In this particular area where [the earth’s] crust itself is hotter than average, we get these pretty active sequences where we see lots and lots of aftershocks,” Cochran said. When an earthquake sequence happens, she said, most of the aftershocks are at least one magnitude unit smaller than the first shake.

    Residents close to the epicenter would have felt moderate shaking that “can be pretty frightening for folks who are close by,” Cochran said.

    Nevertheless, little or no damage is expected from that level of shaking. No damage or injuries were reported in the hours after the quakes started.

    During the last earthquake sequence in the area, in 2021, the main shock was a magnitude 5 temblor, Cochran said.





    Karen Garcia

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  • What are cluster munitions? Here’s what the U.S. is giving to Ukraine, and why it’s so controversial.

    What are cluster munitions? Here’s what the U.S. is giving to Ukraine, and why it’s so controversial.

    The Biden administration on Friday said that the U.S. will supply cluster munitions to Ukraine in a controversial move defended by a top official.

    Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national-security adviser, told reporters at the White House that the Ukrainians need the weapons to defend their country in the conflict with Russia.

    “We will not leave Ukraine defenseless at any point in this conflict,” he said.

    What are cluster munitions? These weapons, sometimes also called cluster bombs, open in the air and send down smaller bombs that scatter across landscapes.

    They are controversial because those “bomblets” disperse over a large area. And the Biden administration’s decision comes amid concern that those smaller bombs can cause civilian casualties.

    But the Pentagon will provide munitions that have a reduced “dud rate,” the Associated Press reported, meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths.

    Sullivan said Ukraine has committed to demining efforts after the conflict ends to lessen any potential future harm to civilians — in other words, finding any unexploded rounds and safely removing them.

    And U.S. officials have said that Russian forces are already using cluster munitions on the battlefield, including in populated civilian areas.

    Russia has not signed on to a treaty banning the use of the weapons, and neither has the U.S. or Ukraine. More than 100 other nations have banned the use of cluster munitions, however.

    Sullivan described the decision as difficult, and one that the U.S. had deferred.

    “It’s a decision that required a real hard look at the potential harm to civilians,” he said. “And when we put all of that together, there was a unanimous recommendation from the national-security team, and President Biden ultimately decided, in consultation with allies and partners and in consultation with members of Congress, to move forward on this strategy.”

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