Above the Fold demonstrates the extraordinary power of contemporary origami. Paper is transformed
into breathtaking sculpture, large-scale installations and conceptual works that express social, political,
and aesthetic ideas by visionary master folders from around the world.
Above the Fold is curated by Meher McArthur and tour organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.
Image Credit: Yuko Nishimura, Shine (detail), 2008, Washi (kyokushi). Photo courtesy of the artist.
Tarpon Arts 2018-19 Season Finale!
The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra
Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, 324 Pine St.
727.942.5605 | TarponArts.p org
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JULY/AUGUST 2019 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 67
LAARWT
Attorney Jack Gordon
EMERGENCY
ROOM ERROR
By Jack Gordon
Contrary to popular belief (and
popular television shows),
physicians can rarely provide
an exact diagnosis upon first
examination. Rather, doctors must
learn about your condition by gathering
information from what you tell them,
from their physical examinations of your
body, and from the results of laboratory
and diagnostic tests. Doctors then create
a list called a “differential diagnosis,”
which is essentially a list of the possible
conditions from which you MIGHT
be suffering. By carefully considering
the totality of factors and information,
and by ordering proper diagnostics,
physicians typically eliminate those
maladies that you are not suffering from
on the differential diagnosis list. This
process of elimination ideally leads to an
accurate diagnosis of your condition so
that proper treatment can be provided.
Malpractice can occur when doctors
fail to include potential illnesses in
their differential diagnoses. Consider a
patient who presents to the emergency
room complaining of shortness of
breath, congestion and cough. The
doctor concludes it’s a case of seasonal
allergies. He prescribes decongestants
and discharges the patient without
further tests.
But this patient isn’t merely suffering
from allergies. Had this patient properly
undergone X-ray, the film would have
demonstrated significant pulmonary
infiltrates. The X-ray would have
enabled the doctor to appreciate that the
patient was suffering from a virulent
type of bacterial pneumonia and
required immediate hospitalization,
administration of intravenous antibiotics
and respiratory support. Instead, this
patient dies because the emergency room
physician failed to include pneumonia
within the differential diagnosis.
Emergency room error is medical
malpractice. 9
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeffrey “Jack” Gordon,
a board certified civil trial lawyer in Tampa,
can be contacted at (813) 221-1366, or at
FightNegligence.com.