Seattle Personal Injury Law Blog

Hidradenitis suppurativa, or HS, is a painful and progressive skin disease that afflicts approximately 1 in 100 people. Although it is not classified as a rare disease, people in Washington suffering from the skin lesions and boils associated with HS will likely encounter physicians who do not recognize the disease. A survey of patients showed that 64% of them had to see five or more physicians before an accurate HS diagnosis occurred. The mean amount of time that people spent struggling with HS before diagnosis equaled 10 years.

No skin or blood tests exist that can detect HS. The diagnosis of the condition is dependent on physicians recognizing the disease during a physical exam. Too often, physicians assume that the hard, puss-filled or bleeding lesions are basic abscesses. They drain the boils and prescribe antibiotics but sometimes fail to advise patients to seek follow-up care.

Every year, some 12 million Americans are incorrectly diagnosed by a doctor, and bad judgment is behind much of it. One study analyzed 55,377 medical malpractice claims and found that 86% were due to errors in judgment. Washington residents should know that these errors can stem from gaps in the doctor's knowledge, inattention and, perhaps most crucially, implicit bias.

For example, there is a 9% chance that stroke patients will be misdiagnosed in the ER. However, patients between 18 and 45 years old are 700 times more likely than a 75-year-old patient to be misdiagnosed. In addition, women are about 30% more likely to have their stroke misdiagnosed. With regard to other conditions, women are often mistakenly thought of as having anxiety if the symptoms do not fit familiar patterns.

At least 166 children have been sexually abused by Catholic priests in Colorado since 1950, according to a report released on Oct. 23. The findings were the culmination of a seven-month investigation funded by an anonymous donor and conducted by a former Colorado U.S. attorney.

The 263-page report alleges that a total of 43 Catholic priests abused children in the state over the past 69 years. However, most of the abuse was committed by five individuals. The report claims that 90 children were molested by just three priests in the Denver archdiocese alone. In addition, it says that it took an average of nearly 20 years for the church to intervene and remove a priest after learning of abuse allegations. It further claims that the church only reported 10 of the 100 sexual abuse instances it knew of since 1950.

A 34-year-old Washington man has been accused of raping and sending sexually suggestive messages to a teenage girl who viewed him as a father figure. According to court documents, the Sultan resident worked as a corrections officer and volunteered at an elementary school at the time of the alleged incidents. He is also said to have once served as a PTA president and Girl Scout leader. He was taken into custody on Oct. 8.

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office began an investigation into the man's alleged activities after the victim's mother reported finding sexually explicit messages on social media. The SCSO says the man and the girl communicated with each other on Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram over a period of about two years. The intimate relationship is alleged to have begun in 2017 when the girl was 13 years old. Prosecutors say the man met the girl while doing volunteer work for the Girl Scouts in 2015.