As Kevin Pho pointed out in his piece, “How malpractice hurts doctors and their future patients,” physicians who have been through trial are often never quite the same.
Physicians who have been sued in medical malpractice case are often referred to as the “Second Victim,” a term that says it all. When a mistake is made and a patient is injured, the physician also suffers, often in silence and …
The Golden Moment in medical malpractice
by Eric Marcotte, MD
Associated Press health writer Marilynn Marchione recently reported on the rapid growth of so-called “fix-me-it is” in orthopedic surgery. Healthier and younger than the typical patients undergoing joint replacement, Baby Boomers are driving the next big wave of joint replacements in medicine.
This is definitely welcome news for Zimmer, Biomet, and our other fine biomedical companies here in Indiana. Whether this …
Baby Boomers are driving the next wave of joint replacements in medicine
A Florida study assessed the rate of needle versus surgical breast biopsies over a period of five years.
What we’re talking about here are non-palpable abnormalities that are identified on screening mammography. A mammogram report will come back that assesses the relative risk of an abnormal collection of calcifications harboring an invasive or pre-invasive cancer (staged on a scale from I-V). With such data, one is obligated, …
Why private practice surgeons perform more open breast biopsies
As far back in history as in the day of Hippocrates of Cos, often referred to as the father of Western medicine, 460 BC – 370 BC, a physician was viewed in a paternalistic manner, one in which a physician’s opinion(s) were simply just believed and their recommendation(s) were followed without question. The prevailing culture was definitely one of passive, submissive acceptance.
Although there will more likely than not always be …
Reasons behind the image mutation of physicians
Recently I was interviewed by a reporter about the effects of the newest baby monitors on parent-child relationships. A teddy bear with a camera in its nose hooks up to a TV, allowing parents to watch their baby’s every move.
One product called an exmobaby is actually worn against the baby’s skin and measures heart rate and respirations. A CEO of …
Baby monitors abuse the vulnerability of parents for profit
by Aroop Mangalik, MD
A man has lung cancer that has spread to the brain. The cancer in the brain has been growing despite full dose radiation. His lungs have failed and he has been on a respirator for 10 days with progressive worsening of lung function.
Despite multiple discussions between the doctors and the Intensive Care Unit’s team …
Why families and advocacy groups accept the torture of dying patients
Dear “Robin,”
Nothing in my career in medicine has prepared me for being a friend to someone with such a terrible disease. As a doctor I dispense advice on a daily basis, but those interactions remain strangely impersonal. With you, cancer has invaded our inner circle, and we all share your shock and despair.
No one can know exactly what it feels like …
A doctor’s letter to a patient with newly diagnosed cancer
Hospital costs are out of control. We have an aging population living longer with more complicated presentation of disease. We have an insurance driven platform instead of a health driven accountability. The long term sustainability of that architecture is one of guaranteed insolvency.
One way or another hospitals are going to find their lifeline cut off. Medicaid is bankrupt. Hospital profit margins …
Prices should be readily available to save hospitals money
What is wrong with the state of Texas? Have they no heart? Why is it that at the time of fiscal crisis, it’s always the “little” people whose services are eliminated first?
The “little” people in this case would be babies who are either born sick or premature. The New York Times article, In Search of Cuts, Health Officials Question NICU Overuse, was shocking. The Texas state officials have …
Budget cuts to NICU admissions will have a ripple effect
Regardless of the method of reimbursement, the importance and relevance of increases in local market demand for health care services, such demand being the major economic factor that creates opportunities for business growth, is often under-appreciated by busy physician practices.
The trigger for adding a physician to a practice is typically either a response to being unable to sustain the current workload with existing personnel or a desire to proactively add …
Market demands determine whether to add physicians to a medical practice
An interview by Curaspan Health Group with Mark Lachs, MD
Mark Lachs, MD, MPH, geriatrics physician, professor, researcher and author of the new book, Treat Me, Not My Age, says one of the hottest new areas of research is care transitions. He warns that there’s a growing disconnect between hospitals and post-acute providers.
Curaspan: …
The growing disconnect between hospitals and post-acute providers
Today, healthcare is criticized by the public as too high on technology and too low in touch. Computers take patients histories, provide differential diagnoses, and even supply educational materials to patients. A new specialty, tele-medicine, offers healthcare services to rural areas that were previously underserved or couldn’t afford the latest diagnostic technology.
A humorous story about technology occurred when a patient’s secretary called to say that her boss was too …
Patients could use more group hugs from their doctors
A physician or nurse who receives a Summons and Complaint regarding a medical malpractice suit also receives pointers about whom to talk to, what to say, what not to say, and whom not to talk to. Despite some emphatic precautions, the appropriate advice to those malpractice defendants is not strictly “shut up and lawyer up.”
To help defendant clinicians cope, the answer …
Emotionally supporting physicians sued for malpractice
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by Diane Shannon, MD, MPH
Errors in communication are widely recognized as an important cause of adverse events in health care. In 2010, communication problems were the most commonly cited root cause of sentinel events, according to data reported to the Joint Commission.
In fact, communication issues were identified as a root cause of two thirds of all the sentinel …
Closing communication gaps between providers
Are you having a boy or girl? This is one of the standard questions people ask a pregnant lady. Everyone asks. It has become a kind of conversation starter. It’s not that the stranger in the grocery store really cares, but it just seems like natural thing to say. It’s part of the standard questions we ask pregnant women. How far along are you? Is there just one? When are …
Finding out the gender of your baby during pregnancy, or not
I’ve heard some physicians wonder out loud if their career has been “wasted” – either because they were on a path that wasn’t a good fit or they spent years focusing on accumulating and worrying rather than on contributing and enjoying. The question is one of personal value: Am I measuring up? And by whose metrics?
How do you measure the value of your physician career? Dollars earned? Lives saved? Honors …
What will be your legacy as a physician?
Part three of the three-part series, Let’s Pay Popular People More!
Perhaps you remember Sam, the chronic inebriate whose story I shared to discuss the pitfalls of basing doctor pay on patient satisfaction surveys.
Looking at his discharge papers, I wondered who helped Sam fill his survey out, and how much their “help” affected the results.
After all, millions upon millions of dollars are already now at stake for …
Why popularity based payment for doctors is not the answer
As I was getting my daily fix of ESPN recently, something a bit different than the routine scores and highlights came across my TV.
Two very talented men, both potentially bound for NFL stardom, were showcasing their talents for scouts, coaches, recruiters, and reporters – a panel of judges if you will. Although these players have certainly proved their talents in the past, these workouts will likely determine which player an …
What the physician hiring process can learn from the NFL draft
The following deceptive advertisement appeared in my church’s bulletin yesterday:
Life Line Screening, the nation’s leading provider of preventive health screenings, will offer their affordable, non-invasive, painless health screenings [in the church cafeteria] on April 9th. Five screenings will be offered that scan for potential health problems related to: blocked arteries, which is a leading cause of stroke; abdominal aortic aneurysms, which can lead to a ruptured aorta; hardening of the …
Examining the evidence behind a community health screening
I find that it takes more effort for me to talk patients out of doing tests than it takes to get them to submit. It doesn’t seem like it should be that way:
I need you to undergo a test where you fast for 12 hours, show up to the hospital 3 hours before the sun comes up, strip down and slide into a breezy hospital …
Talking patients out of doing tests takes effort and time
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