I’m sitting on a cross-country flight to California with utmost respect for the professionalism of the crew, especially considering my life will be in their hands for the next 6 hours. Despite understanding the physics, I am still amazed by flight, and even more so by the coordination required to manage the logistics of shuttling so many people and their luggage around the world.
As health care leaders apply a business …
Avoiding medicine’s Boeing 737 Max
“In a case that could have wide-reaching implications for medical practice in Minnesota, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued a ruling on April 17 in the case of Warren v. Dinter holding that the existence of a physician-patient relationship is not a prerequisite for a medical malpractice action. Rather, a person may sue a physician for malpractice – even if that person was not a patient of the physician – if the harm …
How a Minnesota Supreme Court decision could affect curbside consults
Twenty years of defending doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases has made me into a nervous patient. When you see the worst, you look for it. At least I do. That’s why when I was scheduled for a minor elective procedure, I was nervous. I set aside the day, canceling all of my depositions and planning to spend the day on emails and phone calls. My specialist’s office texted …
3 tips from an attorney to avoid a medical malpractice lawsuit
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated shortly after liftoff, resulting in the death of the entire seven-person crew. The subsequent investigation revealed that a joint in the right solid rocket booster failed during liftoff, which occurred due to the inadequacy of the O-ring seals. It was about 28-degrees on the morning of the space shuttle launch, and the O-ring seals were not designed to perform at such …
What do the Challenger disaster and medicine have in common?
A New Mexico woman, suffering from Dercum’s disease (adiposis dolorosa) which causes painful fatty tumors, is suing a Santa Fe hospital and an emergency physician claiming she was the victim of two negligent acts in 2016.
One, according to the Albuquerque Journal, she told hospital personnel she was allergic to Dilaudid but went into cardiac arrest after receiving an injection of the drug.
Two, despite the presence of a lawfully …
A patient sues when a DNR is ignored
An excerpt from Wrongful Deaths.
“We will name Memorial Hospital, Dr. Julie Stone, Dr. Vijay Gupta, and ICU nurse Tracy Miller in a malpractice suit involving the wrongful death of Ivy Jackson.” Venjer appeared apologetic. “But Dr. Torrins is correct. It …
A proximate cause of wrongful death
I’m struggling — truly struggling. This year has been beyond hard. I honestly never thought this time last year that I would be in this predicament. Things were good, I had a great job, and I was working on our fixing up our dream retirement home. We had great vacations every year. Yes, the home remodel wasn’t quite on track, but we were making progress. But then, my world fell …
A bad outcome changed this physician’s life
The medicine I practiced between 1974 to 1992 is gone. Evidence is the coin of the realm in the courts of modern medicine. The rule “first, do no harm” demands a corollary — be paranoid.
We receive extensive training and licensure to “touch” patients. Any person who is not a physician who cuts into another person commits a very serious crime. The same is true for merely talking with a person, …
Care but don’t touch: Being wise in the modern era
I do not feel that I truly survived my lawsuit. Sure, I am alive, but the emotional toll it took on me during the four years that we co-existed was tremendous. That being said, I do feel that it taught me several things that may be helpful to others.
My lawsuit occurred very early in my career. The series of events that led up to it happened when I was a …
How to survive a medical liability lawsuit
In July, 2009, the family of Massachusetts teenager Yarushka Rivera went to their local Walgreens to pick up Topomax, an anti-seizure drug that had been keeping her epilepsy in check for years. Rivera had insurance coverage through MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid insurance program for low-income children, and never ran into obstacles obtaining this life-saving medication.
But in July of 2009, she turned 19, and when, shortly after her birthday, her family …
When should insurance companies be held responsible for medical malpractice?
What is evidence? How do we gather evidence of patient harm? More importantly, what is the evidence that counts?
A research paper dating back to 2004 suggests that besides research evidence, clinical and patient experiences, as well as contextual information also constitute evidence. However, the only currency of science is data collected through systematic and rigorous research.
But when it comes to the business of medical error, Read more…
The currency of science and the value of stories
Several years ago, a colleague of mine did a procedure on my daughter. What was supposed to be routine has become a nightmare for her. When he saw her post-op, he told her she was fine. Because of this obfuscation, years went by before she really understood how damaged she was. By then, the statute of limitations had lapsed and she had no recourse.
Still seeking closure on this disaster, my daughter …
Doctors are conditioned to deny
The vast majority of births and deliveries are joyful ones. Families celebrate the wonder of the new addition to their families, and clinicians go home at the end of the day with a sense of pride, deriving meaning from their professional lives. This is one of the reasons that many of us chose obstetrics in the first place.
But unfortunately, that is not always the case.
As an obstetrician, I know firsthand …
When outcomes are tragic, doctors suffer too
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Nothing troubles physicians more than an unforeseen outcome and a malpractice lawsuit. It cracks open self-doubts and assumptions about medicine and may be life-changing.
It commonly fuels burnout, loss of confidence, PTSD and early retirement. And there are links to depression and physician suicide.
There’s another side to this story, though. Like all of life’s great challenges, a patient’s unexpected loss, and professional litigation present us with huge opportunities for growth.
I am …
5 ways to live through medical malpractice lawsuits
A single error oft inters the good that doctors do. The case of Dr. Hadiza Bawa-Garba, a trainee pediatrician in the NHS convicted for homicide for the death of a child from sepsis and hounded by the General Medical Council is every junior doctor’s primal fear.
A boy in shock
Friday, February 18th, 2011 was not a typically unusual day in a British hospital. Dr. Bawa-Garba had recently returned from a 13-month …
Dr. Pramela Ganji had just finished her lunch when she was told that the appellate court had reversed and vacated her conviction. At first, she didn’t believe it.
After all, this whole experience had been surreal. Dr. Ganji, a 68-year-old well-respected medical doctor and married mother of 3 children, had practiced medicine for 40 years without incident. Her patients loved her, and she had dedicated her life to helping others. …
The unjust prosecution of physicians is not unique
There are a lot of TV commercials for structured settlement companies these days. You know, the companies that say if you are cash-strapped but have a structured settlement they will be happy to buy your settlement and give you “cash now.” Some of the commercials are quite clever and catchy featuring everything from operettas to boy bands. After seeing so many of these, one has to conclude that there has …
Structured settlements are ruining patients’ lives
From the earliest days on the clinical wards, everyone probably worked with a senior physician who knew how to game the system. It might be doing a rigid sigmoidoscopy on admission for every patient who had a rectum — something not the standard of care forty years ago. Or maybe it was accepting a pharmaceutical company subsidized tax-deductible junket under the guise of CME at a place with sparkling white …
The accused physicians who are my colleagues
I was a chubby kid, but my parents still introduced me to lots of sports. Soccer, swimming, tennis, basketball; so many sports, when all I wanted to do was read and eat Doritos. I wasn’t particularly good at any of them, but some of my teams were better than good. We were champs. My swim team won the Cape Cod Summer League, my soccer team won its division one year, …
The key to health care is to have a great team
Long ago, I represented a doctor who was … difficult. He was a phenomenal surgeon, world famous in his field, but he was not warm and fuzzy — not even close. Cold and hard were more his speed. We spent two weeks together, on trial in city hall. It takes about two years from the time a case is filed to the time the case goes to court. During that …
Could being vulnerable lead to better health?
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