Malpractice and medical liability

1,592 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 20

Inducing anesthesia on YouTube: How many ways is this wrong?

August 24, 2012Aug 24, 2012

Really, sir. What were you thinking? I’m talking to you—the anesthesia provider (I hate to think that you might be an anesthesiologist) who allowed himself to be videotaped while a patient injected his own induction dose of propofol. Most people…

Really, sir. What were you thinking?

I’m talking to you—the anesthesia provider (I hate to think that you might be an anesthesiologist) who allowed himself to be videotaped while a patient injected his own induction dose of propofol. Most people know something about propofol even if they aren’t in the anesthesia business–that’s the medication that Dr. Conrad Murray gave Michael Jackson to everyone’s sorrow.

I would insert the link here, but the …

Physician voices

Doctors in no win situations: Damned if you do or don’t

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

August 17, 2012Aug 17, 20123

Here’s a little story from the early days of my first job as a chairman of surgery. Shortly after I assumed the role of surgical chairman in a community teaching hospital at the ripe old age of 40 and having…

Here’s a little story from the early days of my first job as a chairman of surgery.

Shortly after I assumed the role of surgical chairman in a community teaching hospital at the ripe old age of 40 and having absolutely no administrative experience, I visited a mentor of mine whom I had known since I was a medical student. He had been serving in a similar role at a larger …

Physician voices

Why always saying yes could be dangerous for you and your patient

Jock Hoffman

August 14, 2012Aug 14, 20123

Encouraging patients to be more engaged, may also encourage more people to go beyond assertive to demanding care unsupported by good clinical judgment. Of course, physicians worry that saying “no” to a patient increases their risk of being disliked, dismissed,…

Greater transparency in health care means patients are more aware of options for screening, testing, procedures, and medications—often via direct advertising or public service campaigns. …

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Physician voices

Is the death of Rory Staunton really the result of a simple mistake?

Skeptical Scalpel, MD

August 8, 2012Aug 8, 20122

If you pay attention at all to news about medicine, you must have heard about the tragic death of a 12-year old boy who was seen and discharged from the emergency department of the prestigious New York University Medical Center. He had developed sepsis from what appears to have been a small cut and the diagnosis was missed. When he eventually returned to the ED and was admitted, it …

Physician voices

Why does fear of litigation turn into preference for action?

Peter Ubel, MD

July 18, 2012Jul 18, 20124

LeBron James exploded past his defender and raced towards the lane. Serge Ibaka, the Thunder’s mountainous center, planted his feet and raised his hands straight up into the air. LeBron ducked his left shoulder and plowed right into Ibaka, who…

Offensive foul?

Maybe if it had been the first quarter. But given that this was the last minutes of a tightly fought game, the referees …

Health policy

The New York medical malpractice crisis: Who’s to blame?

Kevin Pho, MD

July 16, 2012Jul 16, 20126

Is this the endgame for the medical malpractice crisis? A recent cover story in the New York Times describes how some financially struggling hospitals are "going bare," meaning they are partially or completely forgoing malpractice coverage. From an economic standpoint,…

Is this the endgame for the medical malpractice crisis?

A recent cover story in the New York Times describes how some financially struggling hospitals are “going bare,” meaning they are partially or completely forgoing malpractice coverage.

From an economic standpoint, it’s a rational thing to do. Malpractice insurance costs are skyrocketing, forcing these hospitals into uncomfortable choices.

As one administrator bluntly puts …

Health technology

How copy and paste in electronic medical records affects patient care

Elizabeth Hipp

July 1, 2012Jul 1, 201212

With many hospitals and medical providers still in the early adoption stages of EHR, objections or problems with the various systems are still just coming to light. However, one particularly growing concern is providers using the copy-paste or copy-forward function in patient records. This is a shortcut that many physicians have found to be handy after the implementation of the new system, however using it actually can violate patient confidentiality …

Physician voices

The problem of expert witnesses in medical malpractice trials

Jim deMaine, MD

June 28, 2012Jun 28, 201210

I went to court recently sitting quietly in the gallery listening to the testimony of two designated experts who criticized the care of a cardiologist (admired in local medical circles for his brilliance and excellent care of patients). The case on first glance didn’t look very good for this defendant. The patient had presented to the ER with atypical chest pain, was admitted and evaluated with an exercise test and …

Physician voices

James Reason and the foundation of patient safety

Robert Wachter, MD

June 18, 2012Jun 18, 20122

Professor James Reason is the intellectual father of the patient safety field. I remember reading his book Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents in 1999 and having the same feeling that I had when I first donned eyeglasses: I saw…

Professor James Reason is the intellectual father of the patient safety field. I remember reading his book Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents in 1999 and having the same feeling that I had when I first donned eyeglasses: I saw my world anew, in sharper focus.

Reason’s “Swiss cheese” model, in particular – which holds that most errors in complex organizations are caused not so …

Physician voices

Protecting patients by solving the problem of defensive medicine

Ellis Weeker, MD

June 2, 2012Jun 2, 20124

In the United States many people feel it is their God given right to sue anyone, anytime for anything. Whether you are successful or not may be another story. So what are the cost implications for healthcare in the United States? Few other developed countries rely upon this method for resolving malpractice issues. What is the cost-benefit equation? To protect themselves, American physicians practice what is called defensive medicine designed …

Physician voices

How we need to take risk to reduce risk in hospitals

Richard Corder

May 31, 2012May 31, 20129

The show-stopping line from the Hans Christian Anderson’s 1837 fairytale is actually, “But he has nothing on!” A brave, young, clear thinking boy in the crowd is the only person confident enough to say what he thinks and speak up.…

The show-stopping line from the Hans Christian Anderson’s 1837 fairytale is actually, “But he has nothing on!”

A brave, young, clear thinking boy in the crowd is the only person confident enough to say what he thinks and speak up. Perhaps even more simply, the young voice in the crowd has not had the life experience that often builds (and rewards) the filters of loyalty, flattery and only saying and thinking …

Physician voices

What medicine can learn from the Titanic

Rushil Patel

May 26, 2012May 26, 2012

April 15th marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, yet the mystique surrounding its demise has not faded. When the colossal vessel first collided with the iceberg, eyewitness accounts described an eerie sense of serenity that pervaded the ship. Passenger J.J. Astor even remarked, “We are safer here than in that little boat,” before later drowning.

To prefer drowning over safety strike us as irrational, but this behavior …

Health policy

Are the poor more likely to sue their doctors?

Neil Baum, MD

May 26, 2012May 26, 201213

Many physicians, including myself, have the misconception that the indigent patient is more likely to be litigious than those patients with greater financial resources. A well-organized study that was reported in Clinical Orthopeaedics and Related Research reported that socioeconomically disadvantaged…

Many physicians, including myself, have the misconception that the indigent patient is more likely to be litigious than those patients with greater financial resources. A well-organized study that was reported in Clinical Orthopeaedics and Related Research reported that socioeconomically disadvantaged patients tend to sue physicians less often than their more affluent patients.

Dr. Ramon Jimenez and his colleagues at the Monterey Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Institute and his team demonstrated that patients …

Health policy

The scope of the standard of care in medicine has changed

Paul Levy

May 24, 2012May 24, 20126

Malpractice lawsuits are a necessary evil in our society. At times, they are frivolous, often resulting from a patient’s or family’s anger at a result that was not what they had hoped. Some are actually designed just to try to get a financial settlement. When doctors are sued for malpractice, it is a searing process, isolating and painful. I have known several excellent doctors who have given up established practices …

Physician voices

The malpractice risk of volunteer medical coverage at sporting events

Shadowfax, MD

May 16, 2012May 16, 2012

From Outside Online, an article about how physicians are increasingly hesitant to provide volunteer medical coverage at athletic events: "Last year, 13 Americans died during running races, and another eight while competing in triathlons. While those numbers might seem troubling,…

From Outside Online, an article about how physicians are increasingly hesitant to provide volunteer medical coverage at athletic events:

“Last year, 13 Americans died during running races, and another eight while competing in triathlons. While those numbers might seem troubling, the deaths are attributable mostly to the booming popularity of endurance sports—13 million Americans enter running races each year, and 2.3 million compete in triathlons. But the rising participation and the …

Physician voices

When doctors are forced to accept malpractice case settlements

William Sullivan, DO, JD

April 27, 2012Apr 27, 20125

Suppose your malpractice insurance company wants to settle a medical malpractice case against you - even though the case has no merit. In many cases, insurance policy language may allow the insurance company to do just that. In the 2011…

Suppose your malpractice insurance company wants to settle a medical malpractice case against you – even though the case has no merit.

In many cases, insurance policy language may allow the insurance company to do just that.

In the 2011 case of Mohan Papudesu, MD v. Medical Malpractice Joint Underwriting Assn. of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Supreme Court allowed an insurer to settle a case on behalf of the defendant physician …

Physician voices

Lessons learned when a doctor sues an attorney

Neil Baum, MD

April 25, 2012Apr 25, 201211

Several years ago I was hired by a plaintiff's attorney as an expert witness on a personal injury case. He paid the fee in advance but the night before the trial, his co-counsel called me to review the case. It…

Several years ago I was hired by a plaintiff’s attorney as an expert witness on a personal injury case. He paid the fee in advance but the night before the trial, his co-counsel called me to review the case. It was clear that she did not have a thorough understanding of the case and I spent two hours with her on the phone trying to bring her up to speed. …

Health policy

Patients deserve a medical malpractice early offer

Kevin Pho, MD

April 23, 2012Apr 23, 20129

The following column was published on March 25, 2012 in the Nashua Telegraph. Medical malpractice historically has been a contentious issue. Doctors have argued that the system is broken, promotes multi-million dollar awards disproportionate to the injuries suffered, and encourages…

The following column was published on March 25, 2012 in the Nashua Telegraph.

Medical malpractice historically has been a contentious issue. Doctors have argued that the system is broken, promotes multi-million dollar awards disproportionate to the injuries suffered, and encourages the ordering of unnecessary tests to avoid being sued, a practice known as defensive medicine. Trial attorneys, on the other hand, …

Health policy

Improving patient safety in ambulatory care

David B. Nash, MD, MBA

April 3, 2012Apr 3, 2012

Back in 2000, a group of experts convened by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reported that, although substantial medical error and injury was occurring in the ambulatory setting, very little research had been done to understand the…

To address what they recognized as a serious issue, this expert panel made 11 specific recommendations that were intended to stimulate research in this area.

Fast forward to the present …

Malpractice and medical liability

Articles, page 20

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