Two nurses who were fired from their hospital for alerting state authorities to a dangerous doctor have now been fully vindicated — except for one thing. The nurses won a $750,000 settlement of their lawsuit against the Winkler County (Texas) Memorial Hospital and the local authorities who criminally prosecuted them for their complaint to the….
Continue ReadingArchives for August 2010
Colon Cancer: The Best, Safest Way to Get Checked Out — and to Prevent Malpractice
Recent news reports suggest that getting only part of your colon scoped for precancerous lesions might be a good enough way to prevent colon cancer. But the real story is that whatever test you get, there is a wide variation in the quality of the colon examinations that doctors do, and out of hurry or….
Continue ReadingPediatric Malpractice: Real-Life Testimony
Mary Ellen Mannix lost her baby son James to an unexplained event in a hospital intensive care unit. It took persistent digging by her lawyer to work through the cover story of the providers who cared for James. Here is an excerpt from Mary Ellen’s book, “Split the Baby: One Child’s Journey through Medicine and….
Continue ReadingThe Price Tag of Medical Errors: $19.5 Billion per Year in the U.S.
Medical errors and malpractice events cost the U.S. economy $19.5 billion in 2008, according to a recently released study commissioned by the Society of Actuaries. Of the approximately $80 billion in costs associated with medical injuries, about 25% were the result of avoidable medical errors, the study says. Lost productivity due to related short-term disability….
Continue ReadingPrimary care physicians hardest hit by heart attack malpractice suits
Primary care physicians, such as family practitioners and general internists, have the highest number of heart-attack-diagnosis-related malpractice claims and the highest average lawsuit payments of any physician specialty. According to the study by the Physician Insurers Association, which evaluated paid malpractice claims related to heart attacks since January 1985, family physicians faced the highest number….
Continue ReadingEasily Mixed-Up Medication Tubes Cause Patient Deaths and Injuries
For years, patient safety experts have known that medical devices, like tubes that deliver food and drugs to hospitalized patients, need to be designed so that predictable mix-ups don’t hurt patients. If a tube is safe if it goes through the nose to deliver food to the stomach, it should not be possible to hook….
Continue ReadingPatient advocates dispute AMA conclusions on malpractice study
A new study from the American Medical Association about malpractice lawsuits has an eye-catching statistic: Six out of 10 physicians 55 and older have been sued, according to the AMA. But is it really true? “Even though the vast majority of claims are dropped or decided in favor of physicians, the understandable fear of meritless….
Continue ReadingPatients sue less often when hospitals honestly admit errors
Hospitals that want to reduce their exposure to malpractice lawsuits from patients might want to take a hard look at a new study about a radically new strategy: Being honest with patients when errors have happened. The usual hospital strategy in the face of a malpractice event is to deny everything and hope the patient….
Continue Reading“I’m very sorry. What can I do to help?”
That’s all that a sick friend needs to hear from you. Two sentences. Nine words. Too often, what they hear instead is silence — you don’t know what to say, you’re afraid to say the wrong thing, and so the friend winds up feeling abandoned in a time of need. Or, just as bad, friends….
Continue ReadingEnd of Life Care: The Checkbook Is Open
Medical malpractice lawsuits are so frequently blamed for the high cost of medical care that when another, actual cause (not apocryphal, like lawsuits) of expensive medicine comes around, it’s almost hard to believe. Exhibit A: End of Life care. This is the single most expensive segment of Medicare — the last 30 days of someone’s….
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