Without a license to practice medicine or surgery or nursing or whatever, no health care practitioner can touch a patient. So the state licensing boards that issue — and are authorized by law to take away — licenses are important watchdogs for patient safety and accountability. Which is why a year-long investigation by reporter William….
Continue ReadingArchives for December 2010
Mistrial ruled after physician accused of malpractice treats juror in court
An Arkansas medical malpractice lawsuit ended in mistrial in federal court in Jonesboro when the doctor being sued treated an ill juror in the courtroom in front of other jurors. The juror, who was not named, became ill during opening statements of the lawsuit against Dr. Stephen Eichert. The nature of the illness also was….
Continue ReadingRadiation Therapy Malpractice: A Deadly Combination of Errors
Why do patients who need focused, precise doses of radiation get walloped with huge overdoses that cause serious and even fatal injuries? A deadly combination of non-user-friendly radiation equipment, incompatible software when machines from different manufacturers are cobbled together, user error by the technicians administering the radiation, and lax regulation by federal authorities: All these….
Continue ReadingOregon appeals court limits comparative fault defense in malpractice suits
The Oregon Court of Appeals recently reversed a decision by a lower court to reduce a malpractice award because of the plaintiff’s “comparative fault” in the case. In doing so, the court pronounced a new rule that, “as a matter of law, conduct that merely creates the need for medical treament cannot cause the type….
Continue ReadingTexas tort “reform” immunizes ER docs against most malpractice claims
Patients in Texas whose health has been ruined by incompetent decisions by ER physicians are having a hard time finding malpractice attorneys to represent them, even when the lawyers admit they have a great case. The reason: The tort reform state lawmakers passed in 2003, which made it more difficult for patients to win damages….
Continue ReadingWhy Malpractice Still Hurts and Kills So Many Patients
Invisibility, inertia and income. That’s the answer from one health care expert. I’m borrowing this guest column from the blog of the prestigious Health Affairs journal. It’s by Michael Millenson, an expert consultant and author in patient safety. You can read comments from readers and his original article here. A recent front-page article in the….
Continue ReadingUniversity hospitals may not be all that better than community hospitals
With the exception of cancer care, university hospitals generally do not provide higher quality of care than other hospitals, according to a recent study that evaluated data from 118 university hospitals and compared them with data from general, acute and non-federal U.S. hospitals. The study, titled “An Assessment of the Quality of University Hospital Care….
Continue ReadingDefective DePuy Hip Implant Shows Big Hole in Regulatory System
Patients naturally assume that when a sophisticated metal implant like a hip replacement is surgically placed into their bodies, it must have been thoroughly tested before wide use. The now-recalled DePuy ASR hip replacement shows how wrong that assumption is. A medical device manufacturer in the United States can cobble together new components into an….
Continue ReadingNew Study Finds Doctors’ Fear of Lawsuits Is Often Irrational and Misplaced
One reason the medical industry keeps pushing for lawsuit “reforms” is that if it’s harder for patients to sue doctors for malpractice, doctors will then practice less “defensive medicine” and that will save a lot of money with fewer unnecessary tests and treatments. Turns out that theory doesn’t match reality. One main reason, according to….
Continue ReadingLouisiana appeals court rejects malpractice cap in tragic case of child cancer victim
The Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Louisiana has ruled the state’s $500,000 malpractice cap to be unconstitutional. Joe and Helena Oliver had sought relief from the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act, which shrank the damage award their daughter received for disfiguring injuries from $6.2 million to $500,000. Their daughter, Taylor, developed severe injuries after she….
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