Nearly 10 years ago, the National Quality Forum (NQF) published a report, Serious Reportable Events (SREs) in Healthcare. It identified 27 really horrible mistakes occurring in hospitals deemed largely preventable and of concern to both the public and health-care providers. Thanks to their extreme nature, these “adverse events” have come to be known colloquially as….
Continue ReadingBirth Injury
New York creates fund for infants with neurologic damage due to medical errors
As reported in more detail on our child safety blog, New York state has created a new fund to pay medical expenses for infants who suffer brain and nerve damage because of medical malpractice and other medical errors. The fund, which is due to go into effect on Oct. 1, 2011, allows medical costs to….
Continue ReadingTwo malpractice verdicts in two days in Pennsylvania town
Juries in Erie, Pa., last week returned substantial – and in the first case, record – verdicts on consecutive days in favor of the plaintiffs in two malpractices cases. One day after a jury gave $21.6 million – the largest malpractice verdict in the county’s history – to an Erie mother and her son over….
Continue ReadingHospital’s comprehensive obstetrics program cuts malpractice claims by 99%
Anyone who believes it’s inevitable that some babies will get injured during childbirth may have a change of heart after reading how a New York City hospital dramatically cut staff errors and reduced medical malpractice payouts by 99%. In a report published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the head of the obstetrics….
Continue ReadingRepeat Cesarean Sections and Malpractice
Doctors repeatedly blame patients for the high rate of Cesarean sections in this country. As one claimed in today’s New York Times letters column, parents demand “nothing short of a perfect outcome” from childbirth and sue when they don’t get it. The reality is quite different. Here’s what I wrote in a letter published in….
Continue ReadingMalpractice Lawsuit Ends with Safety Improvements by Hospital
A tragic death in Albany, New York proves the power of the civil justice system to spur safety improvements to prevent injury to other patients. In settling out of court a lawsuit for the death of 32-year-old Diane McCabe, who bled to death after a Cesarean section delivery, the Albany Medical Center agreed to fund….
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