You know that patient safety is not a priority in a hospital when your state regulatory agency orders that cameras be installed in your operating rooms. Rhode Island Hospital has had five wrong-site surgeries since 2007. Here is how the AP described the last incident: The latest incident last month…
The Commercial Appeal wrote an interesting story on medical malpractice litigation in today’s paper. Read it here. An excerpt: Nationwide, the number of payments physicians made for malpractice claims fell to 11,037 last year — the lowest figure since the National Practitioner Data Bank began tracking data in 1990. Adjusted…
Every day, more than 5 Tennesseans die as a result of medical malpractice. How do I know such a thing? Simple math. The Institute of Medicine has reported that 98,000 people a year die from medical malpractice. Think about it: the death rate from medical malpractice is the equivalent of…
A couple of months ago I filed an application with the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys seeking board certification in medical malpractice cases. I have been board certified as a civil trial specialist for over 15 years. In fact, several years ago I served as President of the National Board…
Yes, handoffs occur in football. But they also occur in healthcare, when one professional transfers the responsibility for caring for a patient to another provider. Here is how The Doctor’s Company explains handoffs when talking about hospitalists: The primary objective of a handoff is to provide accurate information about a…
This column from the Business Section of today’s Los Angeles Times attacks the myth that restriction of the rights of patients to hold health care providers responsible for harming patients must be a part of national healthcare reform. An excerpt: Every circus needs a sideshow, which must be why every time…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that a plaintiff who lost a medical malpractice case in federal court was not estopped from pursing a case against a State-employed doctor even though the federal court jury assigned no fault to the doctor, a non-party in the federal court action. An excerpt:…
The Washington Supreme Court has struck down the filing of a certificate of merit in medical malpractice cases in Washington state. The certificate is required by RCW 7.70.150. The opinion said that the statute was unconstitutional because it violated the separation of powers between the Legislature and the Judiciary and…
A reader sent me an article in September – October 2009 issue of Harvard Magazine that discusses the work of Dr. Atul Gawande. Dr. Gawande is very interested in patient safety. One of his interests is the use of medical checklists, a subject I have addressed in a previous post. Apparently, …
Post 15 addresses the changes to Tennessee law concerning the proper way to give notice to potential defendants in medical malpractice cases and the changes in the law concerning the certificate of good faith. I have addressed this legislation in several other posts (here is a post with a complete…