Articles Posted in Medical Negligence

Insurance Journal reports that a Kentucky jury has sided with a physician who is alleged to have amputated a portion of his patient’s penis without the patient’s consent.

The article states that "[t]he doctor said he decided to amputate less than an inch of the penis after he found potentially deadly cancer during surgery in 2007. The rest of the penis was taken off later by another doctor.  [The defendant doctor] testified that when he cut the foreskin, the tip of the penis had the appearance of rotten cauliflower, indicating cancer. A pathologist later testified that tests confirmed the diagnosis."

The plaintiff argued that the doctor should have allowed the patient to wake up from the procedure and determine whether he wanted the amputation.   He alleged that he only gave consent for a circumcision.   He also alleged negligence in performing the procedure.

Max Kennerly has  a great post on a study on medical malpractice that was recently published in the NEJM.  Read it here.

Are you more likely to get hurt in the hospital in July?  This article from the New York Times says "yes," if you are in a teaching hospital.

The Times  article references to a paper published earlier this month in Annals of Internal Medicine,.  The paper examines previous studies of the "July effect," and while the analysis found inconsistencies among nearly 40 studies examined, the data produced by the largest and best-designed ones indicated that patient death rates in teaching hospitals increase by 8 percent in July.  Those studies also reported longer hospital stays, more drawn-out procedures and higher hospital charges in July, when 20 to 30 percent of the more experienced doctors-in-training leave and a class of newly minted doctors starts working at teaching hospitals.

Those of us who do medical negligence work know that this article makes sense.  The massive shift of medical students and residents in our teaching hospitals every July 1 is bound to lead to errors.

The Doctors Company, a professional liability insurer for physicians, has a "Knowledge Center" on its website that contains lots of useful information.

Here is a great example.  In "Telephone Safety and Patient Triage,"  the writer explains that "implementing an effective telephone triage system in the office practice can improve physician-patient communication, confidence, service, satisfaction, and care. It can also reduce emergency department visits while ensuring access to the appropriate level of care. Telephone triage, which is just one of the ways that telemedicine is practiced, has its own risks."

The paper has some excellent recommendations for physicians on how to establish a safe and effective way to communicate with patients over the telephone.

"Death by Medicine" is a report by  Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD. 

The report reveals that "that the total number of deaths caused by conventional medicine is an astounding 783,936 per year. It is now evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the US. (By contrast, the number of deaths attributable to heart disease in 2001 was 699,697, while the number of deaths attributable to cancer was 553,251."

The report explains that

State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company (SVMIC) had another outstanding year in 2010.  Here are some highlights from its "2010 Report to Policyholders:"

• Surplus (think: net worth) increased almost 20% to $444 million, up from $364 million in 2009.
• Earned premiums dropped to $218 million, due to a significant rate reduction (average:  23%) and a decrease in the number of policyholders secondary to increased competition in the marketplace.
• Despite a decrease in earned premiums of over 15% (totaling over $43M),  post-tax net income declined only a little over $4M to $67,668,000.
• Profits as a percentage of revenue were extraordinarily high, at over 25%. 
• The unpaid loss and loss adjustment expense reserve actually dropped for 2010, a very unusual result.
• On February 22, 2011, the company declared another $20M dividend to its policyholders.  This will decrease rates by an average of about 9%.  This follows a dividend of $20M in 2010.

SVMIC’s 2011-12 rate filing will be available shortly and, I predict, will show further rate declines.

Of course, the tort reform measures virtually certain to be enacted into law in the next couple weeks will further enhance this company’s profits.  

A new study reveals that as many as 75 percent of hospital tests are not followed up and this failure can have serious consequences for patients, including delayed or missed diagnoses and even death.

The study is a "study of studies,"  and looked at 12 international studies.  The work showed that between 1% and 75% of tests run on ER patients were not followed up after the patients were discharged. For inpatient tests the rate was 20% to 65%.

The study is  published in the Feb. 8 edition of the journal BMJ Quality and Safety.