Medical Malpractice

Published on: November 6, 2013

Medical Malpractice: Alarm Hazards, Infusion Pump Medication Errors, and CT Radiation Exposure in Pediatric Patients are the main Health Technology Hazards for 2014

Here is the 2014 top 10 Health Technology Hazards just released by the ECRI Institute. This list is developed every year and highlights the health technology safety topics that the ECRI Institute’s Health Devices Group believes warrant the most attention for the coming year.

TOP 10 HEALTH TECHNOLOGY HAZARDS FOR 2014

1. Alarm Hazards (click on infographic to enlarge)

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Published on: October 31, 2013

New York Medical Malpractice – Hospital Negligence: a maternity ward worker may have exposed hundred of babies to tuberculosis

By GGCRBHS&M

Babies recently born in St Luke’s Hospital in New York may have been exposed to tuberculosis, a contagious and potentially deadly disease. The negligent hospital began notifying parents yesterday that a maternity ward worker tested positive for tuberculosis and that their babies should be tested for the disease. The hospital did not comment on how far back the exposure spans but the parents who notified NBC 4 New York about the infection gave birth more than two months ago.

Published on: October 31, 2013

Claims related to medical malpractice in outpatient primary care settings are more likely to be settled or result in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff compared with those from other practice settings according to study

By GGCRBHS&M

A recent study looked at the medical malpractice claims of the 2 largest insurance companies in Massachusetts during five years. The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine and led by Doctor Gordon Schiff (Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care) looks at patterns of primary care malpractice types.

During the five years under review there were 7224 medical malpractice claims of which 551 (7.7%) were from primary care practices. Out of these 551 cases, researchers found out that most medical claims were failure to properly diagnose a condition (72.1%). Other malpractice claims were related to medication errors (12.3%), medical treatment errors (7.4%), failures to communicate properly (2.7%), patient rights (2.0%), and patient safety or security(1.5%).

According to the author “many of these claims “appear to be due to failure in more routine yet high volume outpatient office processes”. The study also found some evidence suggesting that “outpatient primary care in general and diagnostic cases in particular were less defensible than other malpractice claims because they were significantly more likely to be settled (35.2% vs 20.5%) or result in a verdict for the plaintiff (1.6% vs 0.9%) compared with non–general medical malpractice claims.

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Published on: October 30, 2013

New York Medical Malpractice: failure to diagnose Diabetes Type 1 leads to the death of a six year old girl

By GGCRBHS&M

The medical malpractice case of 6 year old Claudialee Gomez-Nicanor who died after Dr. Arlene Mercado failed to diagnose her Diabetes Type 1 raises questions about the quality of care for Medicaid patients.

A pediatric endocrinologist treating a Medicaid patient earns $30 a visit while a pediatric endocrinologist treating someone with private insurance gets nearly $100 an hour. So Medicaid providers often have trouble filling their networks with enough doctors who specialize in common issues like diabetes. Patients are sometimes left to the lesser skilled or lesser known-doctors who can’t afford to turn away the business.

You can read the complete story in a very detailed article from the Village Voice.

Published on: October 21, 2013

How to deal with medical errors?

By GGCRBHS&M

After a surgeon realized he operated on the wrong leg of the patient he immediately reported the error to the hospital and offered a thorough apology to the patient. Should he be punished for this medical error?

This was the question asked by The New York Times to its readers in the Sunday Dialogue. Most readers believe he should.

At Gair Gair Conason Steigman Mackauf Bloom and Rubinowitz although we believe that a doctor in such an obvious case of negligence should apologize he should also be held responsible for his glaring error and that the patient should be compensated for the pain and suffering, otherwise unnecessary further medical treatment and loss of income caused by the doctor’s inexcusable negligence. The author states”People in the medical field are well intentioned and feel great distress when they harm patients.” That may be so but it does not compensate the patient for the error. What often happens in these cases is that the doctor’s insurance company puts the patient thru unnecessary litigation rather than settling an obvious case of negligence for fair and adequate compensation.

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Published on: October 18, 2013

Medical Malpractice: To keep its Cath Lab running, a Negligent Hospital paid a high price for an unqualified surgeon who butchered multiple patients and killed one while performing unnecessary stent procedures

By GGCRBHS&M

Medical Malpractice related to Cath Lab procedures are on the rise as overuse of Cardiac Stents lead to an increase of deaths linked to this type of procedure.

In a recent article on Bloomberg, Sydney P. Freedberg, describes the shocking extreme the administrators at Satilla Regional Medical Center in Waycross, Georgia went to in order to keep their cath lab operating and producing revenue.

Because of its remote location, the hospital was unable to attract competent cardiovascular surgeons. In order to keep their cath lab running the administrators paid an extravagant salary to a non qualified surgeon, Dr. Azmat whose only experience with cardiac stents was a two weekend course experimenting on cadavers and pigs.

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Published on: October 15, 2013

New York Medical Malpractice Attorney Jeffrey Bloom to speak at the International Institute for Continuing Medical Education Program”Mt. Sinai Update 2013: Breast Imaging”

By GGCRBHS&M

Jeffrey%20Bloom.jpg Our partner, Jeffrey Bloom, will be speaking tomorrow at the “Mt. Sinai Update 2013: Breast Imaging” program. This program is designed to cover clinical aspects of breast imaging including digital mammography, breast ultrasound, breast MRI, and interventional procedures, as well as medicolegal issues. The faculty consists of twelve nationally and internationally recognized experts. Jeffrey Bloom will be speaking on the subject of Breast Imaging Malpractice and provide a Plaintiff’ Attorney’s Perspective. The complete Agenda can be found here.

Published on: October 10, 2013

Medical Malpractice – Failure to Diagnose a condition: Institute of Medicine (IOM) to undertake a report on Diagnostic Error as part of the “Quality Chasm” Series

By GGCRBHS&M

Diagnostic errors are among the leading causes for Medical Malpractice Claims in the US. They cause personal injury to patients and waste resources.

Recently the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) announced that the Institute Of Medicine (IOM) had accepted the SIDM’s proposal to undertake a report on diagnostic error as the next volume in the Crossing the Quality Chasm series. The “Quality Chasm Series” started in 2000 with the report “To Err is Human”. The publication of this report is often associated with the beginning of the patient safety movement.

Other IOM’s Quality Chasm series includes Health IT and Patient Safety (2012), Preventing Medication Errors (2006), and Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001).

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Published on: September 30, 2013

Medical Malpractice: Surgical Fire

By GGCRBHS&M

Most Surgical Fires result from Medical Malpractice or negligence causing serious injury, disfigurement, and even death. They occur in, on or around a patient who is undergoing a surgical procedure. An estimated 550 to 650 surgical fires occur in the United States per year. Despite the fact that the root causes of surgical fires are well-understood, surgical fires still occur.

To promote actions to reduce the risk of risk of surgical fires.The Preventing Surgical Fires Initiative is celebrating its second anniversary during National Fire Prevention Week, October 6-12, 2013.

Fires happen during surgery because the 3 elements needed to start a fire (fire triangle) are present in an operating room:

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Published on: September 27, 2013

Medical Malpractice – Case and Commentary: preventing errors and adverse outcomes when prescribing opioids

By GGCRBHS&M

Errors when prescribing opioids may constitute medical malpractice that can lead to the death of a patient. In the US, the use of opioids to treat chronic non-cancer pain has increased dramatically in recent years and because of their highly addictive nature, some patients may use prescribed opioids for non-medical purposes increasing their risk for injury or death.

Providers may make multiple errors when prescribing opioids for non-cancer pain. Most common errors are inadequate screening for safe and effective opioid use, inability to monitor adherence, improper selection of opioids and insufficient consideration of co-morbid conditions.

In a recent case study, Web Morbidity and Mortality analyses the case of a 42 year old man who died of an overdose after doctors did not follow appropriate prescription practices.