August 26, 2010
In 2005, a mere six states required HAI (hospital-acquired infection) reporting. Today, 27 states have adopted laws requiring hospitals and nursing homes to report instances of infection involving patients. Pennsylvania was one of the first states to recognize the importance of such reporting and adopted the practice in 2007. There are a lot of reasons […]
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August 25, 2010
For 11 years, the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI) has worked hard to improve patient safety in southwestern Pennsylvania. Taking the stance that good healthcare should be a local initiative and not just a federal one, doctors, community leaders and others have come together to decrease hospital negligence and medical errors. Despite their local focus, […]
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August 22, 2010
In Nevada, and 30 other states, medical malpractice caps limit the amount of money a hospital and doctors will be forced to pay out in non-economic damages. One of the most contentious topics at play in the healthcare debate, med mal caps have been touted by opposing sides as both necessary and egregious. Since the […]
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August 18, 2010
Medical malpractice is in the hot seat again this week on the Pittsburgh Medical Malpractice Blog. As discussed last week, roughly 25 percent of America’s healthcare costs arise from completely preventable medical errors. This number is based on empirical research, hard data collected by the hospitals themselves. The problem is that, many times, injured patients have […]
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August 13, 2010
Could Tylenol use increase your child’s chance of developing asthma? A study by Dr. Richard Beasley, from the Medical Research Institute or New Zealand, seems to point towards that conclusion, though more focused studies will likely be necessary before a definitive yea or nay can be produced. The study involved more than 300,000 children between the ages of […]
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August 11, 2010
The Society of Actuaries recently released the results of a study aimed at uncovering the total cost of preventable medical errors nationwide. The results were incredible. In 2008, medical errors cost the United States’ economy an estimated $19.5 billion, and that is only the cost of medical errors that were measurable. In the same year, […]
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August 6, 2010
A Pennsylvania man is suing the Charleston Area Medical Center, in West Virginia, as well as Drs Molly John and Brandon Kyle Robinson for a wound that became infected following treatment at the hospital last July. The West Virginia University Medical Corporation was also named in the malpractice lawsuit. It started on a camping trip. […]
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August 2, 2010
In an opinion piece last month, Lawrence J. McQuillan opined that Pennsylvania might add tens of thousands of jobs to its economy if the state would just limit medical malpractice liability for doctors and hospitals. The director of business and economic studies at the Pacific Research Institute in California, McQuillan claimed that Pennsylvania “practiced the […]
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