Most would agree that the first step towards stopping a problem is admitting that there is one. In many support groups, admittance and acceptance are the first steps new members must take before progressing. It seems that a large number of hospitals could take a cue from these lessons by admitting to medication errors and treatment […]
In the United States, diagnostic error consistently ranks among the leading motivators of medical malpractice claims. Twice as many diagnostic error lawsuits are settled as those involving medication errors and close to 10 percent of autopsies uncover a significant mistake in diagnosis. Still, you don’t hear a lot about diagnostic errors – at least not compared to other, […]
A Florida mother is suing the hospital where she gave birth for assault and battery after hospital staff circumcised her newborn son against her wishes. Already in the neonatal intensive care unit, the baby was taken out to undergo the procedure, which involves an amputation of skin and tissue. The procedure took place even though the mother […]
A judge in Florida recently sued a pair of radiologists and a surgeon for medical malpractice after the trio managed to leave a foot-long sponge inside of him following abdominal surgery. Not only was the sponge a full 12 inches in length, it was also 12 inches wide. Even so, though the judge repeatedly complained of intensifying pain […]
A Minnesota nursing home was cited this week for the death of a resident after it was discovered that a transcription error had prevented the woman from receiving the blood thinner Coumadin. Formerly a victim of repeated strokes, the woman’s condition had been helped greatly by the introduction of the anticoagulant drug. She had been at […]
Taking responsibility for our actions is the key to changing a person or a system. In the health care system, we all should be focused on ways to make the system safe. Any time you mention health care costs the issue becomes political. The focus is never patient safety. In my role as a medical malpractice […]
Last week we learned of an indictment of a hospital worker who allegedly faked negative results for 1,289 mammograms at Perry Hospital in Perry, Georgia. The question we ask is how could a tech be the only person to have looked at the results? What people seem to miss in the health care debate is […]
Hospital negligence has been revealed time and time again as a huge issue, both in regards to patient safety and healthcare costs. While the sheer number of patient injuries resulting from hospital negligence is astounding, the simple precautions needed to prevent a large number of these cases is even more amazing. Take for instance a […]
The cost of defensive medicine, a huge rallying cry in the healthcare debate, is relatively so small that tort reform would only save the United States about .127 percent in medical costs. Capping a patient’s right to file suit following medical malpractice would save several hundred million dollars – but out of a multi-trillion dollar […]
According to “Hot Mama Gossip,” Catherine Zeta Jones is very angry over the length of time it took doctors to diagnose husband Michael Douglas with throat cancer. The cancer, diagnosed less than a month ago, is already at stage four. This means that it has spread far beyond the originally affected area into different parts […]
