The Endless Courthouse Drama When Hospitals Are Determined To Hide Their Policies And Procedures

I posted recently about frivolous defenses and appeals raised by defendants, often because their insurance carriers have the resources to waste time and the incentive to hold on to the money that will eventually be paid to satisfy the claim. When we hear about frivolous claims, it is usually from insurance interests complaining that non-meritorious […]

Surgeon’s Recorded OR Conversation About His Suboxone Prescription Is Admissible

It isn’t easy to develop evidence that your surgeon was under the influence. I know. I’ve done it. In a 49-page opinion comparing the saga to both a traditional opera and a TV soap opera, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Philip J. Ignelzi said that while rival doctors Jonathan D’Cunha and Lara Schaheen […]

Vicarious Liability Quacking Like A Duck

I got nuthin’. Wait … I do. Dear Hospital Counsel – stop litigating this nonsense. “Taking a broader view of the relationship between RMF and Burke, we emphasize that those parties deliberately chose to use the term ’employee’ in their agreement,” the appeals court said. “They could have used the term ‘independent contractor,’ but they […]

Missouri Hospital Keeps Trial Win In Shaken Baby Case

Duty to warn cases are important but the proof can be tricky. At issue on appeal is a jury instruction stating that jurors were to find in favor of the hospital if they determined that Lane’s then-boyfriend, Ben Andrews, had abused Hollis. Read more at: https://www.law360.com/personal-injury-medical-malpractice/articles/1688549?nl_pk=029cff45-637f-44e3-babf-75563f8e0bfd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=personal-injury-medical-malpractice&utm_content=2023-06-14&nlsidx=0&nlaidx=4?copied=1

Hospital Trickle Down

Hospitals can fail their communities when they aren’t run properly. Mismanaged finances can result in poor quality care. Executives and board members of the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn have been accused of conspiring to divert hospital resources into their own pockets at the expense of patient care and community health in a proposed $500 […]

Falls In A Healthcare Setting Can Be Devastating

A three-judge Appeals Court panel reversed a Suffolk County judge’s dismissal of a suit alleging that nurse Orbelina Erazo, physical therapist Lauren O’Hara and their employer, Brigham & Women’s Faulkner Hospital, failed to properly assess the fall risks for patient Elizabeth Owens, which caused her to fall and fracture her hip following hip surgery. Read […]

Hospitals have begun to use the technology to help reduce medical errors and improve patient safety.

Black boxes on airplanes record detailed information about flights. Now, a technology that goes by the same name and captures just about everything that goes on in an operating room during a surgery is making its way into hospitals. Here is the link: Hospital ‘Black Boxes’ Put Surgical Practices Under the Microscope: Hospitals have begun […]

Why We Need A New Category For Medical Safety Devices

I have had the honor to work with many medical experts and engineers responsible for developing important medical equipment, like the Hassan clamp. The Government should properly regulate the products they engineer. … although acute medical care presents myriad risks to patient safety, there is no category for devices designed to preserve that safety. Why […]

Georgetown Study: Medical Malpractice Is Not Random

Physicians with a single paid claim are 4x as likely to have a future claim than physicians with zero paid claims.  We find a similar pattern in both high-risk and lower-risk specialties.  We also find no evidence that public disclosure of paid claims has any impact on these patterns — meaning there is no “blood […]

The Increasing Incidence and Cost of Medical Malpractice

  The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 raised the alarm while calling for urgent action to reduce patient harm in healthcare. The United Nations (UN) specialized agency stated that medical malpractice results in 2.6 million deaths annually. “Most of these deaths are avoidable. The personal, social and economic impact of patient harm leads to […]