Handoff Miscommunications Cause Serious Medical Malpractice Injury

Here’s a link to the story on the Journal of Hospital Medicine Story: Study: I-PASS Handoff Program Helps Reduce Patient Harm And here’s a link to a video, links to published opinions, and a description of my experience litigating and trying handoff miscommunication and other incidents of medical malpractice. My Medical Malpractice Experience Page

Something In Our Bloodstream

Ten years ago, 12-year-old Rory Staunton dove for a ball in gym class and scraped his arm. He woke up the next day with a 104-degree Fahrenheit fever, so his parents took him to the pediatrician and eventually the emergency room. It was just the stomach flu, they were told. Three days later, Rory died […]

Hey, Pharma: What if cholesterol is not related to serious heart disease? Would you even tell us?

A BMJ study published in 2015 concluded that High LDL-C is inversely associated with mortality in most people over 60 years. This finding is inconsistent with the cholesterol hypothesis. You can find the BMJ study here: Lack of an association or an inverse association between low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and mortality in the elderly: a systematic review While […]

Candy Stripers

A famous critical care doctor once told me that “they want candy stripers delivering medicine.” That choice of the phrase probably dates both of us, but hopefully, it’s not too prehistoric to make the point. He was griping about what he viewed as an institutional assault on physician judgment and prerogatives. Long after that, I […]

Lee Hospital Patients Are Being Evacuated

Lee Health is evacuating up to 400 patients to hospitals in Collier County because of water pressure losses at two of its campuses. More patients will be transferred in the coming days as beds are found, said Dr. Larry Antonucci, president and chief executive officer of Lee Health. When Lee Health says “campuses” they mean […]

The Loss Or Disruption Of Senses

I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.  Ernest Hemingway Five years ago, I wrote a post about the disorientation caused by the loss of listening and hearing as part of a series on the importance of our five senses. You can find it here. There’s […]

Patient-Care Satisfaction Centered Modeling? Really?

When I represented hospitals, my boss used to stress bedside manner as the most effective risk management. It’s been forty years and the industry is still trying to figure out a way to make that stick. Healthcare is fully embracing the concept of consumerism, and with that comes the need for consumer and patient satisfaction—and […]