Category Archives: Medical Malpractice

Nurse Understaffing Results in Higher Patient Death Risk

Written On May 20, 2013 By Bob Kraft

This guest post is from Ms. Katherine Laramie, a freelance writer who lives in Orlando, Florida. In 2000, there were 2.4 million deaths in the United States as reported by the National Center for Health Statistics. But in 2010 there were 2.5 million. According to the CDC, about one-third of these deaths occurred in short-stay, general hospitals. [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

New Study: Tort Reform Has Not Reduced Health Care Costs in Texas

Written On May 14, 2013 By Bob Kraft

More than a decade ago thousands of consumer lawyers in Texas spent countless hours and a huge amount of money trying to warn voters that the “tort reform” bill passed by the legislature would NOT reduce medical costs but would only reduce patients’ rights. Study after study has confirmed our position. Now one more has [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Chiropractors Are Under a Duty to Disclose Possible Risks of Treatment to Their Patients

Written On April 22, 2013 By Bob Kraft

This guest post is by Todd Carter, Staff Writer for Michael J. Brennan’s Law Blog. A reasonable person should know the possible risks in the treatment or surgical procedure in order to make a decision to give or withhold the consent to the treatment or surgical procedure. If the physician or healthcare provider is negligent [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Oklahoma Dentist’s Poor Sterilization Has 7,000 Patients Urged to Test for HIV and Hepatitis

Written On April 4, 2013 By Bob Kraft

Yuck! Be careful out there. ABC World News reported in its lead segment, “A trip to the dentist creating a frightening prospect for 7,000 people in Tulsa, Oklahoma. People urged to get tested for a host of serious diseases, including HIV, Hepatitis.” ABC (Wright) added, “Dr. W. Scott Harrington has been practicing oral surgery for [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Surgeons Left at Least 4,857 Objects in Patients Over the Past Two Decades

Written On March 25, 2013 By Bob Kraft

That headline might come as a shock to people who don’t follow medical malpractice news. But an article in the Washington Post details the findings of the journal Surgery. Here are excerpts from the newspaper article: They sound like some of the worst mistakes a surgeon could make: Leaving an instrument inside a patient. Operating [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Hospitals Work on Reducing Number of Surgical Errors

Written On March 20, 2013 By Bob Kraft

In continuing coverage, the Los Angeles Times reports that “surgical errors have attracted widespread attention over the past several years, leading to new laws and policies. In 2007, California started requiring hospitals to report certain errors and fining them if the mistakes killed or seriously injured patients.” Approximately 2,000 patients nationwide report surgeons leaving materials inside them [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Is “Defensive Medicine” Really a Problem?

Written On March 18, 2013 By Bob Kraft

Iowa Congressman and attorney Bruce Braley recently sent a letter to the Center for American Progress contesting a report the Center had published. The report mentioned the “problem” of defensive medicine. Congressman Braley deftly rebutted the article in his letter, which is excerpted below. All of this came from an e-mail to me from the congressman. [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

U.S. Supreme Court Considers How Much States Can Reclaim From Medical Malpractice Settlements

Written On March 5, 2013 By Bob Kraft

McClatchy reports Supreme Court justices seem “genuinely split over when and how states can take a share of medical malpractice payments awarded Medicaid beneficiaries.” The case involves a 13-year-old North Carolina girl who has been “profoundly disabled since an allegedly botched caesarian-section delivery,” resulting in “diagnosis of cerebral palsy.” The court’s answer, “expected in June, will [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Medical Malpractice

Increasing Use of Technological Devices and the Link to Medical Malpractice Claims

Written On January 21, 2013 By Bob Kraft

This guest post is from Abby Pearson. As patients seeking medical care for illnesses and injuries, we have to trust that our doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals will provide the appropriate and necessary care to protect our health and well-being. Because these professionals are required to go to school for many years and have [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Are Hospitals Less Safe Than We Think?

Written On December 27, 2012 By Bob Kraft

Bad doctors. Prescription errors. Surgical slips. Medical mistakes injure or kill hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. Why patients are kept in the dark. When I was a medical student, modern medicine began to seem as dangerous and dishonest as it was miraculous and precise. The defining moment came when I saw a sweet [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Nursing Home Negligence Has Less Consequence in Texas than Other States

Written On November 28, 2012 By Bob Kraft

2012 Long Term Care General Liability and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis is the terribly boring title of a recent report by Aon Risk Solutions. The report is written from the point of view of risk managers and insurance companies that have an interest in keeping the liability losses of facilities such as nursing homes as low [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Protect Patients’ Rights, Protect Patients’ Lives

Written On November 7, 2012 By Bob Kraft

My friend Mary Alice McLarty is president of the American Association for Justice and a partner in McLarty Pope LLP in Dallas. She practices personal injury and civil trial law, concentrating on catastrophic injury cases. She wrote an opinion piece recently, and has graciously agreed that I can use it as a guest post on this blog. Eliminating [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Study: Restricting Physician Accountability Bad for Patients

Written On October 18, 2012 By Bob Kraft

The consumer protection organization Texas Watch continues to be the best advocate in Texas for the rights of medical patients. Here is a recent article from their site: Here’s a shocking conclusion from a new academic study into the impact of restricting medical liability: Patients harmed by medical negligence can’t access the legal system. Okay, not so [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Does Tort Reform Affect Physician Supply — Evidence From Texas Says No

Written On September 18, 2012 By Bob Kraft

An extensive academic study was performed recently, and the conclusion was that medical malpractice “tort reform” does not increase the supply of physicians, as usually claimed by proponents. The study is, as you would expect from professors, dense and somewhat difficult to read. Here are the first few paragraphs, and the entire study can be [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Medical Conference Session Says Malpractice Not the Cause of Unnecessary Care

Written On September 13, 2012 By Bob Kraft

At a conference attended by dozens of doctors, the message of one panel discussion might have seemed out of place: Medical malpractice is not a primary culprit in the rising cost of medical care. That was the opening sentence of an article in the Boston Globe recently. The article goes on to describe a talk [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

PISSD in the UK — Personal Injury from Past to Present

Written On September 4, 2012 By Bob Kraft

I always think it’s interesting to get a legal perspective from my English friend Jim Loxley of My Compensation, a personal injury compensation specialist based in London. This is his latest guest post: Most developed countries these days have got some kind of system in place to allow justice to be afforded to those in difficult financial [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Product Liability or Medical Devices, Tort Reform, Vehicle Law or News

Featured Link — Ataxic Cerebral Palsy Help

Written On August 15, 2012 By Bob Kraft

Here is a good site for those seeking information about ataxic cerebral palsy. This description is from the site: Ataxic Cerebral Palsy, also known as Ataxic CP, can be caused by a several factors. As with most forms of cerebral palsy, it is usually brought on by brain damage during pregnancy, delivery, or even after birth. Although [...]

Posted in Featured Link, Medical and Health Resources, Medical Malpractice

Disability Clinical Negligence Rife in the UK’s NHS

Written On July 31, 2012 By Bob Kraft

This guest post is from my English friend Mr. Jim Loxley of My Compensation, who is getting as frustrated as I am about the state of affairs for injured and disabled people in both our countries. As somebody who deals with disability discrimination cases, the topic of this blog really struck a chord with me when I [...]

Posted in Disability, Medical Malpractice, Social Security Disability

Sad Commentary On Patient Rights In Texas

Written On July 18, 2012 By Bob Kraft

What does it say about the patient protection laws in Texas when a Kentucky corporation that owns 21 skilled nursing facilities in that state is willing to transfer ownership to a Texas corporation just so they don’t have to worry about being sued for negligence? The company, Extendicare, says that “tort reform” laws in Kentucky [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

New Study: Tort Reform Has Not Reduced Health Care Costs In Texas

Written On July 2, 2012 By Bob Kraft

I’ve written dozens of times about tort reform in Texas and elsewhere, and how the entire premise is flawed. These new laws always benefit insurance companies at the expense of consumers. But because insurance companies can donate huge amounts of money to politicians, and individual consumers cannot, the laws keep coming. And this is despite [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform