Category Archives: Medical Malpractice

Hospital Fights Claims of Unnecessary Stents

Written On August 31, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Here’s an interesting story out of Baltimore — a hospital admitted that one of its cardiologists unnecessarily placed stents in hundreds of heart patients. But now that some of those patients have retained lawyers, the hospital seems to be changing its story and may deny any negligence. At first thought you might say, so what [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Compatibility of Hospital Tubes Creates Danger for Patients

Written On August 26, 2010 By Bob Kraft

I just wrote yesterday about hospital errors causing injuries and deaths needlessly. Now an article from the New York Times brings up a point that most hospital patients would never even consider — you can die because a nurse or aide hooks up your feeding tube to your medication IV, or vice-versa. The article is [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Preventable Errors Killed 32 Patients in Oregon Hospitals Last Year

Written On August 25, 2010 By Bob Kraft

This article from OregonLive.com is specific to Oregon, but I have no doubt that it would apply to the entire country, probably in proportion to the number of hospital beds in each state.
Hospitals are trying to improve their safety records, partly because of the work of medical malpractice trial lawyers, partly because of high insurance [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Study Puts Cost of Medical Errors At $19.5 Billion

Written On August 16, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Medical errors and the problems they can cause — including bed sores, post-op infections and implant or device complications — cost the U.S. economy $19.5 billion in 2008, according to the Health Blog of the Wall Street Journal, which cited a recent study by the Society of Actuaries based on insurance claims data. Here are excerpts [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

FDA Moves Toward Tighter Medical Device Oversight

Written On August 5, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Food and Drug Administration has sometimes been a bit lax on regulation of medical devices, partly due to policy decisions and partly due to a lack of manpower at the agency. That situation may change soon, according to an Associated Press article. Here are excerpts:
Makers of X-ray machines, drug pumps and other medical devices [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Product Liability or Medical Devices

A Prescription for Malpractice

Written On June 23, 2010 By Bob Kraft

An interesting editorial on possible solutions for the “medical malpractice crisis” was featured on the Web site of the New York Times Union. The short article mentions several experiments to be tried in New York City:
The search for a solution to the high cost of medical malpractice has long been like a murder mystery — [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Dispute Between Surgeon and Device Maker Shows Lack of Safety Measures

Written On June 22, 2010 By Bob Kraft

On the front page of its Sunday Business section, the New York Times described the falling out between Dr. Richard A. Berger, who “designed surgical tools and artificial joints for Zimmer Holdings,” and the company. The Times noted that this “breakup…highlights what experts say is a troubling situation for patients and doctors: when disputes arise about [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Grants Aim to Reduce Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Written On June 18, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Wall Street Journal reports that the federal government is ready to begin $25 million in grants, as promised by President Obama, that seek to reduce medical malpractice claims by a variety of methods. Here are excerpts from the article:
During last year’s health debate, Republicans criticized the president for not addressing the rising cost of [...]

Posted in Government, Medical Malpractice

Medicaid Fraud by Doctors and Nursing Homes

Written On June 3, 2010 By Bob Kraft

This story about doctors and nursing homes committing Medicaid fraud and abusing helpless patients involves facilities in Illinois. I hope the same thing isn’t happening in Texas. It’s really sad and disgusting. Here is the beginning of an article in the Chicago Tribune:
Dr. Roland Borrasi chuckled as he told three doctors how he used kickbacks [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Medical Malpractice

Texas Agencies Promise Reform After Alleged Abuse at Veterans Nursing Homes

Written On May 19, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Three state agencies have pledged to improve responses to abuse allegations at nursing homes, after legislators raised pointed questions about safety and management at two state-owned facilities for veterans. That is the story published recently in the Dallas Morning News. Here are excerpts:
One of the main changes is for the state agency in charge of [...]

Posted in Government, Medical Malpractice, Veterans Benefits

VA Limits Surgeries at Some Hospitals After Deaths

Written On May 13, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Because of an alarming report of deaths during or after surgeries at one VA hospital in Illinois, the Veterans Affairs Department is limiting the types of surgeries performed at some of its hospitals.
The VA has now given each hospital a “surgical complexity” level. Because of that, hospitals in at least five states will now perform [...]

Posted in Government, Medical Malpractice, Veterans Benefits

Despite Federal Law, Many Hospitals Aren’t Reporting Disciplinary Actions

Written On April 26, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The consumer organization Public Citizen has issued a report stating that hospitals and medical boards, contrary to the federal law of the past 20 years, are not reporting all the doctors they discipline for medical incompetence, unprofessional conduct, substandard care, etc. These reports are supposed to be made to the National Practitioner Data Bank. Here are [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Safer Patients Mean Fewer Malpractice Suits

Written On April 20, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Could it really be this simple? If doctors and hospitals quit making so many medical errors there would be a decrease in the number of medical malpractice lawsuits? Wouldn’t this solution be much better for society than artificial caps on damages for the victims of medical malpractice?
An article in HealthDay says that as medical errors [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Texas Lags Behind Most States in Disciplining Doctors

Written On April 14, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Texas Medical Board is less likely than those in other states to revoke doctors’ licenses or take other serious disciplinary action, according to a report released this month by the consumer organization Public Citizen.
Texas ranked 38th among boards in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in taking serious disciplinary action against doctors [...]

Posted in Government, Medical Malpractice

Report: Congress Should Focus on Curtailing Medical Errors, Not Patients’ Rights

Written On March 9, 2010 By Bob Kraft

According to an update of the National Practitioner Data Bank released recently, fewer medical malpractice payments were made on behalf of doctors in 2009 than any other year on record. This contradicts claims by some that medical malpractice litigation is to blame for rising health care costs. Last year was the fifth consecutive year the [...]

Posted in Insurance Information, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Poor Ratings for 20% of U.S. Nursing Homes

Written On March 8, 2010 By Bob Kraft

As reported by USA Today one in five of the nation’s 15,700 nursing homes have consistently received poor ratings for overall quality, an analysis of new government data finds. More than a quarter-million patients live in homes given another set of low scores within the past year, according to data released by Medicare, which first released [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Medical Malpractice

Warning: Hospitals May Be Hazardous To Your Health

Written On February 24, 2010 By Bob Kraft

An estimated 48,000 people died in 2006 after developing sepsis or pneumonia during their hospital stays, according to a study published in this week’s edition of Archives of Internal Medicine. Such infections forced patients to spend an extra 2.3 million days in the hospital and cost $8.1 billion to treat, the study found. This was [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Texas Medical Malpractice Suits Have Almost Disappeared

Written On February 11, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a short, “in-your-face” statement about medical malpractice in Texas by Ms. Joanne Doroshow, Executive Director of the Center for Justice & Democracy:

No offense to my GOP friends and their one big health care idea – i.e., “tort reform” — but who wants to walk into a hospital these days knowing that there is [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Mediators Object to Texas Law on Patient Billing Disputes

Written On January 27, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Dallas Morning News reports that a Texas law that allows patients “to see a mediator for…unexpected hospital bills” requires the intermediary to “decide whether a physician or hospital is acting in ‘bad faith’ during the mediation process.” But, “the law is vague on what constitutes bad faith, mediators say,” so they “are reluctant to participate.” [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

“Tort Reform” Won’t Fix Health Care

Written On December 22, 2009 By Bob Kraft

In an op-ed article in the Baltimore Sun, attorney Wayne M. Willoughby makes a convincing argument that “tort reform” is not the solution to high healthcare costs. Here are excerpts from the article:
For months now, national Republicans and their media supporters have attempted to divert the health care debate away from improving access to quality [...]

Posted in Health Insurance, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform