Category Archives: Medical Malpractice

Strange Bedfellows — Pharmaceutical Companies and Fancy Restaurants

Written On June 23, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Boston Globe ran an interesting article last week detailing how expensive restaurants have banded together to fight for repeal or amendment of a 2008 Massachusetts law banning pharmaceutical companies from giving gifts of $50 or more to doctors. The restaurants say this ban is hurting their business, because the pharmaceutical companies frequently bought expensive [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Political and/or Judicial, Prescription Drug Claims

Over Half of Medical Malpractice Claims Relate to Outpatient Care

Written On June 21, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Wall Street Journal “Health Blog” reported that over half (52%) of malpractice payments made by US physicians involved adverse events related to outpatient care in 2009, according to an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. In an interview, lead study author Dr. Tara Bishop, of Weill Cornell Medical College. told [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Noisy Operating Rooms Linked to Raised Risk of Surgical Site Infection

Written On June 9, 2011 By Bob Kraft

I’ve had several surgeries recently, and a fair number in my lifetime. I’ve worried about almost every aspect of every surgery, but until now I never worried about how much noise was in the operating room. Great — one more thing to worry about for the next surgery…
Here are excerpts from a recent article in [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Medicaid Will No Longer Pay Hospitals for Preventable Illnesses or Injuries

Written On June 8, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The National Journal reports, “Medicaid will no longer pay hospitals or doctors for certain preventable illnesses and injuries, such as operating on the wrong body part, the Health and Human Services Department said Wednesday.” In a statement, Donald Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said, “These steps will encourage health professionals [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Medical Malpractice, Medicare

Prescription Side Effects Causing More Hospitalizations

Written On May 23, 2011 By Bob Kraft

According to the American Medical Association, in an article on their Web site, painkillers are among the top medications sending patients to hospitals. Here are excerpts:
The number of hospitalizations due to medication side effects jumped by more than half between 2004 and 2008, says a federal report that heightened concerns about polypharmacy among an aging U.S. [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Prescription Drug Claims

Medicare Offers Financial Incentives to Hospitals for Improved Care, Error Reduction

Written On May 13, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times reported that the “Obama administration issued a final regulation to reward hospitals that provide high-quality care, the first in a series of steps that are designed to fundamentally transform the way that the federal government pays for healthcare.” Indeed, the practice is “commonplace in many industries,” but “setting quality benchmarks and [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Medicare

Medical Malpractice Reform Said to Increase US Deficit

Written On April 29, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Writing for the Huffington Post, Joanne Doroshow of the Center for Justice and Democracy highlighted a March analysis from the Congressional Budget Office determining that savings from malpractice reforms would be minimal. Doroshow argued that reforms imposed by HR 5, which includes a $250,000 noneconomic damage cap will actually increase the US deficit. According to [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Iowa Surgical Centers Face Little Oversight

Written On April 28, 2011 By Bob Kraft

This story is about Iowa, but it should serve as a warning to everyone that when the government does not regulate healthcare providers, there is a chance that patients will suffer. This article ran in the Des Moines Register recently, and is excerpted here:
Iowa is home to dozens of outpatient surgical centers, but none of [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Medicare Data Reveal Top Safety Issues at Texas Hospitals

Written On April 27, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Houston Chronicle reports, “Allowing the public to see information about mishaps and errors that occur during a patient’s hospital stay has been a contentious issue for hospital personnel, who believe the public could misread it.” Two reports released this month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are the “first to look strictly [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Medicare

Study Finds Surgeons’ Skills Decline the Day After Drinking Alcohol

Written On April 22, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times reported there “are no rules on the amount of alcohol a surgeon may (or may not) consume on the eve of a day in the operating room.” A group of researchers designed an experiment to determine the effect of drinking on a surgeon’s drinking the night before they would perform a [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

HHS Initiative Aims to Reduce Medical Errors and Cut Costs

Written On April 18, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Print media sources widely covered an announcement last week that the Obama Administration was partnering with hospitals, insurers and other groups in order to reduce medical errors. Most sources considered the move a positive for the Administration.
The Los Angeles Times reports, “The Obama administration announced a broad new initiative Tuesday to reduce medical errors, partnering [...]

Posted in Government, Health Insurance, Medicaid, Medical Malpractice, Medicare

CMS Administrator Hopes Hospital Errors Report Will Improve Safety

Written On April 13, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times “Booster Shots” blog reported, “Research published this week in Health Affairs found that as many as one in three admissions have some kind of injury because of medical error, not an underlying condition.” Using a “new way of scanning patient paperwork for notations on problems such as an abnormal lab test, [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Most Medical Errors Are Not Detected, and Cost Billions Each Year

Written On April 12, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Current methods may detect just 10 percent of medical errors.
ABC World News reported that there is “stunning medical news tonight about how many Americans have something go wrong when they go to the hospital. … One in three patients will face a mistake during a hospital stay. Far worse than we’ve ever been told.”
The Los [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

CMS Releases Disturbing Data on Hospital-Acquired Conditions

Written On April 8, 2011 By Bob Kraft

CQ HealthBeat reports, “Federal officials announced Wednesday the release of data allowing consumers to learn how often patients in local hospitals acquire infections, develop bed sores or are harmed by gas or air bubbles entering blood vessels.” Notably, information “on these and other ‘hospital-acquired conditions’ will guide consumers in picking hospitals and prod facilities themselves [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Advocacy group finds 55% of physicians with restricted privileges are not disciplined.

Written On March 17, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Orlando Sentinel reports that for about the past 20 years, “state medical boards responsible for disciplining doctors have failed to punish more than half of those whose hospitals revoked or restricted their privileges, according to a new report released Tuesday” by the group Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. “Altogether, the report says, [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Over 200 Patient Deaths Linked to “Alarm Fatigue”

Written On February 17, 2011 By Bob Kraft

In a front-page story, the Boston Globe reported, “With the use of monitors rising, their beeps can become so relentless, and false alarms so numerous, that nurses become desensitized — sometimes leaving patients to die without anyone rushing to their bedside.” In some cases, busy nurses “have not heard or ignored alarms warning of failing [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

House Malpractice Reform Bill Stalled Over Constitutionality of Damage Caps

Written On February 11, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Hill “Healthwatch” blog reported the House Judiciary Committee “delayed markup of the tort reform bill until next week to consider whether the legislation would clash with state constitutions that forbid medical malpractice caps.” Tea Party Caucus member Rep. Ted Poe objected to the bill because he said malpractice damage caps violate the Constitution.
Modern Healthcare [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Health Tort Reform Sounds Better Than It Is

Written On February 4, 2011 By Bob Kraft

A Daily Kos blog argued against healthcare tort reform proposals, noting medical malpractice’s less than 1.5% of healthcare costs “hardly makes tort reform worthy of the attention it receives for cutting health care costs. Furthermore, tort reform has already been implemented in more than half of the states in some form,” so many states would [...]

Posted in Health Insurance, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Obama Defends Healthcare Law and Claims Flexibility on Malpractice Reform

Written On January 31, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Perhaps Groundhog Day is a good time for a post about a “tort reform” myth that just keeps repeating itself  — that limiting the amount of money seriously injured patients can recover will result in lower medical bills for the rest of us.
The AP reported that President Obama “ridiculed lingering opposition” to his healthcare law [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Trial Lawyers Unhappy With Tort Reform Concessions in State of the Union Speech

Written On January 27, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Hill reports in its “Healthwatch” blog, “President Obama’s State of the Union speech” was “already causing consternation among trial lawyers, half an hour before he even” delivered it. “According to his remarks as prepared for delivery, Obama” planned to “throw a bone to Republicans by vowing to take up medical malpractice reform,” which “usually [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform