Category Archives: 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

Dementia Patients Hospitalized Too Often

Written On January 26, 2011 By Bob Kraft

A disturbing study about the care of dementia patients has been summarized in the New York Times. The bottom line is that many people with dementia are hospitalized unnecessarily. Here are excerpts from the article:
Perhaps no group of nursing home residents is more vulnerable than those with advanced dementia: unable to speak for themselves, suffering [...]

Posted in Medicaid, Medical Malpractice

Surgical Checklists Could Cut Malpractice Claims

Written On January 19, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Our law firm has used checklists for more than 30 years. I can’t imagine doctors and hospitals not using checklists for important procedures and surgeries, but that does happen — all too frequently. Much has been written about this problem. One good article, based on a study in the Netherlands, was on Yahoo News. Here [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Hospitals Should Prevent Sleep-Deprived Doctors from Performing Surgery Elective Surgery

Written On January 4, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Los Angeles Times reports, “Hospitals should not allow surgeons to perform elective procedures on patients if they have been awake the previous night taking calls, a trio of physicians argued in Thursday’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.”
CNN reports, “Absent such policies, sleep-deprived doctors should — at a minimum — tell their [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Editorial: Preventable Medical Mistakes Take Intolerable Toll

Written On December 27, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Preventable hospital negligence and medical malpractice cause far too many patient deaths each year. A recent editorial in USA Today put this in perspective. Here are excerpts:
If a 747 jetliner crashed every day, killing all 500 people aboard, there would be a national uproar over aviation safety and an all-out mobilization to fix the problem. [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Doctor Facing Suits Over Heart Stents Hired as Medical-Device Sales Consultant

Written On December 7, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Wall Street Journal (12/6, Mundy, Burton) reports a Senate investigation of the medical-device industry revealed that Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories hired as a sales advisor Mark Midei, a cardiologist who was banned from a Baltimore hospital for implanting hundreds of heart stents in patients who did not need them. The Monday report is said to [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Study Finds No Progress in Safety at Hospitals

Written On November 29, 2010 By Bob Kraft

We’re not making progress in preventing medical malpractice and hospital negligence, according to a disappointing article last week in the New York Times.  The article presented details from a study conducted in ten North Carolina hospitals, from 2002 to 2007. The bottom line is that harm to patients was common, and the number of incidents [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

About 15% of Medicare Patients Receive Harmful Hospital Care

Written On November 19, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The U.S. Health & Human Services’ inspector general has issued a report stating that 1 in 7 Medicare patients received harmful medical care while in a hospital. This inadequate or negligent care increased the duration of the hospital stays and caused or contributed to the deaths of some patients. And of course this all increased [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Medicare

Questions Raised About Supervision of Resident Doctors at Parkland Hospital

Written On November 16, 2010 By Bob Kraft

As local citizens probably know, the Dallas Morning News has been reporting on unfortunate surgical results at Parkland Hospital. The allegation is that these problems may be partly due to improper supervision of inadequately trained medical students and doctors in residency training. The articles have caught the attention of the American Association for Justice, which [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Genentech Offers Doctors Secret Rebates for Expensive Eye Drug

Written On November 10, 2010 By Bob Kraft

There seems to be no end to stories about drug companies paying doctors to push their products. This one seems especially shocking to me because it is costing both consumers and Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars annually, perhaps needlessly. The manufacturer Genentech has been offering “rebates” to the top 300 dispensers of the very [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Product Liability or Medical Devices

Two Doctors and a Medical Clinic Owner Charged in Patient Recruiting Scam

Written On November 5, 2010 By Bob Kraft

How can anyone, especially well-educated doctors, engage in such shameful conduct as alleged in this case? It just baffles me that some people are so driven by greed that they will cross any legal or moral boundary. I know this is true in the legal profession also, sadly. Apparently not everyone has the morality gene. [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Medicare

Despite Washington State Law, Medical Errors Will Likely Go Unreported

Written On October 18, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently ran an important story about the reporting of hospital errors, and the reasons why the Washington law requiring this reporting is inadequate. Even though the story is specific to Washington state, it has implications for any other states considering a reporting law. The article states the most serious problems with the Washington [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice

Having Surgery in Las Vegas is a Big Gamble

Written On September 22, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Many people consider Las Vegas a great place to take a vacation or attend a conference. After reading an article in the Las Vegas Sun though, I strongly recommend that you not become ill or injured there. Apparently surgical injuries occur at higher rates in Las Vegas than in other parts of the country. This [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform