Medical Justice Blog

We spend our careers caring for our patients and providing for our families. But how often do we stop to protect what we’ve earned? Not enough – which is a problem. It’s much easier to protect what you’ve earned than to earn it again. And … Read more

Comedy is when you fall through an open manhole.  Tragedy is when I fall through an open manhole.  It’s an old joke and a helpful segue to understanding dark humor in the medical community. Physicians see a lot of desperate and hopeless situations. We have to deliver bad news. Sometimes frequently.  Gallows humor is … Read more

  Platforms like Google, Healthgrades, Vitals, and Yelp present the public with information. Information about their health, information about their potential physicians, and information about their local healthcare systems. These platforms exist to educate the public. Overall, they succeed.   Unfortunately, their popularity has increased the … Read more

We received a call from a dentist in the Midwest. A week earlier someone called for an appointment. He wanted a run of the mill check-up. First available appointment was Friday at 4PM. Just before closing. In the waiting room, the patient appeared morbidly obese. … Read more

The FDA regulates drugs and devices to make sure they are safe and effective for their intended use. Its regulatory authority to achieve that goal is broad.  For years, the FDA took the position that it did not have authority to regulate drugs used for executions – … Read more

If a dog bites a man, that is not newsworthy. When a man bites a dog, it makes news. A patient sues a doctor. Not newsworthy. Doctor sues a patient. That’s a headline. Dr. Leonard Hochstein, star of the reality TV series “The Real Housewives … Read more

Casey Smitherman is superintendent of a small school district in the Midwest. The town, Elwood, Indiana, has 8,500 people and struggles with serious poverty. Many of its students do not have adequate resources.   Ms. Smitherman had helped a specific student in the past, buying clothes for him and helping clean his … Read more

I had never heard of the phrase “serial malpracticer.” It seems to apply to Dr. Spyros Panos, an orthopaedic surgeon who surrendered his medical license six years ago. An arbitrator awarded $140 million to resolve 255 medical malpractice lawsuits in New York. Dr. Panos refused consent to settle. His carrier, MLMIC, … Read more