Surgical Warranties – Here They Come
It’s common knowledge that the US healthcare system is the priciest in the world. Some healthcare systems are testing new financial models to see if they can squeeze more efficiencies beyond the status quo. Warranties.
First Ebola Death in US. Is the First Ebola Lawsuit Far Behind?
Thomas Duncan returned from Liberia and presented to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with fever and abdominal pain. He was released with symptomatic treatment and returned 3 days later. Sadly, he died of Ebola. The family of the first Ebola victim in the U.S. will … Read more
2,610 Hospitals Just Got Screwed by Medicare
Spare the rod and spoil the child. Medicare fined 2,610 hospitals, a record, for too many re-admissions. Interestingly, the national rate for readmissions is getting lower. Still, last year, 18% of Medicare patients were re-admitted within a month. Medicare believes these re-admissions costs … Read more
Loss of Consortium in Med-Mal Cases for Same-Sex Couples
In a typical medical malpractice case, the patient is the plaintiff, seeking a remedy for the injury caused by the doctor’s negligence. There’s a second type of claim – loss of consortium. Many laypeople narrowly interpret “loss of consortium” as an injury experienced by … Read more
Surgeon Charges $117,000 – and Receives – for Assistant Fee
A couple of weeks ago, my car’s battery died. It was dead-dead. Was never going to take a charge. AAA has a service where they will put in a new battery – instead of just giving you a jump. While the price seemed high- … Read more
Three Steps to Avoid Being Burned by Statistics in the Courtroom
Mark Twain, (and possibly Benjamin Disraeli in England) famously stated “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” I just finished a 9 week MOOC – massive open online course in Medical Statistics offered by Stanford Medical School. The course was … Read more
The “Disruptive” Physician and the New Political Correctness
Guest post by Dr. Michael Rosenblatt. Dr. Rosenblatt is a retired podiatrist on the west coast. Those older physicians reading this certainly know the World has changed, perhaps some of it for the better. If you served your residency years ago you will remember “disruptive” … Read more
File This Under “What Were They Thinking?”
While a patient was under anesthesia, an anesthesiologist allegedly decorated a patient’s face with a fake mustache and fake teardrop under her eye. Then a nurse’s aide snapped a photo. Pretty funny, eh? Well, the patient was a hospital employee who worked there for … Read more
Billing Your Mom: Rules of Medicare
Pop Quiz… Question #1: Your mother is visiting you one weekend evening. She slips in your house. She now has a giant gash in her arm which requires stitches. Neither of you are enthused about spending the evening in an ER when you are … Read more
Understanding duty and liability when you are on-call: Avoiding minefields
We continue with our series of general educational articles penned by one attorney, an MD, JD, giving you a view of the world through a malpractice plaintiff attorney’s eyes. This attorney is a seasoned veteran. The series includes a number of pearls on how to … Read more
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