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
Notes from a Plaintiff’s Attorney: Legal Issues When Dating Patients
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
Physician Report Cards: Can Chance Alone Make You Look Like a Killer
In our data driven word, you know what’s around the corner. Report cards for doctors based on clinical outcomes. But, statistics is a funny thing. Michael Blastland, a journalist with BBC, made precisely this point with his Go Figure Chance Calculator. His premise: … Read more
The Lilliputian Influence of CV Surgeon Report Cards on Referrals by Cardiologists
The holy grail for bean counters who focus on healthcare quality are tools for patients to help them find the best doctors. The argument goes: transparency will help drive quality initiatives; the data will help patients find the better doctors. The process took off … Read more
Sometimes You Settle a Case; Then You Get Sued Again. Crap.
We learned of a case where a patient was injured at a hospital. The treating doctor and the hospital were sued. Doctor decided to settle for policy limits – $1M. He believes he got out early and can sit on the sidelines. He reasonably believes … Read more
Johns Hopkins to Pay $190 Million to Settle Claims Gynecologist Secretly Videoed Patients
Dr. Nikita Levy was a gynecologist affiliated with Johns Hopkins. He secretly photographed and videotaped women’s bodies in the examining room. When I say secretly, I mean without their knowledge or consent. Dr. Levy apparently wore a pen-like camera around his neck to accomplish the … Read more
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