Two companies have settled with the New York Attorney General’s Office after being accused of paying consumers for positive reviews by agreeing to increase their transparency and pay a total of $175,000. MedRite Care, LLC, a medical emergency care service, paid thousands of dollars to Internet advertising companies and freelance writers over a two-year period … Read more
I am frequently invited to speak to medical students and residents. I’m often the first person to introduce them to the wonderful world of medico-legal headaches. It’s a topic they typically don’t think about while they’re studying and training. Why? It’s hard enough learning the Kreb’s cycle, the anatomy of the brachial plexus, and how … Read more
If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of Progress? Congress. It’s an old joke, but, what exactly did Congress just do? By unanimous consent, it passed the Consumer Review Freedom Act (H.R. 5111). As of this writing at year end, it still needs to be signed by the President. But, there’s … Read more
“No good deed goes unpunished” is an aphorism attributed to more than one origin -Oscar Wilde and Clare Booth Luce. The origin may be a mystery. Its meaning to an Iowa anesthesiologist is not. An obstetrician performed a C-section on a patient who was 35 weeks pregnant. The patient had persistent vaginal bleeding, so the … Read more
The vast majority of doctors wake up every morning intending to do the best possible job for their patients. It’s in our DNA. If and when a patient experiences a complication, no one beats us up harder than we do ourselves. It gnaws at us. We’ll remember it. We hope never to repeat that outcome. … Read more
The office staff of Medical Justice member received an unexpected call the other day. A lawyer said he represented the estate of the practice’s recently deceased patient. The lawyer just wanted to ask the doctor a few questions. No other context. Zip. Nada. First, a doctor cannot just speak with a lawyer who just happens … Read more
Medical license renewals have morphed over time to be quite involved. The Board of Medicine is charged with keeping the public safe. This includes making sure that licensees have no medical or mental health conditions which, with or without treatment, could impact taking care of patients. In a prototypical renewal form, the following question was … Read more
Not all medical and dental procedures are completed in one setting. They are staged. A common example is a patient needs new teeth. Impressions are taken. Temporaries are placed. The lab fashions the new implants. They are placed down the road. Patients often pay upfront for the bundled procedures. And the work is front-loaded. The … Read more
The reasonable interpretation of language in an insurance policy dictates its coverage. Sometimes the definition of a word can cost a carrier or an insured millions, if not billions. When the World Trade Towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack in 2001, there were a number of insurers who covered the risk for damage to … Read more
When I was a resident, we had a weekly Morbidity and Mortality Conference. That was the euphemism for what most called it, Death and Donuts. That moniker was not meant to be disrespectful. It was merely an acknowledgement that death did happen at the hospital. High risk procedures were indeed risky. And a normal part … Read more
