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 13 years prior to having her face decorated against her will.
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 fully competent to sew it up. Further, you will document the encounter and keep a record, as required by your Board of Medicine.
Side distraction. Every state has different policies vis a vis treating family members. This blog post doesn’t touch on that topic. And, in this blog post, it is reasonably assumed that your judgment will not be clouded by your emotional attachment to a family member.
Now that Mom is all sewn up, can you send a claim to Medicare?
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 stay out of harm’s way. While I do not necessarily agree with 100% of the details of every article, I think the messages are salient, on target, and fully relevant. Please give us your feedback – and let us know if you find the series helpful.
The following questions came from a hand surgeon. They address situations that might arise when he is on-call at his local community hospital. These questions encapsulate issues that may affect anyone who consults to emergency rooms.
Let’s have a look:
1. I am on-call for hand surgery. A patient comes to the ER for a hand issue that the ER either treats or stabilizes. The ER physician gives them my name for follow-up, but no appointment is made. No contact is made from the ER to me. What are my duties to the patient and my potential liabilities?
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 stay out of harm’s way. While I do not necessarily agree with 100% of the details of every article, I think the messages are salient, on target, and fully relevant. Please give us your feedback – and let us know if you find the series helpful.
Woody Allen notoriously maintained that “The heart wants what it wants.”
Mr. Allen thought that all that mattered when he married his daughter-in-law was his heart. But, from the standpoint of the public, the type of relationship sometimes matters as much as the bond between the two parties.
When there is a personal relationship between a doctor and a patient, society – in the form of state medical boards and the courts – will likely be in the bedroom as well.
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:
“Imagine you are a hospital doctor. Some patients die. But how many is too many before you or your hospital are labeled killers?”
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 in 1986 when the Health Care Financing Administration released report cards of hospital-specific, risk-adjusted mortality rates for coronary artery bypass surgery. In 1991, New York picked up the baton by releasing stats for individual surgeons for risk-adjusted mortality rates for coronary artery bypass surgery. So, this data has been around for over two decades.
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 his involvement in the case is over. And the hospital may be on the hook for a larger sum.
The hospital sues the doctor – arguing that if a jury orders them to pay, they want the doctor’s group to underwrite some of that payment. In other words, they want to be reimbursed some of the money a jury holds them liable.
What happened here?
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 deeds.
In February, 2013, an employee alerted hospital authorities which forced the doctor to turn over his camera. Investigators discovered 1,200 videos and 140 images stored on servers in his home.
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 stay out of harm’s way. While I do not necessarily agree with 100% of the details of every article, I think the messages are salient, on target, and fully relevant. Please give us your feedback – and let us know if you find the series helpful.
Dirty Harry said, “A man’s got to know his limitations.”
The best general medico-legal advice is to do nothing that is not fully within your technical and knowledge comfort zone. When you move outside your specific area of expertise you will be held to the Standard of Care of an experienced and qualified practitioner in the area you have entered.
However, real life as a practicing physician has a tendency to not cooperate with the ideal.
Recently, two physicians raised questions about how to handle moving outside that ideal zone of practice, one in an elective setting and one in an emergency setting.
If you’re like me, you’ve certainly heard of the Make a Wish Foundation. What I did NOT know was the story of the man behind the Foundation – who he is and why he started it. The man is Frank Shankwitz. He was a Arizona Highway Patrol Officer. Frank built the foundation from … Read more
