We search the web every day for interesting, relevant or unusual stories that would be of interest to physicians or could have an impact on their practices. This headline caught our eye;
Guess the Verdict to Support Your Favorite Charity
A New York personal injury law firm is running a contest – they give you the description of an actual personal injury or malpractice case and you guess the settlement. The closest guess to the actual settlement wins an iPad2.
Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq. Several years ago, the National Federation of the Blind filed a suit against the retail store, Target. The issue centered around Target’s website allegedly not being compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corp., 452 F. Supp. 2d 946 (N.D. Cal. 2006) challenged if … Read more
Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS It’s a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water. ~ Franklin P. Jones It’s almost irresistible. A prospective patient comes to your office. The prospect says her friend just had surgery performed by your competitor. The prospect asks you about the … Read more
Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS
A lot has been said and written about defensive medicine. Some pundits have stated, “If I’m a patient, I want you to practice defensive medicine.”
This is where the misunderstanding begins. There is universal agreement that doctors should do what is reasonable to keep patients safe. Period. Doctors agree. As do patients and attorneys.
But, defensive medicine is different. Defensive medicine has a different purpose. It includes tests, referrals, and procedures focused primarily on keeping doctors out of the courtroom.
Some will argue “Wait a minute. Shouldn’t a doctor do everything possible to prevent a problem?” Here’s where an analogy helps.
Don’t Let Another April 15th Be Rainy for You: 4 Tax-Saving Ideas You Can Do Now
David B. Mandell, JD, MBA; Jason M. O’Dell, CWM; Carole Foos, CPA
As a physician, do you realize that – between income, capital gains, Medicare, self-employment and other taxes, you spend 40 to 50% of your working hours laboring for the IRS and your state? That is a lot of time with patients for someone else’s benefit. Given the significance of this fact, shouldn’t your advisors be giving you creative ways to legally reduce your tax liabilities? How many tax-reducing ideas does your CPA regularly provide you? If you are like most physicians, you probably get very few tax planning ideas from your advisors.
Given these sobering facts, the purpose of this article is to show you five ways to potentially save and possibly motivate you to investigate these planning concepts now, before the end of the year. Let’s examine them now:
Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq.
Several weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Missouri reinstated the wrongful death claim against a spine surgeon. The case involves a patient that committed suicide allegedly because of the pain cause by spinal surgery. The patient first underwent surgery in January 2005, to correct the curvature of his spine. Unhappy with the results of the procedure, the patient and his wife filed a medical malpractice action in July of 2005. In March of 2006, the patient committed suicide, leaving his wife and daughter to amend the medical malpractice action into a wrongful death action.
We recently returned from a meeting that included business advisors to doctors. One advisor stated that what we do impacts a trend that has made her particularly sad. This woman, in her 60’s, said she sees residents and fellows graduate from their programs, armed with the latest life-saving techniques, excited to “save the world.” Invariably, … Read more
Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS
When times are challenging, you must spend your money wisely. A Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation doctor recently posed this question on a physician social networking site.
Had professional liability coverage with his carrier for 21 months. Now moving to another state to work for the federal government. Worked at a chiropractor’s office – saw about 25 patients. Then opened a solo practice – saw about 120 patients: mostly worker’s comp or personal injury cases.
The carrier wants $12k for tail coverage. “I can’t think of any patient that would have a reason to sue me, but you never know…. Am I taking too much of a risk?”
The answer:
Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS
The race to the bottom is accelerating. A new web site recently came to our attention. (We aren’t naming the site because we don’t want to direct any more traffic to the site than it deserves, which is ZERO. So we shall refer to it as thesitethatdeservesnottobenamed.)
One of our dentist members received an email from thesitethatdeservesnottobenamed bringing a post on that site to his attention. How thesitethatdeservesnottobenamed got the doctor’s email address is anyone’s guess.
OK. The details.
The close relationship between Americans and “the neighborhood doctor” is a strong piece of American mythology. People implicitly trust physicians to use their specialized training to make decisions patients may not fully understand, but always trust. At least, that’s the way things used to be. These days, the atmosphere has changed for the worse; some patients no longer trust physicians and physicians sometimes resent their patients. The question is: why?
