Healthcare Reform - Medical Justice

Notes from a Plaintiff’s Attorney: Medicolegal Issues in Treating Minors – Part 2

August 15, 2024February 13, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

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.

We previously addressed who can determine treatment for the minor patient (addressed her in Part 1). We now move to confidentiality / records access issues for the minor patient in Part 2.

Confidentiality issues and access to records.

Notes from a Plaintiff’s Attorney: Medicolegal Issues in Treating Minors – Part 1

August 15, 2024February 6, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

The pitfalls in treating minors tend to fall into two areas: who can determine treatment for the minor patient (addressed here in Part 1); and confidentiality / records access issues (which will be addressed later in Part 2).

I. Treatment decisions.

Notes From a Plaintiff’s Attorney: Medical Malpractice Versus Criminal Negligence

August 15, 2024January 30, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

A physician recently asked about the following case: a midwife committed serious, wrongful acts in the care of a patient in premature labor with twins. The patient was initially discouraged from going to the hospital; a naturopathic doctor at the midwife’s birthing center was not competent to treat the labor medically; an outside midwife recommended the patient be transferred to the hospital but the patient was again discouraged from doing so; there was no equipment to resuscitate one twin born at the birthing center; and CPR was applied incompetently. That twin later died. The midwife also lied to paramedics about the mother’s care and tried to conceal that the mother was, in fact, still in the birthing center, was still laboring and was bleeding profusely. The midwife was charged with manslaughter for the death of the twin delivered at her facility.

Notes From a Plaintiff’s Attorney: Avoiding Liability Involving Autopsies

August 15, 2024January 23, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

We continue with our series of articles penned by one attorney, an MD, JD, giving you a view of the world through a malpractice plaintiff attorney’s eyes. In this article, the author addresses “Avoiding liability involving autopsies.” 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.

I. Forensic autopsies

State and municipal law mandate autopsies in cases of “unnatural” deaths. These include the death of any person not under a doctor’s care and will always include cases that appear to be homicide, suicide or accident.

Notes From a Plaintiff’s Attorney: Legal Issues When Patients Offer You a Gift

August 15, 2024January 16, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Whether you can accept a gift from a patient is fundamentally a matter of ethics. But fiduciary violations can result in discipline for misconduct. And patients and estates of deceased patients can sue for the return of what was gifted. So, when accepting a patient’s gift, it’s important to keep basic legal issues in mind.

As a fundamental matter, the doctor-patient relationship imposes unique professional boundaries and gifting to doctors by patients blurs those.

Jim Morrison Had a Will When He Died. Do You?

August 15, 2024January 9, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

The other night, I was channel surfing and started watching a documentary on Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors. He died at the age of 27 in a Paris hotel room. No autopsy was performed. Morrison struggled with alcohol abuse. Many accounts noted he was snorting heroin close to the time of his death. While he made a number of choices that hindered longevity, he did have a will.

The will stated his entire estate would pass to his girlfriend Pamela Courson, provided she survived him by 3 months. If she didn’t, his estate would pass to his brother and sister.

Two serious physicians in medical gear with their arms crossed

Hepatitis C Drug Pricing – Let the Games Begin

September 17, 2024January 9, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Gilead Sciences had a banner year. Its blockbuster drug to cure hepatitis C, Sovaldi, had sales of $8.5 billion through third quarter this year. This is the most successful pharmaceutical launch ever. The retail cost for Sovaldi is $84,000 for a 12 week regimen – or about $1,000 per pill.

Shotgun Law-Suits: Coming to California in 2015

August 15, 2024January 2, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

California implemented substantive tort reform in the 1970s. The cap on non-economic damages (pain and suffering) has held firm at $250,000 since. And, compared to the rest of the country, professional liability premiums in California have remained “reasonable.”

Last year, enterprising lawyers spearheaded a referendum, Proposition 46, to overturn these caps. The Proposition was labeled Drug and Alcohol testing of Doctors. Medical Negligence Lawsuits. The marketing pitch behind the proposition was clever – pilots and bus drivers are randomly tested for drugs and alcohol. Surely, this list should include physicians. (Buried in the Proposition was– “hey, by the way, let’s raise the cap on non-economic damages.”) The measure failed. For now, there is no state mandated random drug and alcohol testing for doctors. And, the cap on non-economic damages continues at $250k.

Health Sharing Ministries – An Alternative to Traditional Expensive Health Insurance

August 15, 2024January 2, 2015 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Many Americans purchase individual policies from health insurance carriers. Since the advent of the Affordable Care Act, the marketplace for such policies has changed. If you purchased an individual policy issued before 2010, and you maintained that policy in place, you are “grandfathered in.” You can continue to purchase that policy – provided the carrier still sells the plan. Whether or not the carrier still sells that flavor depends upon the policy’s profitability.

Senator (Dr.) Tom Coburn and Sham “Peer Review”

August 15, 2024December 24, 2014 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

60 Minutes recently featured a story on Senator Tom Coburn. He’s an ~~ob-gyn~~ family physician from Oklahoma who also delivered babies. He vowed to serve only two terms. He intended to be a citizen-legislator and return to full-time medical practice upon retirement from the Senate.

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