You woke up with a pulse today. No matter what else happens, you are off to a good start. The practice of medicine can be frustrating. If all you had to do was make a diagnosis, remove a tumor, or comfort a patient’s family, though still challenging, the job would be easier. Some events give … Read more
Some professional liability carriers are offering discounts to physicians who have implemented electronic medical records (“EMR”). Further, under the stimulus package which was signed into law, doctors who meaningfully use EMR by 2011 will be eligible for federal subsidies up to $44,000 per practitioner. That is a chunk of change.
A number of EMR strategies are competing for acceptance.
Facial Plast Surg Clin N Am May 2010; Page 237 – 244 By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS and Michael Sacopulos, JD Abstract: The use of photography is an integral part of any plastic surgery practice. Photographs are part of the patient’s medical record and thus are covered by both federal and state privacy laws. … Read more
Dermatology Times March 2010, Volume 31, Number 3; Pages 1, 24, 27, 28 Contributor: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS Click here to read the full article
VEIN Magazine Spring 2010 – Volume 3 Issue 2 – p 42, 43 By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS Michael Sacopulos, JD Download legal_consequences_of_physician_employment
The ramifications of the Illinois Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn caps on malpractice suits are clear. Frivolous malpractice suits will increase. Physicians will be discouraged from practicing medicine within that state. And access to health care providers for the people of Illinois will be restricted because off this decision. Medical Malpractice rates will increase, and the costs of healthcare will go back up. Bad as that is, the implications of that decision may be even more devastating.
Our society’s rule is a rule of Law. The Illinois state medical malpractice judgment cap law wasn’t instituted until 2005. There will still be consequences, of course, but it’s within keeping of the separation of powers for a law to be repealed by a Supreme Court shortly after it has been enacted. It’s not a question of whether they can do it, but if they should. It’s still the less than unanimous decision of the IL SC that is overriding the will of their entire legislature, presumably representing the will of the People. One would expect the Supreme Court to tread more lightly, in absence of a matter of prejudice. Yet their decision seems to support prejudice. Jackpot trial lawyers aren’t filing frivolous suits against indigent people. They’re going after doctors, based on the prejudicial (and erroneous) notion that they can afford to be taken to the cleaners. They may claim that it’s protecting the citizen’s right to redress in civil court, but the law didn’t cap the actual total of the suit, only awards for noneconomic damages. $500,000 in cases against doctors and $1 million against hospitals seems more than ample for the patient’s trouble, pain, suffering, etc.
We recently heard from a surgeon who told us about one of his upstanding patients.
The patient wrote a post-dated check for a surgical procedure. Surgery went well. Unbeknownst to the doctor, the patient stopped payment on her check. She followed up in the office the next day for routine post-op evaluation. No problems were noted. The patient was instructed to return at two weeks. She was a no-show. She resurfaced in the emergency room of a hospital 5 weeks post-op with an E.coli wound infection. Anyone have a hypothesis as to how the wound became infected?
Fortunately, the patient recovered with minimal intervention. Several weeks later, an attorney sent a note asking for the records.
Will electronic records raise the legal standard of care and increase malpractice risk? Originally published in HCPLive.com by Robert J. Mintz, JD As EHRs are widely adopted and the quantity of information about a patient expands dramatically, does provider liability increase even if the quality of care is vastly improved? Will electronic records raise the … Read more
OBG Management December 2009 – Volume 21 – Issue 12 – p 21, 22, 23, 27, 28 By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS Michael Sacopulos, JD Download OBGManagement_Dec2009
SurgiStrategies Magazine By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS November 23, 2009 Click here to read the full article
