Legal - Medical Justice

Healthcare Reform in 2009: Just What The Doctor Ordered

August 15, 2024February 9, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

I often attend health policy discussions. I am usually the only physician in the room. My colleagues lament they just do not have time to make their voices heard. As healers, our first duty is to care of the sick and disabled; and to provide comfort when we have little else to offer. I hope the public will listen to one doctor’s voice.

We have many problems to solve: access to healthcare for the uninsured; affordable premiums for those with coverage; outcomes that provide value and keep patients safe. These goals can be realized.

Limiting Exposure to Medical Malpractice Claims and Defamatory Cyber Postings via Patient Contracts

August 15, 2024February 1, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research Volume 467, Number 2 / February, 2009; Pages 427-433 By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS and Michael Sacopulos, JD Full article located at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/l70470072p905200/?p=d3a3c9ac51be47b0a29d3cdf9fe67fb2&pi=14 Abstract The documents patients sign on admission to a medical practice can constitute a legal contract. Medical practices around the country are attempting to use these … Read more

Medical Justice Report: Have You Googled Your Name Lately? Defaming Doctors With a Click of the Mouse.

August 15, 2024January 1, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS and Michael Sacopulos Download ANTI_DEF_-_MJ_Report

A Modified No-Fault Malpractice System Can Resolve Multiple Healthcare System Deficiencies

August 15, 2024November 1, 2008 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research Volume 47, Number 2 / February, 2009; Pages 420-426 By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS and Michael Sacopulos, JD Full article located at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/m274717241n8621l/ Abstract Medical professional liability in the United States, as measured by total premiums paid by physicians and healthcare facilities, costs approximately $30 billion a year in … Read more

Defaming Doctors on the Internet: Problem and Solution

August 15, 2024October 21, 2008 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

In innumerable ways the Internet has benefited the public. Online shopping means that goods are available at lower prices and often from a wider variety of sources, both nationally and internationally. That is good news for consumers.

If we want to purchase a car or appliance, for example, there are countless websites displaying consumer reviews from people who purchased the same item. These review sites help us make informed choices for our consumer decisions.

Increasingly, sites such as RateMDs.com take that process a step further, asking the public to rate their physician. For obvious reasons, reviewing a refrigerator is quite different than reviewing a physician. And the downside: it is all too easy for a patient to bad-mouth his physician in an anonymous and public way. With the click of a mouse, such posts can have a detrimental and permanent effect on the physician’s reputation.