Legal

Everyday Legal Questions Physicians Ask

Can you prescribe for family? What happens if a payer demands a refund three years later? Our Legal Blogs tackle routine yet critical issues—self-prescribing, contract renewals, sham peer review defenses, and medical record ownership—using real complaints, board orders, and court opinions as teaching tools.

Current Cases & Court Commentary

When an appellate court clarifies peer-review immunity or a state supreme court limits punitive damages, we translate the opinion into practical next steps: adjust bylaws language, revisit informed-consent language, or refine incident-reporting practices. Posts avoid dense legalese and focus on how rulings might influence documentation, credentialing, and professional liability.

Contracts, Employment, & Corporate Practice

From negotiating call-coverage stipends to spotting restrictive non-compete clauses, articles guide physicians through employment and partnership contracts. We also examine corporate-practice-of-medicine rules, covering management-service agreements, fee-splitting prohibitions, and telemedicine ownership structures.

Licensure & Professional Discipline

The blog discusses board investigations stemming from social-media missteps, substance-use allegations, and documentation irregularities. We help physicians respond promptly, assemble supportive records, and protect due-process rights.

Administrative Law & Compliance Basics

Expect discussions of Stark, Anti-Kickback Statute safe harbors, Medicare enrollment revocations, and false-claims liability—presented with examples relevant to office-based specialists and hospital-employed physicians alike.

How to Avoid Malpractice Suits

August 15, 2024April 17, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

What you don’t do to head off malpractice claims can be as critical as what you do Medical Economics April 2009 By: Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, FACS Nothing’s worse than having the first appointment of your day interrupted by an unpleasant surprise. Instead of the child who is running a fever or the father who’s … Read more

A Message to Colleagues: What I’ve Learned

August 15, 2024March 25, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Esquire Magazine features a regular column called “What I’ve Learned.” There, a celebrity or a leader in his field, and often in the twilight of his life, reels off a collection of pearls, some well polished, some of little value. I am not famous and my doctor assures me actuarially I am not in the twilight in my life. But, this is what I’ve learned, so far.

Great Advice from Patient Advocate

August 15, 2024March 14, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Patient advocate Trisha Torrey has some great advice about doctor rating sites. In a recent post she writes, “take other patients’ reviews with a grain of salt. We patients may be great at determining how nice a doctor is, but do you want your choice of doctor being influenced by someone who was just ticked … Read more

Noted Rater of Restaurants Brings Its Touch to Medicine – NY Times

August 15, 2024February 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

We continue to espouse the dangers of sites where patients can “rate” doctors. Medical care is simply far too complicated for such a simplistic approach. Today’s New York Times article “Noted Rater of Restaurants Brings Its Touch to Medicine” by Milt Freudenheim, discusses the Zagat-Wellpoint venture into a doctor ratings guide. The article cites Medical … Read more

Kevin MD

August 15, 2024February 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Kevin MD writes today about our thoughts on reforming health care. Check out the post at; http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/02/universal-care-increasing-patient.html

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.

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