Voters approve all three medical malpractice issues
More on the Florida malpractice amendments.
November 2004
All Stories
Medical liability crisis full of myths
"As a practicing neurosurgeon, my patients and I experience the medical liability crisis each day. I am struggling to continue to provide them with timely and effective medical care amid sky-high medical liability insurance costs. We are in a life-threatening crisis that needs a real solution quickly. Nothing frustrates me more than not debating the real issues. The discussion is rife with myths."
Merck drug increased risk - study
"A study sponsored by the US Food and Drug Administration estimates that Merck painkiller Vioxx, withdrawn from the market in September, could have caused 27,785 heart attacks or deaths since it was approved in 1999."
It's looking bleaker for Merck. The abstract for that study was previously mentioned here.
Big win in Nevada
"Word from Nevada, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal's website, is that the doctor-sponsored Question Three is sailing to enactment by a 60-40 margin, while the lawyer-sponsored counter-initiatives, Questions Four (insurance rates) and Five (sneakily mislabeled a measure against frivolous suits) are going down to defeat, 36-64 and 38-62 respectively."
Oregon: Award cap results too close to call
"The vote on Measure 35, the closest of all the statewide ballot measures, remained undecided early this morning."
Florida: Most amendments OK'd
"The long-running battle between doctors and lawyers over medical-malpractice insurance produced three proposed constitutional amendments - and voters approved them all.
Lawyers won amendments to give the public more information about doctors' mistakes and to take away the medical license of doctors who make several medical errors. Doctors won with an amendment limiting the percentage of winnings that lawyers can claim as payment in malpractice ...
Wyoming: Voters pan tort reform amendments
Apparently, the preliminary results earlier were mistaken.
Wyoming Amendments C and D
"The amendments would authorize the legislature to set limits on damages in medical liability. According to this AP tabulation, via the Casper Star Tribune, C is leading by a 60-40 margin and D by a 56-44 margin."
More good news.
Fla. amendments headed for passage
"With 22 percent of precincts reporting, Florida's Amendment 3 to limit lawyers' fees in malpractice cases is leading with 1,291,647 or 64.4% of votes "yes" and 715,125 or 35.6% "no". Barring a truly unprecedented turnaround, the measure seems headed for passage by a comfortable margin, a crushing defeat for both the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers and for the Florida Bar Association and American ...
Liveblogging the ballot measures tonight
PointofLaw.com is livelogging the various medical malpractice measures tonight.
Blogs Send Stocks Lower on Talk of Kerry Victory
Not medically related, but underscores the power of blogs.
Low-Carb Food Sales Slow as American Craze Cools
"The clock is ticking for makers of packaged foods aimed at low-carb dieters as more U.S. consumers are abandoning the protein-heavy regimens. abandoning the protein-heavy regimens."
As has been discussed before, the jury is still out as to whether there is any long-term weight loss from low-carb diets.
Our 'Kindness Deficit' of Care
"People with money and access command topnotch care. Those without scramble for what they can get. Big businesses negotiate good group-health insurance. Small businesses are pushed against the wall. The healthy find private policies, the sick get kicked out. That's the American Way."
Election Day Grand Rounds
Come and see the weekly best of the medical blogs. Hosted by medpundit.
Commentary: Defining a Doctor, With a Tear, a Shrug and a Schedule
"My month with the intern of the past and the intern of the future certainly argues for the power of the individual work ethic. Try as I might, it was not within my power to modify the way either of them functioned. The woman cared too much. The man cared too little. She worked too hard, and ...
Make VA electronic medical record systems available to all physicians
I second this notion. Of all the EMRs I have used, the VA system is the most polished, comprehensive, and evolved.
A MICRAscope: RAND's methodical inspection of California's tort reform law
A look at the effects of non-economic caps in California.
Girl with rare disease doesn't know pain
Merck tried to bury Vioxx concerns for years
"Internal e-mails and other documents from Merck & Co. show the company fought for years to keep safety concerns from undermining the drug's commercial prospects, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday."
Kevin Pho, MD
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Warren Buffett’s prostate cancer choices aren’t right for every man
A version of this column was published on April 24, 2012 in USA Today. There has been a recent uptick of elderly men...
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Many medical decisions require shared decision making
The following column was published on April 1, 2012 in USA Today. I recently saw a middle-age man in my primary care clinic...
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Patients deserve a medical malpractice early offer
The following column was published on March 25, 2012 in the Nashua Telegraph. Medical malpractice historically has been a contentious issue. Doctors...
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Discussing whether tests actually help patients or cause more harm
The following column was published on April 11, 2012 in CNN. When you visit the doctor, chances are you are given a...
Physician
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Being a good doctor is no more an achievement than being a good Mom
At no other time in my medical training was I as confident that, with hard work and dedication, I could master the...
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The malpractice risk of volunteer medical coverage at sporting events
From Outside Online, an article about how physicians are increasingly hesitant to provide volunteer medical coverage at athletic events: "Last year, 13 Americans...
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What does a perfect pediatrics practice look like?
I had a phenomenal day in clinic yesterday. Imperfect for sure but inspiring, connected, and busy. I felt useful and like anybody...
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Tips to improve your patient satisfaction scores
Recently I was asked, “How can I improve my Press Ganey scores?” Presently this question applies mostly to hospitals as CMS is...
Patient
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Health care journalists have tendencies similar to those of doctors
As a patient who was asked to speak at the Association of Health Care Journalists 2012 conference, I felt a bit covert....
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Adaptation can be painful, but it can also be a gift
Nothing will force you to live life on your own terms faster than almost losing it. In 2008, I was on fire....
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Embracing the longing without the outcome
I’m not sure when I stopped missing my husband. I suppose familiarity crept in after 7 years together and I rarely felt...
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Minimize reactance in your health organization
Can you say “reactance”? Don’t feel bad, I wasn’t familiar with the term either until recently. But as you will see, anyone...
Policy
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Repairing the tear in health care’s safety net with social media
The nation’s “safety net” hospitals are designed to ensure that uninsured, lower income and indigent populations receive adequate medical care – a...
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Look to technology to reduce health costs
Technology to lower costs rather than accelerate them. Smart phones to increase physician and other providers’ productivity. Fewer primary care physicians but...
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How to save a trillion dollars in health care
It is both conventional wisdom and factual truth that, unimpeded, American healthcare cost inflation will bankrupt the United States economically, educationally, socially,...
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How the Affordable Care Act combats preventable hospital infections
As the Supreme Court deliberates the Affordable Care Act, Americans should take a closer look at the commonsense reforms embedded in the...
Tech
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EMR liability needs to go further than just the physician
This example of a disaster waiting to happen, in the form of an error-promoting CPOE, is a poster example of why the...
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AMA: Changes are needed in the stage 2 meaningful use EHR proposal
A guest column by the American Medical Association, exclusive to KevinMD.com. Continuing our efforts to move medicine forward while prioritizing patient care and minimizing...
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EMRs require better user-centered design
Healthcare IT News recently asked, “Do doctors have to be typists to get MU incentives?” That question reminded me that given the...
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Electronic records don’t tell us stories that make cognitive sense
One morning recently, I found another physician standing morosely at one of the mobile computer terminals we refer to as “cows”—computers on...
Social Media
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We need to see the potential harm of social media
Prior to 1794, farms across the world could only pick cotton as fast as humanly possible. In the late 18th century, Eli Whitney...
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Why social media may not be worth it for doctors
Social media in healthcare is all the rage these days. You can’t visit even one physician-oriented website without someone breathlessly advising you...
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Transparency defines social media success for doctors
Want to understand social media? Physicians wanting to learn about social media must learn transparency. We must learn transparency on a personal...
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How Twitter was used in a potential mass casualty scenario
It was my first ER shift in charge of the resuscitation area. Needless to say, my adrenaline and nerves were firing like...
