A PA misdiagnoses sinusitis, which leads to a brain abscess. Although this happened in a physician’s office, it could have just as easily occurred in Minute Clinic staffed by mid-levels.
A few high-profile cases like these against them will no doubt kill them off, which I think will be inevitable.
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one NP i work with was (unbeknownst to me) giving every asthma & copd patient with dyspnea a prednisone taper!
While mid-levels can often be very helpful, the training is much shorter, and snafus will happen. It takes years of seeing lots of different cases to appreciate, e.g. that there’s a difference between a high WBC count and a high troponin or potassium.
I’ve said it many times. When people say midlevels are good for the “simple” stuff, I ask “well how do they know what’s simple exactly?”
The sinusitis case is a very good example. Particularly with mental status, subtle changes are much likelier to alert a trained physician of a problem than a midlevel.
“On paperwork submitted with the state, Drs. DeGiovanni and Dr. Montini said they would see every patient treated by Ms. Egidi.”
I’m glad those doctors got screwed. They need to quit screwing around with midlevels and be real doctors again.
Lets face it. They stopped seeing all of the PA’s patients because they knew they could make more $$$ by just letting her diagnose/treat them on her own while they saw their own patients.
Those doctors were incredibly greedy, and it bit them in the ass.
I hope they get sued again for midlevel incompetence and get run out of business.
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