Malpractice
Malpractice lawsuits: a data-driven approach to risk management
The first book I ever read was The Last Angry Man. I could never have imagined then how it would influence me now.
It is about a fictional character, Dr. Samuel Abelman. He is a general practitioner practicing in New York City during the 1950s. He is in the twilight of a career that spans fifty years of commitment to the Hippocratic Oath.
In the 1950s, the emerging professional trend is specialization. …
Steps to take so that a medical malpractice lawsuit is decided from unbiased opinions
Today, the conventional rules that medical experts use to evaluate the merits of a malpractice lawsuit are established by attorneys, not doctors. These rules are based on inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning is acceptable except for one thing; it forgives threats to validity. Although the premises are true, the conclusions are influenced by bias. The rules are as follows:
There are four categories of evidence:
- The disputed treatment represents a medical error.
…
Just culture and medical errors [PODCAST]
When medicine meets law: Mastering malpractice suits with scientific methods
When you are sued for medical malpractice, your malpractice carrier establishes your duties to it, and your lawyer establishes your duties to him or her. Let me be clear – when you are sued for medical malpractice, you have no greater duty than to yourself. A duty is a commitment or an expectation on you to perform properly in accordance with certain circumstances. A duty may arise from a system …
Why physicians should care about the False Claims Act [PODCAST]
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Our guest, Scott Ellner, a general surgeon, shares insights and real-life stories that shed light on the challenges health care providers face when financial incentives clash with patient-centered care. We’ll explore the impact of wasteful spending, the …
Discover the hidden world of state medical board complaints
In a world of 24/7 news coverage often highlighting high-verdict medical malpractice cases, few physicians know about thousands of complaints that undergo review by state medical boards each year. Most complaints are filed by patients and/or family members, malpractice payment reports by insurance companies, and actions by other state medical boards. In North Carolina, where I practice, nearly 3,000 complaints were filed in 2021, 1,835 of which were filed …
From now on, doctors will not be thrown under the bus when they are sued for medical malpractice
I am an OB/GYN and no stranger to malpractice litigation. As beleaguered as you may feel when you are sued for medical malpractice, the next hurdle to conquer after you are served is when you realize that your own attorney is prepared to throw you under the bus.
You do not deserve this. Whether a complication is an error of nature or a medical error, a complication always precedes a lawsuit. …
Humanism in health care: How to address patient harm
I want to preface this story by stating that Sarah has given written authorization to share her story, allowing my colleague and me to transform a challenging experience into a valuable lesson in the inevitability of mistakes and the profound capacity for forgiveness and growth.
Ten years ago, I was approached by a distressed physician and colleague who had unintentionally harmed a patient during the course of an elective colon operation. …
A scientific approach to malpractice defense
There has always been a “fight club” because there have always been medical malpractice lawsuits. They are predicated on complications, either errors of nature or medical errors, and no doctor is immune. In the United States, roughly 85,000 medical malpractice lawsuits are filed per year, and there are 1 million doctors. For any doctor, the background risk for a medical malpractice lawsuit is 8.5% per year.
Are these statistics acceptable to …
Bridging law and medicine [PODCAST]
A path to safer health care [PODCAST]
A new approach to health care liability management
There is no shortage of the problems that plague health care. Even so, health law gurus make problems worse by creating the medical liability litigation industry. Gurus deny creating this industry. They create health reforms and tort reforms to solve problems. That explains the Affordable Care Act, 100 tort reforms, the medical liability litigation industry, and difficulties.
Have you …
Will Kaiser Permanente see a spike in medical malpractice from the strike?
The Kaiser Permanente strike, with over 75,000 impacted employees, is the largest health care strike in the history of the United States. CNN reported that the affected workers are represented by a coalition of unions across California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington and Oregon.
The strike, which is intended to last four days and involves 40 percent of Kaiser Permanente’s staff, could deeply impact patient care. The reality …
Bridging attorneys and doctors: the role of medical/legal consultants
Engaging in medical/legal consulting offers a valuable opportunity to apply your medical training in a non-clinical capacity that genuinely benefits people. Physicians across the nation are increasingly embracing medical/legal consulting as a rewarding part-time endeavor.
Among the array of services that medical/legal consultants offer, one prominent role is that of a liaison between attorneys and treating doctors. Additionally, we occasionally serve as intermediaries between attorneys and families, and more frequently between …
Navigating a malicious medical malpractice lawsuit: a case study
In line with my previous posts that explain how to resolve all medical malpractice lawsuits, especially frivolous ones, at the lowest possible cost for the physician and the malpractice carrier, this article addresses a malicious medical malpractice lawsuit. Malicious lawsuits deserve something more. Not only are they all frivolous, but they should exact a cost from those who seek to profit from them.
The forewarning
On June 19, 2018, a patient …
For orthopedic surgeons, an all-of-the-above approach lowers liability risks
During a total hip replacement, a patient experienced a brisk bleed and a drop in blood pressure that required intervention from the anesthesiologist. There was a discrepancy in the documented estimated blood loss, with the surgeon noting 30 0cc while the anesthesiologist recorded 1100 cc. The patient was hypotensive in the PACU and had a discolored leg with no pulse. The patient decompensated, and the orthopedic surgeon consulted a vascular …
Taking charge of your future by taking charge of medical malpractice suits
Attention all doctors: You can be dismissed from a medical malpractice lawsuit and, at the same time, save 30% on the cost of your medical malpractice premiums per year.
Just as no physician is immune from a complication, none are immune from a resulting malpractice lawsuit. As of now, you stand a 5% chance each year of a medical malpractice lawsuit that has a 70% chance of being frivolous. A 70% …
Proactive risk management: the key to preventing physician burnout and lawsuits [PODCAST]
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Join us in this episode as we delve into the critical issue of physician burnout and its correlation with the threat of lawsuits in the medical field. Our guest, Howard Smith, an obstetrics-gynecology physician, explores the notion that every …
Social inflation’s surge in medical malpractice insurance [PODCAST]
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