Medical Issues (Injury & Error)

Primary Care Malpractice Cases ‘More Difficult to Defend’

Allegations of malpractice in claims involving primary care practices usually center on the failure to diagnose or on a delayed diagnosis.

Patients of ‘No-Show’ Doc Were Paid Off in Kickback Room

Robert Lowes Sep 26, 2013 Full Medscape Article:  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/811735 “Brazen” is the word federal prosecutors use to describe a medical practice in Brooklyn, New York, that was shut down after perpetrating more than $77 million in Medicare fraud. Its medical director and supposed owner, 58-year-old Gustave “Gus” Drivas, MD, almost never showed up at the […]

Oncologist Indicted for Poisoning Coffee of Lover, Colleague

Trial to Follow Nick Mulcahy Sep 27, 2013 Medscape Story:  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/811786 An oncologist accused of poisoning the coffee of her colleague and lover at a top cancer center has been indicted on a felony charge of aggravated assault by a grand jury, according to a news report in the Houston Chronicle. Ana Maria Gonzalez-Angulo, MD, […]

Deaths Linked to Cardiac Stents Rise as Overuse Seen

By Peter Waldman, David Armstrong & Sydney P. Freedberg – Sep 25, 2013 11:01 PM CT Full Story & Map:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-26/deaths-linked-to-cardiac-stents-rise-as-overuse-seen.html When Bruce Peterson left the U.S. Postal Service after 24 years delivering mail, he started a travel agency. It was his dream career, his wife Shirlee said. Then he went to see cardiologist Samuel […]

Sulfonylurea Use Increases All-Cause Mortality Risk

Michael O’Riordan Sep 25, 2013 BARCELONA, Spain — First-line therapy with sulfonylureas significantly increases the risk for death in patients with type 2 diabetes when compared with treatment with metformin, a new study shows. Additional research showed that the combination of metformin and a sulfonylurea was also associated with a significantly increased risk for death […]

Cheating in Medical School

The reported prevalence of cheating among US medical students ranges from 0% to 58%.

3 stories of surgeons that I find disturbing

An orthopedic surgeon from New York reportedly has 261 malpractice suits against him. He has been accused of performing “phantom” and unnecessary operations.

How Many Die From Medical Mistakes In U.S. Hospitals?

by MARSHALL ALLEN, PROPUBLICA September 20, 2013 4:52 PM It seems that every time researchers estimate how often a medical mistake contributes to a hospital patient’s death, the numbers come out worse. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published the famous “To Err Is Human” report, which dropped a bombshell on the medical community by […]

Worsening Trends in the Management and Treatment of Back Pain

John N. Mafi, MD JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(17):1573-1581. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.8992 September 23, 2013, Vol 173, No. 17 > ABSTRACT Importance Back pain treatment is costly and frequently includes overuse of treatments that are unsupported by clinical guidelines. Few studies have evaluated recent national trends in guideline adherence of spine-related care. Objective To characterize the treatment of […]

Stunning News On Preventable Deaths In Hospitals

Forbes.com PHARMA & HEALTHCARE 9/23/2013 @ 8:50AM 25,722 views In 1999, Americans learned that 98,000 people were dying every year from preventable errors in hospitals. That came from a widely touted analysis by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) called To Err Is Human. This was the “Silent Spring” of the health care world, grabbing headlines for […]

Physicians with financial interest in imaging equipment may order more unnecessary MRIs than peers

September 18, 2013 Healio.com Patients who are referred for knee MRIs are more likely to have negative results if a physician has a financial interest in the imaging equipment used, according to results of a recently published study. “In our work, we were able not only to evaluate the outcome of the knee MRI examinations […]

Spinal Implant Prices Vary, Process Drives Up Costs

The mean price of a pedicle screw was $878, while the range was $400 to $1,843, Bederman reported.

How Many Die from Medical Mistakes in U.S. Hospitals?

An updated estimate says it could be at least 210,000 patients a year, more than twice the number in a frequently quoted Institute of Medicine report By Marshall Allen and ProPublica Scientific American: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-many-die-from-medical-mistakes-in-us-hospitals It seems that every time researchers estimate how often a medical mistake contributes to a hospital patient’s death, the numbers come out […]

Statins Linked to Cataracts

Published: Sep 19, 2013 | Updated: Sep 20, 2013 By Chris Kaiser, Cardiology Editor, MedPage Today Action Points Statins clear cholesterol from the blood but they may do so at the risk of obstructing vision. Note that in both analyses, researchers found an inverse relationship with levels of LDL cholesterol and cataract risk, but not […]

Deaths from avoidable medical error more than double in past decade, investigation shows

By Katherine Harmon | Aug 10, 2009 06:45 PM Scientific American:  http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=deaths-from-avoidable-medical-error-2009-08-10 Preventable medical mistakes and infections are responsible for about 200,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to an investigation by the Hearst media corporation. The report comes 10 years after the Institute of Medicine’s “To Err Is Human” analysis, which found that 44,000 to […]

How Many Die From Medical Mistakes in U.S. Hospitals?

by Marshall Allen ProPublica, Sep. 19, 2013 It seems that every time researchers estimate how often a medical mistake contributes to a hospital patient’s death, the numbers come out worse. In 1999, the Institute of Medicine published the famous “To Err Is Human” report, which dropped a bombshell on the medical community by reporting that […]

Abusive Prescribing of Controlled Substances — A Pharmacy View

Public health advocates are increasingly focused on illness and deaths caused by inappropriate use of controlled substances — in particular, opioid analgesics. Opioid prescriptions have increased dramatically, by more than 300% between 1999 and 2010.1 This increase has led to substantial iatrogenic disease. Most strikingly, the number of deaths due to overdose in the United States […]

Many medical interventions are 50/50: Who informs the patient?

Many medical interventions are 50/50: Who informs the patient? A COUNTRY DOCTOR, MD | PHYSICIAN | AUGUST 16, 2013 Lately, my virtual inbox in our electronic medical record has seen a surge in requests for prescriptions for the vaccine against herpes zoster, shingles. This has made me think a lot about our responsibility as physicians […]

A New, Evidence-based Estimate of Patient Harms Associated with Hospital Care

Journal of Patient Safety: September 2013 – Volume 9 – Issue 3 – p 122–128 James, John T. PhD Abstract Objectives: Based on 1984 data developed from reviews of medical records of patients treated in New York hospitals, the Institute of Medicine estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die each year from medical errors. The […]

Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism

Vaccine Court Awards Millions to Two Children With Autism Posted: 01/14/2013 9:43 am David KirbyAuthor/Journalist The federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, better known as “vaccine court,” has just awarded millions of dollars to two children with autism for “pain and suffering” and lifelong care of their injuries, which together could cost tens of millions of […]