Medical Malpractice

A patient diagnosed with thyroid problems filled a prescription for the drug levothyroxine. It was written by the doctor for 75 micrograms. It was dispensed at 25 micrograms. Months went by before the mistake was noticed. “Since this started, my hair has been brittle and falling out, my skin has […]

It is estimated that 350 doctors in the United States commit suicide every year – roughly a doctor a day. Serious medical errors are significantly increased, causing injury to patients. Health care costs and insurance premiums increase. Why? The answer is physician burnout. Physician burnout affects over 50 percent of […]

Another horror story unfolded at a nursing home in Boynton Beach, Fla., where a 67-year-old woman with dementia was duct-taped to a chair by her caretakers. Her caretakers, Phygelle Brudent and Lashron Williams, have been charged with elderly abuse and false imprisonment following their arrest by the local police department. […]

Congress created the National Practitioners Data Bank in 1986, passing a piece of legislation whose mission entailed improving the quality of healthcare, reducing abuse and fraud and protecting the public. A vast online repository, it includes information about adverse actions by practitioners and medical-malpractice payments from lawsuits. “…it is a […]

Patient Access to Adverse-Incident Reports Threatened Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission has on its 2018 agenda a proposal to amend a provision that gives parties in medical-malpractice lawsuits access to adverse-incident reports that can make or break cases. The proposal, made by Commissioner Tim Cerio, seeks to limit such access for […]

Medical professionals have debated the frequency and relative age for performing mammogram studies on women; some claiming that once yearly is too often and under 50 years old is too soon. Whether these debates involve more concern for insurance company payouts than prudent healthcare, I will leave to other articles. […]