Physician: Before I agree to treat you, I need you to sign an arbitration agreement and a limitation of liability agreement. Patient: What are those and why do I need to sign them? Physician: Oh, they are nothing really for you to worry about. They only apply to you if […]
Category: Medical Malpractice
This whole “defensive medicine” bandwagon that physicians and their associations have pounced on continues to be a bit of a mystery to me. The argument goes that because physicians are so very afraid of being sued, they order tests that are actually unnecessary. First, I have to wonder if the […]
It is a part of the Florida Constitution. It seemed fair to patients. With hospitals and doctors claiming the medical negligence problem was over blown, Florida Section 25, “Patients’ right to know about adverse medical incidents”, seemed like a common sense and fair law. Read it. It is not very […]
Florida medical malpractice statutes are a great deal about procedure and less about substance. As in many states, Florida citizens have suffered the removal of legal rights under Florida’s medical malpractice laws by legislators with specific agendas other than the improvement of citizens’ lives. More often, business and insurance lobbies […]
Please just take a moment to concentrate. Close your eyes and try to imagine that you are lying back in a bed. This bed has not had the bed clothes changed for a while and you are currently laying in feces and urine because you are not able to get […]
It is disappointing when otherwise intelligent, insightful people simply choose to ignore facts and fail to protect the very people they have sworn to serve. It is no secret that many industry-wed lawmakers have been working for a long time to place damage caps on injuries caused by the negligence […]
A 2009 study published by the New England Journal of Medicine analyzed almost 12 million Medicare beneficiaries and found: 20% of patients were readmitted within 30 days of discharge 34 % of patients were readmitted in 90 days of discharge 67.1% of patients percent were readmitted one year after discharge […]
Every day on TV, we are bombarded with advertisements urging us to purchase numerous prescription and over-the-counter drugs that will cure everything that ails us (and even cure diseases and conditions unknown or non-existent prior to drug company marketing efforts). Do these medications really work? Do they cause more harm […]
Following published reports and extensive media coverage regarding egregious behaviors in the medical profession, public awareness of physician and hospital errors has increased. Despite that increased attention, data suggests that the rate of reporting by physicians is lower than it should be. In the JAMA July 14 issue, one […]
New studies show that hospital deaths increase sharply in July causing a “July Effect”. The study illustrates the need for patients to practice caution while accepting medical care in that month or over the weekend days. A recent study by the University of California at San Diego demonstrates that fatal […]
