CONTENTS:
- Perspective: Is thrombolytic therapy for stroke the standard of care?
- Use of technology in the courtroom lags in med-mal cases
- Primer for physicians on necessary elements of a successful malpractice suit: Duty to treat
- “Primer on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits” for attorneys
- Lawsuit successful, but was the right doctor sued?
- Expert witness disqualified because legislature intruded on rule-making authority of judiciary
- Nevada to make malpractice history of physicians available to public
- State by state summary of medical malpractice law
- A psychiatrist’s experience as an expert witness
Perspective: Is thrombolytic therapy for stroke the standard of care?
Medical malpractice attorneys are seeing increasing numbers of claims in the area of stroke treatment. The issues are rarely as clear-cut as they may seem at first blush.A thorough review of each specific situation by a physician well-versed in recent evidence for and against the emergency treatment of stroke using this or another invasive therapy is mandatory. For more on this issue and links to helpful resources, click here.
Use of technology in the courtroom lags in med-mal cases
As courtroom presentation technology has evolved, more and more lawyers, paralegals and IT staff have become familiar with the tools to make effective courtroom presentations. While it is virtually certain that technology will be used in the courtroom in substantial matters involving commercial disputes, construction site accidents, defective products and pharmaceutical cases, the same cannot be said for medical malpractice cases. Read more about this here.
Primer for physicians on necessary elements of a successful malpractice suit: Duty to treat
The four elements of a successful malpractice suit are being covered by Lee Johnson, a health care attorney, in the next few issues of Medical Economics. Part I, “Duty to Treat” can be found here.
“Primer on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits” for attorneys
New Jersey plaintiff attorney Andy Rockman has posted a nice basic summary of the ins and outs of filing a medical malpractice case, and why the system works as it does. It might help attorneys explain to potential plaintiffs the hurdles faced in proving medical error. For the complete article click here.
Lawsuit successful, but was the right doctor sued?
The Missouri Supreme Court upheld questionable testimony of an expert witness in this case, but was the right doctor sued? The first surgeon removed the cancer but failed to remove all of the thyroid gland in a patient with thyroid cancer. A second surgeon removed the remaining thyroid, but left the patient, a music minister, without his normal voice. The first surgeon was successfully sued. Loss of voice being a known risk of thyroid surgery even begs the question: Should anyone have been sued?
Expert witness disqualified because legislature intruded on rule-making authority of judiciary
This one is fascinating. The Arizona Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling disqualifying a plaintiff’s medical expert. The reason: State legislation passed in 2005 narrows the qualifications of expert witnesses, but the rule-making authority for the courts lies with the judicial branch, namely the Arizona Supreme Court. Because this violates the “separation of powers” found in the Arizona constitution, the case was remanded and could be tried using the original expert. Click for the ruling. For a news summary, click here. (Brief log-in asking gender and zip code may be required for access.)
Nevada to make malpractice history of physicians available to public
Nevada regulators are planning to post more information about doctors’ malpractice history on the Board of Medical Examiners Web site. North Carolina is planning to roll out a similar program soon, and many other states already publicize this information.
State by state summary of medical malpractice law
Click here for a state by state summary of medical malpractice law provided by McCullough, Campbell & Lane LLP of Chicago.
A psychiatrist’s experience as an expert witness
Psychiatrist Y. Pritham Raj, MD, reports in this Medical Economics article how he became an expert witness in the case of a patient who became quadriplegic while hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation. Later, he again testified when another doctor failed to diagnose a spinal cord tumor in one of the psychiatrist’s patients. Insight from a physician’s perspective.