Category Archives: - Medical Malpractice

Is it possible for technology to minimize your risk of medical malpractice lawsuits against you or your medical practice? Can EHR’s reduce your risk? If a claim of negligence has been brought against you, if you have excellent documentation in patient records, you have a much better chance of fighting those allegations. According to a 2008 study (from the Archives of Internal Medicine), “Using an EHR may also reduce paid malpractice settlements for physicians.”

The Pennsylvania Court System released statistics on Wednesday that medical malpractice lawsuits in the state are becoming less frequent. According to their statistics, statewide, in 2010, there were 1,491 lawsuits and this number is down from the amount of lawsuits, 1,533 in 2009. This decrease is only 3% less than last year. Is this supposed [...]

What is your best defense against malpractice suits?  Are you prepared for the possibility of a suit being filed against you?  Keith Martin from Physicians Practice gives some advice on arming yourself against malpractice. Arm Yourself Against Malpractice If you’d like more information on our services, please feel free to ask us for a brochure.  [...]

Any physician who has been sued frivolously understands that once a lawsuit is filed, the damage is done. From hours spent out of the office in depositions and court to irreparable damage to hard-earned reputations to unrecoverable income loss, frivolous lawsuits cause tremendous personal anguish.

At the center of the healthcare debate, malpractice costs have been argued over for many years. Some states have enacted legislation to limit malpractice awards. With some lawsuits going on for years without much judicial involvement, it’s been difficult for judges to handle this issue. For more on this, check out this NY Times article. [...]

What’s your State’s policy on medical malpractice caps? Many students in states without medical malpractice caps are hightailing it out of those states once they graduate. This is the case right now with graduating students from Illinois.

On November 17, 2010 the PA Superior Court upheld a $20 million dollar award, including $15 million in punitive damages, given by a Philadelphia jury that found a plastic surgeon and a nurse anesthetist liable for an 18 year old college student’s death after an elective liposuction procedure. The lawsuit had been brought by Plaintiff’s on behalf of their deceased daughter, against Dr. XXXXX, XXXXX & Associates, XXXXX and XXXXX Associates, Inc.

In Maryland, the Secretary of Health would like to expand on peer review practices. The state has been investigating the number of cardiac stent procedures, which they claim in certain MD hospitals, “far exceeds the state average.”

Since 2002, there has been a steady decrease of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in Los Angeles; however, health officials are looking to see that patient safety is improved. Even though malpractice cases have decreased in number in recent years, payouts from the county to settle these cases have increased since 2005.

Should you worry about a lawsuit? A recent AMA survey revealed that 95 out of 100 doctors who practice in the US will be sued at some point in their careers. How comforting is that? As a physician, that shouldn’t be very comforting to you. As a patient, it doesn’t comfort me either. Where do you fit in this spectrum of physicians? Have you been sued? Do you feel that there is a strong possibility in your lifetime that you will be named in a medical malpractice lawsuit?

If statistics cite that medical malpractice suits are dropping, they still are taking a toll on physicians.