Hawaii Personal Injury Blog - medical Negligence

Obama Administration only supports medical error reporting for infections.

Wayne Parsons — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:33:14 GMT

Hearst Newspapers (8/24, Dunham) reported,

"While the White House acknowledges that hospital medical errors are 'a big and serious problem,' a senior administration official says President Barack Obama does not favor a mandatory reporting system for all medical mistakes, just for infections."

The Administration argues for this separation because "while infections can be easily documented, not every medical mistake is a clear-cut error on the scale of the amputation of the wrong limb or application of the wrong drug." The official said, "Once you get past the clear cases, it gets a lot harder" to assign blame. "Many of the cases are much more ambiguous." Some supporters "say the White House might simply be making a pragmatic decision to postpone a fight over error reporting."

Hospitals said to be improving medical error disclosure.

In the Informed Patient column on the front of the Wall Street Journal (8/25, D1) Personal Journal section, Laura Landro writes on the trend of hospitals being more open after medical errors. In an effort to avoid lawsuits and eventually improve hospital safety, the hospitals are offering greater disclosure to patients after errors. Landro writes that there is some indication patients are less likely to sue after full disclosure and offered compensation. Landro also recounts specific instances of hospitals disclosing medical errors then creating new programs to avoid the same errors happening in the future. Online, the Wall Street Journal (8/25) also runs a slide show concerning hospital errors.

Cecelia Prewett of the American Association of Justice (AAJ) writes today that trial attorneys support medical reform that improves patient safety and reduces avoidable medical injuries to patients. Her articles are important sources of the real facts about medical errors and patient injury and death.

Hearst News Analysis Highlights Epidemic of Medical Errors - By Cecelia Prewett

Confronting Medical Errors Will Improve Health Care - By Cecelia Prewett

Tort Reform No Cure For What Ails Our Health Care System - By Cecelia Prewett

Reducing medical errors will not be accomplished by taking away patients' legal rights. You don't have to be a college professor to see that. Medical errors are cured by better medical training, better hospital procedures, more time spent by the doctor working on the patient's treatment. The fact that a patient can sue a doctor for sloppy or careless medical work is, if anything, an incentive for the doctor to do a good job. As parents do with their kids, holding a doctor accountable for sloppy or careless work is a good thing. We all live under that golden rule. We have seen 20 years of legislation and court decisions favoring the medical profession and making it harder and harder to hold a doctor responsible for avoidable medical errors. What has that done to lessen injury and death? Even the Wall Street Journal, usually an apologist for the insurance industry and doctors who injure their patients, reports the problem:

Medical errors kill as many as 98,000 Americans each year, according to the Institute of Medicine, a government advisory group. In an effort to improve this record, some hospitals like Baptist Children's are taking steps to admit grievous mistakes and to learn from them in order to overhaul flawed procedures. That represents a sharp departure from hospitals' traditional response when something goes terribly wrong—retreating behind a wall of silence to guard against potential lawsuits.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. When will the news media and the politicians come clean with the public and direct the focus in health care on improving the quality of care, not punishing the victims of doctor and hospital negligence by taking away the victim's rights.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Hearst Newspapers Investigation Of Medical Malpractice

Wayne Parsons — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:32:29 GMT

Joanne Doroshow has been telling us about it for years. If you care about health care I hope that you join the Center For Justice & Democracy (CJ&D). Doroshow is an American hero.

Also praise Honolulu KITV NEWS. KITV has courageously run the story DEAD BY MISTAKE this week in Honolulu. Kudos to KITV for all residents of Hawaii! No other television news in Hawaii covered this shocking story. Go figure! Money runs news media like KHON and the Fox News crew. Pravda American style. Only KITV stands above those members of major media.

Medical errors are an epidemic that is killing Americans at unprecedented levels. Doctors talk about lawsuit abuse aided by Big Insurance while Americans die. Dose anyone care? I know who cares. 100,000 American families who lost a loved one to incompetent doctors this year. But they do not have the money that insurance companies have and they don't matter to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or the radical right who only care about money.

A fully loaded jumbo jet crashing every week with no survivors. That is American health care. Welcome to America. And who are those people screaming about socialism at the single payer town hall meetings? Are they citizens? Yes. Why are they there? Let me introduce you to the perfect storm: the radical right and Big Insurance.

The plot behind this conspiracy against public knowledge and the power of money is the too often sad story.

The History Of Tort Reform - A Story of Corporate Greed And A Conspiracy Against Justice For The People\

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h85j1vNxd8A

Boeing works hard so that their airplanes don't crash ...... every week. Why do we allow doctors to go home to their estates up on the hills above our cities every night without being accountable like airplane manufacturers? Boeing has thousands of engineers with Ph D's. A PhD is a far shot harder to get and requires a lot more brains than what it takes to get an M.D.

The errors are preventable. So why aren't doctors gathering in conference rooms to study the causes and eliminate the errors? Why are doctors spending every waking hour in the smoke filled rooms of their lobbyists, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Medical Association, begging to be excused from medical errors that hurt patients? The world of health care is upside down.

Do you care? Of course you do.

Do you know? Of course not.

Major news media wouldn't want to irritate those insurance companies that run high priced spots on local news 24/7 and 365 days a year. Say it ain't so? Its so. Money rules the world. Doctors have it. Patients don't. Insurance companies have it. People don't.

Oh and let me clear the air at the outset. The American Medical Association is not a resource for the science of medicine and truth. It is a political organization tightly tied to the insurance industry. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has nothing to do with the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce. I love the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce. I am a small business and they help me survive. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is about as good for small business in America as Bernie Madoff was for investors. They lobby for the radical right wing agenda of Wall Street and Big Insurance.

Richard Flagg drowned in his own blood.

Stanley Stinnett choked on his own vomit.

Both were victims of the leading cause of accidental death in America—mistakes made in medical care.

Experts estimate that a staggering 98,000 people die from preventable medical errors each year. More Americans die each month of preventable medical injuries than died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

So begins the most comprehensive and compelling national investigative series about medical malpractice that any news organization may ever have produced. The series, Dead by Mistake, was generated by ” a team of skilled and dedicated journalists from across Hearst newspapers and television stations,” in conjunction with “an entire class of graduate journalism students at Columbia University,” that “read thousands of pages of documents, disciplinary files, lawsuits, governmental, medical and other public and private reports.”

It appears prominently in a number of Hearst’s publications, but you can catch the entire collection of stories here. The site includes in-depth statistical analysis, victims’ stories, slide shows, video, state-by-state analysis of "adverse event" reporting policies, and much, much more. Suffice it to say, it is a phenomenal source of solid information and its release couldn’t be have been more timely as Congress and the Administration grapple with medical liability issues in the health care bill.

Hearst’s investigative series is literally so sprawling there’s no way we can do it justice here—but as the report makes clear, medical malpractice is a nationwide epidemic—one that effects patients of every state, age, and income level. In just the last ten years alone, some “2 million Americans have died needlessly of preventable medical mistakes.” And those numbers are on the rise.

Needless to say, any fair reading of this report makes it clear: the problem with medical malpractice isn’t lawsuits—it’s the amount of medical malpractice itself. And this is no time to further insulate negligent health care providers from liability (especially since limiting patients’ rights will barely make a dent in overall health care expenditures).

Ironically, one person who knew that well was the aforementioned Richard Flagg. Richard was not just a malpractice victim. He was a tireless advocate for patients’ rights. Before his eventual death due to medical malpractice, Richard traveled twice to Washington, D.C. with the Center for Justice & Democracy, struggling to breathe, to ensure that the legal rights of patients were not limited with “caps” and other so-called “tort reforms.” His and others’ powerful messages ensured that Congress and the Bush Administration did not take away patients’ rights that year. Let’s hope his death was not in vain this year.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Doctor Misdiagnosis Results In Alarming Number of Avoidable Injuries And Death

Wayne Parsons — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:02:20 GMT

Cathleen F. Crowley and Eric Nadler have published a blockbuster expose entitled DEAD BY MISTAKE that exposes the truth about what is wrong with American health care and it isn't doctors being sued for frivolous matters. It isn't lawsuit abuse, a fraud perpetrated by the insurance industry and the American Medical Association. The story hit the news stands on Aug. 10, 2009 in the afternoon. The introductory comments are dramatic:

Richard Flagg drowned in his own blood.

Stanley Stinnett choked on his own vomit.

Both were victims of the leading cause of accidental death in America — mistakes made in medical care.

Experts estimate that a staggering 98,000 people die from preventable medical errors each year. More Americans die each month of preventable medical injuries than died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In addition, a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study concluded that 99,000 patients a year succumb to hospital-acquired infections. Almost all of those deaths, experts say, also are preventable.

Two other articles amplify the outrageous amount of avoidable injury and death in American health care:

Mistakes Made in Medical Care are the Top Cause of Accidental Death in America.

Hearst News Analysis Highlights Epidemic of Medical Errors By Cecelia Prewett of the American Association of Justice (AAJ)

DEAD BY MISTAKE is not just some spin from an author with an axe to grind. A multidisciplinary team of scholars and journalists put together a massive study of the true facts that the AMA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and insurance companies like MIEC and others that insure doctors and hospitals hope the public doesn't learn about. Hearst Newspapers should be acknowledged for this courageous expose. Messing with Big Insurance and the doctors is taking on money and you can bet that the medical Establishment and the insurance behemoths will seek retribution. Patients know how dangerous it can be to point out a mistake to a doctor.

Here are the links to other aspects of the misdiagnosis crisis in the United States. It touches every state from Maine to Hawaii and it lurks as a threat in every hospital and doctor's office from Washington D.C. to Honolulu.

The death toll from preventable medical injuries approaches 200,000 per year in the United States.

Ten years ago, a highly publicized federal report called the death toll shocking and challenged the medical community to cut it in half — within five years.

Instead, federal analysts believe the rate of medical error is actually increasing.

A national investigation by Hearst Newspapers found that the medical community, the federal government and most states have overwhelmingly failed to take the effective steps outlined in the report a decade ago.

Hearst also found that in states like California that have put some regulations in place, hospitals often ignore the rules without penalty.

Consequently, over that period, as many as 2 million Americans have died needlessly of preventable medical mistakes.

Rather than spend their time and money trying to reduce the death toll from bad medicine, doctors have spent almost all of their time on picket lines and in Congress lobbying for laws to bar claims against them when their negligence injures a patient. Ten years a go a study showed the same thing and a national call went out to the medical establishment to clean up its act. Instead almost no effort was made by doctors and hospitals and the situation has actually gotten worse.

To Err Is Human was published in November 1999 and it called for the medical profession to acknowledge the alarming amount of malpractice that was avoidable _ with almost no lawsuits being filed by patients _ and to do specific things to fix the problems.

The secrecy that the medical profession has built as a shield (I am NOT talking about doctor - patient privilege!) is a big part of the problem:

Secrecy built into the system has long kept both the scope of the crisis and the specific problem areas out of public view. Some of those lives could have been saved with innovations as simple as color-coding medical tubes to avoid confusion.

A Hearst data analysis lifted a corner of that veil of secrecy to show that in five states served by Hearst newspapers — New York, California, Texas, Washington and Connecticut — only 20 percent of some 1,434 hospitals surveyed are participating in two national safety campaigns begun in recent years.

Also, a detailed safety analysis prepared for Hearst Newspapers examined discharge records from 1,832 medical facilities in four of those states. It found major deficiencies in patient data states collect from hospitals, yet still found that a minimum of 16 percent of hospitals had at least one death from common procedures gone awry — and some had more than a dozen.

Hopefully President Obama, who has called the insurance industry out in the open and let them know that them know that 2009 is the beginning of Business Not As Usual for them and their spin doctors. Back in November 1999, the report titled “To Err Is Human” was issued with the highest of hopes. Its authors believed it promised the start of a revolution in patient safety. Most patients have a hard time learning about what went wrong as DEAD BY MISTAKE points out:

Deaths from medical injuries happen behind the doors of a hospital room. Unlike a national tragedy that takes hundreds of lives in an instant, these deaths are singular and often secret.

Doctors fudge death certificates, leaving out information that would point to medical error as a prime or contributing cause of death, according to court records and other documents examined by Hearst reporters and graduate students at the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

The story of Norine Zazzara, 81 is typical. Having gone to the hospital for an injection of diuretic for her swollen legs, she got the shot and also got a MRSA infection, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which led to pneumonia and death. Norine's daughter Betsy found that the death certificate did not mention the infection and told him to correct the omission _ the greatest lie of all is the truth half told _ and his response was "does it really matter what the death certificate says"? I have written on MRSA infections before. Here are some good resources on MRSA:

Scientists Uncover How Staph Infections Change Our Immune System by Wayne Parsons

Swine Flu Crisis Involves Huge Health Controversy and Probably Another Cover-up

Hospitals May Not Be Doing Enough To Fight MRSA

Hiding MSRA infections from public view not only harms patients but it prevents accurate assessment of the crisis of medical negligence preventing corrective action.

The 22 authors of “To Err is Human” debated public disclosure and fears that it would create more lawsuits, feed the blame game and drive errors underground.

The authors, in the end, decided patients deserved the information.

“These are the kind of things the American public has the right to know about and that patients should know about when they are selecting a particular hospital or surgeon,” said Janet Corrigan, who was the lead staff writer of “To Err is Human” and is now president of the National Quality Forum.

The authors recommended creating a patient safety center to conduct research and oversee a nationwide reporting system, and they said the AHRQ was the logical place to house it.

Lawsuits are an important way to create accountability. If the police didn't ticket speeders the roads would be much more dangerous. If you couldn't sue an attorney who lost your case by not complying with court deadlines, or if you could only recover a fraction of what he or she caused you in losses because of one size fits all damages caps, the amount of legal injury would increase. They call it the "blame game" - I call it accountability. If we would all admit our mistakes without a lawsuit, and pay the injured party what they deserve, the need to affix blame would not be necessary.

Contributing to DEAD BY MISTAKE were Olivia Victoria Andrzejczak, Kyla Calvert, Ana Azpurua, Andrew Schmid and Emily Witt of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University; John Martin, adjunct professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; Sarah Hinman, director of news research, Albany Times Union; Laurie Kinney, reporter, Hearst Television; Terri Langford, enterprise reporter, Houston Chronicle; Lance Williams, investigations editor and reporter, San Francisco Chronicle; and Don Finley, medical writer, and Kelly Guckian, database editor, San Antonio Express-News.

I invite any doctor who hurt a patient through an avoidable mistake to write in and tell us about it. In 30 years of dealing with medical negligence I have never heard such an admission. I would hope that there is a doctor out there who told the patient to truth and then made sure that the patient was compensated for the injury - without needing to hire an attorney and go to court. Anyone from the medical profession willing to do what we ask our kids to do?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Obama makes case for healthcare reform in speech to doctors.

Wayne Parsons — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:59:15 GMT

President Obama yesterday outlined his healthcare reform plans in a speech to the AMA in Chicago. The story was covered by all three network newscasts, though it took second billing to reports on unrest in Iran. While giving the President credit for opening a dialogue, stories last night and this morning tended to cast a skeptical eye on the President's plans for funding his reforms. Moreover, some media accounts – particularly on network television – described the AMA crowd's reaction to the President's speech as negative, and concluded that doctors' opposition to the so-called "public option" underscores the potential difficulties ahead for Obama's reform efforts. USA Today (6/16, Wolf), for example, reports, "The mood was upbeat in early March when scores of powerful lawmakers and lobbyists joined...Obama in the East Room of the White House to talk about fixing the nation's health care system. ... Three months later, disagreement has turned to discord over a key element of Obama's health care prescription: his insistence on a 'public plan' to compete with private insurers." USA Today adds, "America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, is joined by the American Medical Association, US Chamber of Commerce and others that have expressed misgivings about greater government involvement."" Many other sources covered this topic including: NBC Nightly News (6/15, story 3, 3:15, Williams), the AP (6/16, Alonso-Zaldivar), The CBS Evening News (6/15, story 4, 2:20, Glor), among others.

Two great resources on this subject can be found at:

Debunking the Myth on Defensive Medicine By Cecelia Prewett

Please Mr. President, Don't Sacrifice the 7th Amendment To Get Health Care Reform - That Is The Old Way Of Washington Politics That You Told Us You Were Going To Change - By Wayne Parsons

Malpractice award caps seen as issue of contention. FOX News (6/15) reported, "Obama has never endorsed capping malpractice awards, but has sought to shield doctors who follow standard and established procedures from lawsuits." If protections were created "for doctors who follow procedures from lawsuits" it "would move the debate" about "creating ways for doctors and hospitals to share such information as a means of improving care and reducing unnecessary costs" forward. Many other sources covered this story including: Dow Jones (6/16, Brin), the Chicago Tribune (6/16, Mccormick, Japsen), the Wall Street Journal (6/16, Adamy, Meckler), the AP (6/16, Alonso-Zaldivar), NBC Nightly News (6/15, story 3, 3:15, Williams), The CBS Evening News (6/15, story 4, 2:20, Glor), ABC World News (6/15, story 2, 2:55, Stephanopoulos) and in the Health Blog at the Wall Street Journal (6/15) Shirley Wang also covered the story.

Daschle says Obama is open to malpractice reform. Following up on a story in Monday's New York Times, CBS News (6/16) reports, "As if taking his case to the most powerful physicians group in the United States to push his controversial health care proposals wasn't a big enough headline, a New York Times report says President Obama has been working behind the scenes to protect doctors from malpractice lawsuits." Former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle told the Early Show on Monday that "Tort reform is going to be on the table," adding that there is "a clear understanding" that health costs are out of control.

Wall Street Journal criticizes Obama's views on medical malpractice liability. The Wall Street Journal (6/16) editorialized, "President Obama mentioned the medical liability problem yesterday, and it says something about health-care orthodoxies that even this political gesture sent his usual allies into a fluster." The Journal says, "The trial bar and its Democratic allies say that the threat of lawsuits promotes better care and assures accountability" however, "they've fought even modest changes that would offer liability protection if doctors adhere to evidence-based guidelines." Concluding, the paper says that while the Obama administration has billed his "views on medical liability as a 'credibility builder,'" the "only 'bargain' that seems likely to emerge is another major step toward total government control of the health markets."

Washington Times says Obama's health policies will hurt physicians, patients and hospitals. The Washington Times (6/16) editorializes, "Boos and awkward silences marked President Obama's speech at Monday's American Medical Association meeting in Chicago, and for good reason. Not only did he refuse to support caps for malpractice suits, but he said his administration would undercut how much doctors make." The Times notes, "The government is good at 'saving' money by simply reimbursing Medicare and Medicaid providers for less than their cost. It is essentially a tax that the government imposes -- a tax that doctors and hospitals pay for staying in business." Yet, "this tax raises doctors' and hospitals' costs, forcing them to charge private patients more to compensate for the lost Medicare and Medicaid revenue." Therefore, "in the short run, these higher costs will force more people out of private insurance and into Mr. Obama's proposed government-provided insurance," and eventually, "that means less health care to go around."

Columnist lauds Obama proposal. In his column in the Chicago Tribune (6/16) David Greising writes, "The question President Barack Obama placed before a skeptical American Medical Association conference in Chicago on Monday was whether American doctors wish to be part of the ongoing health-care crisis or help find a cure." He said in reference to the contested issue of medical malpractice caps that "instead of a cap, Obama is looking at evidence-based guidelines for treatment. This approach would protect doctors who follow agreed guidelines from costly malpractice lawsuits, yet leave open the courthouse door for people who have legitimate medical claims." Concluding, Greising writes that Obama's proposal "is a flexible, comprehensive start to a debate that, at long last, might finally yield meaningful results."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Cancer Patients Rally in New York to Reform Law To Allow More Time to File Malpractice Suits

Wayne Parsons — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:59:42 GMT

In a story by T.J. RAPHAEL in The Legislative Gazette she reports that a group of cancer patients, their families and a coalition of health care and consumer advocates came to Albany, New York on Thursday seeking legislative reform of laws that prevent cancer patients from suing negligent doctors. The laws set a short time of only 2 1/2 years to bring the claims and often cancer patients do not discover the malpractice until after that period has expired.

What they want is to start the time period when a patient discovers the medical negligence. That only seems fair when medical malpractice often not obvious to a patient. The current law has the time starting to run when the mistake is made. But how does the patient know that when the doctor doesn't tell them?

Most states, including Hawaii use the date of discovery of the medical negligence to start the clock running. It only seems fair doesn't it?

Good government groups including Citizen Action of New York, New York Public Interest Research Group, 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Action Coalition, the Center for Medical Consumers and Consumers Union are supporting the legislation and trying to get the public to support the reform. According to the story:

According to the groups, New York is one of only five states that lack a statute of limitations pegged to the date of discovery of medical neglect. They say a new compilation of independent studies show there is no relationship between the length of time one has to bring a suit and the rate of medical malpractice premiums, claim payouts or claim frequency something they said should serve as an incentive for lawmakers to support the legislation.

“New York’s law prohibits malpractice victims from any legal recourse when they learn of the mistake years later. It’s a double injury first malpractice, then barred from justice. It’s an obsolete law the state should change to catch up with the rest of the country,” said Blair Horner, NYPIRG’s legislative director.

The New York State Trials Lawyers Association (NYSTLA) asks why let negligent doctors hide behind an unjust law. Their analysis is compelling:

Date of Discovery is a New York law that requires victims of medical malpractice to bring their case within 2 ½ years of the act of malpractice, even if during that time they had no reason to know of the malpractice or the harm it caused (for example, an undisclosed negligently misread lab report or test result). It is one of the most restrictive medical malpractice statute of limitations in the country - denying innocent victims of medical malpractice their day in court. Other than New York, only four other states (AR, ID, ME, SD) do not have some discovery rule applying either specifically to medical malpractice or generally to all tort cases. Clearly, New York is in the minority and denies too many victims their day in court.

If you have questions about the Date of Discovery concept in law you can get answers at the NYSTLA website in their FAQ's on the subject:

Senate Codes Committee Chairman Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, and Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Helene Weinstein, D-Brooklyn, are the sponsors of bills S.1729 and A.4627-a, respectively. No action on the bill has been taken since late February when it was placed on the Assembly calendar and advanced to a third reading in the Senate.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: DATE OF DISCOVERY MEDICAL MALPRACTICE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS - S.1729/A.4627

DATE OF DISCOVERY: THE TRUTH ABOUT REFORMING NEW YORK’S MEDICAL MALPRACTICE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS S.1729/A.462

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Senator McCaskill Points To AMA Double Standard In Senate Hearing

Wayne Parsons — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:41:31 GMT

Recently, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), one of the strongest voices for consumer rights in the Senate, went head to head with the President of the American Medical Association (AMA) Nancy Nielsen over their treatment of trial attorneys. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on deceptive health insurance industry practices, the AMA’s use of class action lawsuits was discussed.

Washington, DC-- The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation announces a full committee hearing on Deceptive Health Insurance Industry Practices – Are Consumers Getting What They Paid For? The Committee will be holding two hearings examining how the health insurance industry reimburses consumers for health care services. These hearings will focus on the way the industry calculates “usual and customary” reimbursement rates for consumers who choose to receive care from out-of-network doctors and other health care providers. A recent investigation conducted by the Attorney General of New York concluded that for a number of years, the insurance industry has systematically under-estimated the out-of-network reimbursement rates it pays its policy holders, costing consumers billions of dollars in excessive out-of-pocket costs. The Committee will take testimony about this investigation and about its implications for consumers nationwide.

During the Senate hearing it was revealed that the AMA is using America's trial attorneys to sue several insurance companies for their use of a database that allegedly defrauded doctors of payments, while overcharging patients. Senator McCaskill pointed out the double standard of doctors complaining when a member of the public hires an American trial attorney to sue a doctor to recover the losses from medical errors, but then the same medical profession uses the same system to get full payment from an insurance company. Nothing wrong with either type of case but the double standard is important to point out:

“I do think it's important to note that even the American Medical Association, when they need a justice to be addressed, turn to America's trial lawyers to try to get into court and fix a problem.

And that's why America's trial lawyers are so important to our system of justice in this country.

Strong statements of support for the civil justice system from people like Senator McCaskill help set the record straight on Capitol Hill and in the minds of juries.

This is just another example of the importance of knowledgeable and courageous candidates who are helping to protect the people and stand up to the elite and powerful medical establishment and the 7th Amendment right of all Americans. The organization that represents all Americans is the American Association of Justice (AAJ). I am a proud member of AAJ and I know that the support of AAJ for candidates like Senator McCaskill is the key factor in preventing powerful forces like the AMA, Pharmaceutical mega corporations and the Insurance Industry from eliminating the right of the American people from seek redress for grievances in American court houses. Everyone should go to the People Over Profits website and learn the truth about key issues in Congress and health and safety tips that will prevent injuries. You can take action and stand up to the abuses that face Americans. You are not powerless and your voice can make a difference.

What do you think about this double standard by America's doctors. It won't be the first time they have asked to be excused from following the rules of responsibility and accountability that other Americans must obey. They want people injured by a doctor's negligence to only be partially paid back by the doctor for their losses. They call that "med mal reform". I call it med mal deform. The double standard is always perverse. I remember attending a conference of doctors in Honolulu and hearing a doctor from New York give a speech about how doctor's should sue the insurance companies for failure not to pay the full amount of a doctor's charges. He cited lawsuits by doctors seeking justice by getting the full value of their services. But when it comes to doctors paying for the harm that their negligence causes to their patients the AMA takes the stance that partial payment is okay. They don't see how frivolous their double standard locks to the public.

Let me know if you agree or disagree. Your voice counts!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Brachial Plexus Awareness Week

Wayne Parsons — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:06:44 GMT

The United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc (UPBN) annonces the annual Brachial Plexus Injury Awareness Week (October 19 - 26, 2008) to promote public awareness of this injury to infants during childbirth. Brachial plexus injuries result in partial or complete paralysis of a baby's arm. Large baby's and small mothers increase the risk of this occurence.

Brachial Plexus injuries occur most often when the doctor performing the delivery exerts excessive force on the baby's head after the child's shoulder becomes stuck on the mother's pubic bone. Some urgency is warranted since the baby may be at risk to oxygen deprivation to the brain since the neck may be compressed. However, the doctor has about 5 minutes before any serious problem occurs and a well trained physician has time to safely dislodge the shoulder.

Although there are several maneuvers that will safely dislodge the shoulder, downward forces on the child's head will put stretching or tearing forces on the nerves that run from the cervical spine to the child's arm. A stretching of the nerves is sometimes referred to as Erb's Palsy and the general class of injuries is called shoulder dystocia.

Research at the Johns Hopkins Medical School has demonstrated that the natural forces of child birth cannot exert forces on the nerves in the baby's nerves to severe or significantly injure the baby's arm. Doctors and hospitals routinely tell parents that the injury is a normal consequence of difficult childbirth and that it will resolve with time. Pediatric neurologists are the doctors who can diagnose this condition after the baby is born.

UPBN lists the following goals for public awareness of this preventable condition:

"1. To increase awareness of brachial plexus injuries among the public at large.

2. To increase the participation and involvement of the Medical Community in Awareness Week.

3. To increase the participation and involvement of the brachial plexus communities throughout the nation so that more state proclamations are requested and processed.

4. To make a sincere and conscious effort to reach new families, individuals affected by brachial plexus injuries and families with newborns, so that they may become aware of our support and informational network.

5. To enhance our community involvement and sense of belonging."

UPBN can be contacted at: (866) 877-7004 or (email) info@ubpn.org and has produced materials for those who want to draw public awareness to this injury. The following are activities suggested by UPBN for Brachial Plexus Awareness Week:

"Monday

"Bring Brachial Plexus Injuries To Light" is a day for ceremonial beginnings, contacting politicians and official proclamation presentations. Arrange ahead of time to have "Brachial Plexus Injury Awareness Week" officially proclaimed by your Governor or Municipal leader. Invite the media and everyone you know to the official presentation, ring a bell to "Ring In Awareness" and light a candle at the ceremony to join us all in spirit, and wear and hand-out ribbons to all.

Tuesday

"Get the Word Out: Talking Up Awareness" is a day for contacting local and national media. Set aside time on this day to sit down and phone, write letters and send emails and faxes to as many media sources as possible regarding brachial plexus injury awareness. We will provide you with a list of popular media contacts and some guidelines to get you started, but be sure to use your imagination and determination! Try to set up interviews for this day with local media such as radio, television and newspapers to talk about Awareness Week and your personal experiences.

Wednesday

" Outreach to the Medical Community" is a day for reaching out to the medical community to increase awareness of brachial plexus injuries. Contact local hospitals, pediatricians, family physicians,and specialized caregivers to share information about brachial plexus injury awareness. Isthere a brachial plexus clinic in your area? Work together with them to do something special for Awareness Week on this day.

Thursday

"Sharing and Educating: Handing Out Awareness" is a day for reaching out to the community to educate others about brachial plexus injuries. This would be a great day for visiting your child's school to talk about brachial plexus injuries, or to hand out information at work or at the mall (be sure to get permission first)...the opportunities for sharing information are limited only to your imagination. We will provide lots of ideas to get you started, the rest is up to you!

Friday

"Stretching the Limits: A Day of Therapy Awareness" is a day dedicated to sharing awareness with physical and occupational therapists, and a day for engaging in fun therapeutic activities. Schedule a family swim night, plan a playdate at a kiddie gym or McDonald's Playland, go for a professional massage. Take information about brachial plexus injury awareness to your therapist, along with a small token of appreciation. Hand out brochures or information at other therapy offices.

Saturday

"Wrapping Up Awareness" is the final day of Awareness Week and a day set aside for personal reflection, bell ceremonies to close out the week, and preparation of materials detailing your activities and thoughts during Awareness Week (photographs, writings, press clippings, etc.). These materials will be submitted to the Awareness Committee. Awareness Awards will be presented to those who demonstrate exceptional participation, and all the materia ls received will be compiled into an "Awareness Week" scrapbook.

UPBN can be contacted at: (866) 877-7004 or (email) info@ubpn.org

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons

Reuters Reports That New Study Links Some Antibiotic Use With Cerebral Palsy

Wayne Parsons — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:47:00 GMT

In the past, mothers at risk for premature birth were sometimes administered antibiotics. It turns out that certain antibiotics may increase the risks of cerebral palsy as well as other potential harm according to a Reuters report on British research.

The antibiotics should only be administered if the woman has an actual infection or if her water has broken according to Sara Kenyon of the University of LeicesterThe study, published in the journal Lancet followed 9,000 children and found that those whose mothers were given the antibiotic erythromycin had an 18% greater risk of problems with function including problem solving compared to children whose mothers did not receive the drug.

Another antibiotic, co-amoxiclav, did not show a similar reaction in the children.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Wayne Parsons