Medical Malpractice

• Anesthesia Malpractice Award

  Staff Writer | February 27, 2006 10:04 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A Pittsburgh jury recently awarded more than $1 million to a man who suffered a permanent injury to his sciatic nerve with accompanying complications following knee surgery seven years ago. The jury concluded that none of the defendants were negligent in causing the injury but that the surgeon failed to fully inform the patient of the risks, complications and alternatives to the spinal...

• Pediatric Patients Beware

  Ben Glass | February 27, 2006 5:00 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  Studies published last week by the Journal of the American Medical Association reveal the shocking disclosure that most hospitals and health plans don't require board certification by those wishing to hold themselves out to the public as "pediatricians." In the article about hospitals 78 percent of hospitals did not require doctors to be board certified as pediatricians before they were given...

• "I'm Sorry" Banned in Washington

  Ben Glass | February 23, 2006 9:33 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  A Seattle, Washington newspaper is reporting on a compromise tort reform law agreed to by doctors and lawyers. The bill includes a provision similar to what we have in Virginia medical malpractice cases in that if a doctor or other health care provider apologizes or says he's "sorry" following a medical mishap, that statement is not admissible in a later lawsuit. This makes a lot of sense and...

• Laparoscopic Malpractice Case

  Staff Writer | February 20, 2006 10:00 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A jury in Oswego County in upstate New York has awarded a two million five hundred thousand dollar verdict in an unusual medical malpractice case. The patient was suffering from abdominal pain and the defendant physician decided to do a laparoscopic examination. While inserting the trocar, the defendant transected both the aorta and the vena cava. The patient suffered a major hemorrhage but...

• Medical Malpractice Crisis? Not!

  Ben Glass | February 16, 2006 6:00 AM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  We've all heard that the main reason we pay so much for health insurance is because doctors pay so much for malpractice insurance. And the reason malpractice insurance rates go up is because "verdicts are out of hand." I've even seen doctors with big signs in their offices saying this. Only problem is that it's not true and study after study shows this.OK, so you would think that in states that...

• No Medical Malpractice Lawsuits for Military

  Ben Glass | February 15, 2006 10:33 AM | 1 CommentNorthern Virginia, VA

  An article in the Honolulu Advertiser discusses the case of an Army Staff Sgt. who underwent surgery for acid reflux disease. Unfortunately the surgeon severed two nerves, and now half of the soldier's diaphragm is paralyzed.The article tells the tale of Army Staff Sgt. Michael McClaran:"The severed nerves affected Michael McClaran's respiratory and digestive systems. As a result, he has...

• Insurance Companies Significantly Overstating Their Losses

  Staff Writer | January 18, 2006 9:07 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A recently published study by The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights demonstrates that insurance companies have been significantly overstating their losses and then revising them downward in later years.The study showed that the insurance companies reported "incurred losses," what they expected to have to pay out on claims, averaged 46% larger that what they actually paid out. The...

• New Treatment for Advanced Ovarian Cancer

  Staff Writer | January 16, 2006 9:35 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  The National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has issued an announcement regarding an encouraging new treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer.The treatment involves delivering anti-cancer drugs into a vein and directly into the patient's abdomen. This has been found to extend overall survival for women with advanced ovarian cancer by about a...

• DC Scare Tactics

  Staff Writer | January 06, 2006 9:33 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A new survey by Public Citizen has put the lie to the scare tactics employed by the Medical Society of the District of Columbia which grossly understated the number of obstetricians practicing in the District. The Public Citizen survey sought to identify and determine the status of all DC obstetricians and found that obstetric services are readily available and there are dozens more...

• Virginia Medical Malpractice Crisis?

  Staff Writer | January 04, 2006 3:02 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  In an opinion piece from the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, a closer look is taken at the Medical Malpractice "crisis" affecting Virginia and 19 other states. As usual, high med-mal insurance premiums are being blamed on "frivolous" lawsuits, but a closer look at the facts reveals that this simply isn't true.A few of the more interesting points from the column:In the Old Dominion, figures show,...