Medical Malpractice

• Surgeon Operated On Wrong Side Of Brain

  Amy Schauers | November 27, 2007 3:45 PM | 0 CommentsSalt Lake City, UT

  A Rhode Island hospital was fined $50,000 and reprimanded for operating BRAIN SURGERY on the wrong side of a patient's head. This patient had a bleed on the right side of his brain and the surgeon began drilling on the left side. Once the mistake was realized, the surgeon stitched up the patient and began drilling on the correct side.A different doctor at the same hospital performed brain...

• Nevada Hospital Managers Face Theft Charges

  Steve Klearman | November 27, 2007 12:07 PM | 0 CommentsReno, NV

  Two managers at Clark County's financially struggling public hospital face criminal charges on accusations of bilking taxpayers out of thousands of dollars by stealing materials and enlisting hospital employees for their personal use, according to court documents. Tony Cook, writing for the Las Vegas Sun yesterday, writes that Christopher Roth, an associate administrator of support services who...

• Doctor Performs Brain Surgery on Wrong Side of Brain

  Scott Kappes | November 27, 2007 11:49 AM | 0 CommentsGalveston Bay, TX

  A Rhode Island hospital has been fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the Department of Health after a doctor performed brain surgery on the wrong side of a patient's brain. While this sounds terrible it gets even worse. This is the third time this has happened this year at this hospital alone. Last Friday marks the most recent occurrence when the chief resident began operating on the wrong side of...

• Longer Stays in Hospice Cause Financial Problems

  Linda Snyder | November 27, 2007 11:47 AM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  Numerous hospice providers nationwide are facing financial problems due to their patients living longer than expected. You would assume this would obviously be a positive development, yet the effects on hospices' aren't.Over the last eight years, the federal government has had to demand that hospices exceeding reimbursement limits repay hundreds of millions of dollars to Medicare.A 2006 report...

• Pregnant Women Get More Imaging Exams

  Steve Klearman | November 27, 2007 6:16 AM | 0 CommentsReno, NV

  Pregnant women are receiving more high-tech imaging exams, exposing their babies to higher doses of radiation than a decade ago, a study said on Tuesday. Reuters reports that while the levels of radiation exposure are low, they carry a slight risk of harm to the developing fetus, said study author Elizabeth Lazarus, a professor of diagnostic imaging at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at...

• Doctor Infects Patients with Hepatitis Again!

  Evan Rosen | November 26, 2007 5:39 PM | 0 CommentsFort Lauderdale, FL

  Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, of Long Island, New York, has been allegedly misusing syringes which have led to another confirmed report of Hepatitis C in one of his patients. Despite 10 prior medical malpractice settlements and a 34 month investigation following the initial discovery of these safety procedure lapses, letters finally went out to 628 of his patients advising them of this serious health...

• Politics and Healthcare

  Lauren Ellerman | November 26, 2007 11:00 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  How will our next President feel about tort reform? Medicare? Health insurance for all? What about healthcare in children - will they have a plan?So many candidates, so many ideas... and yes, they are only ideas. You can say that Gov. Romney, or Sen. Clinton have plans, but it takes a few in congress to make that plan a reality.This morning I heard an interesting feature on NPR about national...

• Judge Uncaps Med Mal Caps

  Steve Klearman | November 25, 2007 3:43 PM | 0 CommentsReno, NV

  It's always nice to see Courts take sane approaches to the insurance industry's ongoing efforts to eliminate medical malpractice as a legal claim in America.In a November 14, 2007 article, the Chicago Tribune notes that the "controversy over limits on medical malpractice awards was ignited again after a Cook County judge on Tuesday struck down a 2-year-old state law that capped compensation to...

• New York Doctor Investigated for Medical Malpractice

  Shannon Weidemann | November 24, 2007 5:25 PM | 0 CommentsGreenville, OBX & Rocky Mount, NC

  A doctor in Plainview, New York is being investigated after reports that he may have used needles cross-contaminated with mulitple patients. The case may be a major instance of medical malpractice. The doctor reused syringes and may have infected hundreds of patients with a multitude of blood borne illnesses. On Nov. 10, the State Health Department notified 628 of Dr. Finkelstein's...

• Medical Malpractice Insurer Cutting Rates in 2008

  Chrissie Cole | November 24, 2007 1:32 AM | 0 CommentsLansing, MI

  Starting January 1, 2008, Physicians practicing in Wayne County will see a 13% drop in medical malpractice insurance rates.Statewide and Wayne County malpractice rates will decrease by an average of 6.5 percent in 2008, making Michigan lower than Illinois and Ohio, according to data from the American Physicians Assurance Corp., the largest malpractice insurance company.The decrease is a clear...