In our last post, we began speaking about medical guidelines and their potential usefulness for holding negligent physicians accountable for harm to their patients. As we noted, medical guidelines can serve as standards of care, but medical guidelines are not all the...
Year: 2015
Why medical guidelines are good for patients, but confusing
Medical science, as readers know, is not a perfected body of knowledge that cannot be improved upon. Rather, our knowledge of human biology and how to treat patients is continuing to improve. This is obviously a good thing for patients as the way health care...
Health care system needs better monitoring, prevention of diagnostic errors
According to a recent report by the Institute of Medicine, most Americans receive a wrong diagnosis at some point in their lives. Not every case of wrong diagnosis has serious consequences, of course, but in some cases diagnostic errors can have a significant impact....
Suing a physician for errors in provision of free medical care, P.2
In our last post, we began speaking about protections at both the state and federal level which shield volunteer physicians from liability in the event of a mistake that injures a patient. We’ve already mentioned the Federal Volunteer Protection Act, the Federal...
Suing a physician for errors in provision of free medical care, P.1
A recent article in the online journal, Medical Economics, focused on an issue that doesn’t come up too often in discussions of medical malpractice. That issue is the liability of physicians for errors in the course of volunteer work. What kind of liability do...
Pursuing damages for medical error as a VA patient, P.1
As we mentioned in our last post, VA patients do not have the same ability to pursue damages for medical errors as civilian patients. This does not mean it is impossible, only that the means of obtaining compensation is slightly different and a bit more...
Pursuing damages for medical error as a VA patient, P.2
Last time, we began speaking about the Federal Tort Claims Act and the general elements that must be proven in order to successfully pursue such a claim. One important point that needs to be mentioned about the FTCA is that before a claimant actually pursues...
Report shows VA investigating fewer medical errors even as errors increase
Veterans' Administration hospitals, as readers may have heard, do not have the greatest track record in terms of preventing medical errors. To be sure, medical errors can and do occur from time to time at every hospital, even in the absence of negligence. However,...
Surgical operation complications: study says return to original provider/facility
According to a recent study led by a researcher from the University of Utah School of Medicine, patients who suffer from complications after a surgery do best to return to the hospital where the surgery occurred rather than having the problem addressed somewhere else....
Work with experienced counsel after serious surgical error
In our last post, we mentioned a recent study which highlighted the benefit of returning to the facility that performed a surgical operation when post-op complications arise. As we mentioned, it is important for any patient who experiences serious complications after...