Medication errors are one of the many types of mistakes that can occur in the delivery of health care. In many cases, medication errors have no significant consequence. In some cases, the consequences can be fatal. According to a study conducted earlier this year, ten...
Detroit Medical Malpractice Law Blog
Annual survey shows improvement in Michigan hospital safety ratings
We have previously written on this blog about the results of an annual survey conducted by The Leapfrog Group, which rates hospitals according to how well they avoid medical errors and patient harm in the delivery of health care services. The survey is aimed at...
More doctors, medical facilities learning value of sincere apology, P.2
In our last post, we began looking at the unfortunate lack of transparency in medical care, and the effort in some quarters of the profession to improve the situation by adopting policies requiring physicians to more readily empathize with patients when errors do...
More doctors, medical facilities learning value of sincere apology, P.1
Mistakes occur all the time in medical care. Some of them are serious while others are relatively minor, having little or no long-term effect. As patients, we expect that our physicians will help guide us through the medical decision-making process, and this includes...
Medical device alarms: new algorithm helps sort out issue of auditory masking
In health care, there are a variety of things that can go wrong, both when health care providers act negligently and even when they are doing their job according to accepted standards and procedures. Some of the mistakes made by health care providers can be attributed...
Careful expert witness selection, preparation key to successful medical malpractice case, P.2
In our previous post, we pointed out that, in addition to the statutory requirements that must be met by expert witnesses, there is also the issue of the credibility of the witness that must be carefully considered. This is important not only because a witness who...
Careful expert witness selection, preparation key to successful medical malpractice case, P.1
In recent posts, we looked briefly at what exactly an affidavit of merit is and the requirement a physician must meet in order to sign off on an affidavit. As we noted, physicians must meet the same requirements as an expert witness, which we briefly summarized last...
What is an affidavit of merit and why does it matter in med mal litigation?
The concept of merit is an important one when pursuing medical malpractice litigation. Merit refers to the plaintiff's basis for pursuing the claim. A case which has merit has a valid basis such that a court could find that the plaintiff's legal rights have been...
Gaining access to medical records: a common challenge in medical malpractice litigation
Surgical procedures involve various risks. As we’ve pointed out in recent posts, surgeons can and do sometimes make mistakes. Sometimes these errors are serious and leave the patient with permanent health problems.A recent example of this is the case of an Oak...
Wrong-site, wrong-procedure, wrong-patient: welcome to the world of surgical errors, P.2
In our last post, we began speaking about the persistence of surgical errors despite efforts to prevent them. Wrong-site, wrong-procedure and wrong-patient errors are particularly concerning because of the serious impact they can have on the patients...