Medical Malpractice

A class-action lawsuit last month has prohibited Medicare from denying patients coverage for reaching a “plateau,” meaning their conditions are not improving. Medicare patients with chronic health problems or disabilities that require nursing care, home health services or outpatient therapy will be able to continue to receive the skilled care they need for as long…

“Morbidity and mortality” – or M&M – conferences emerged in the early 20th century as a way for physicians to review cases that had gone wrong behind closed doors, away from patients and families. In the medical world, surgery M&Ms are especially known for their confrontations, as more experienced surgeons often browbeat younger doctors into…

Nearly half of U.S. physicians experience symptoms of burnout – think exhaustion and depression – according to a new study in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. When a physician has the life of you or a loved one in his or her hands, it is of the utmost importance that they are functioning at…

Kelly Maron, 43, of Painesville, Ohio has been awarded what is believed to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Lake County history – $910,000 – for severe damage to her upper abdomen during a June 2009 procedure. Maron, who was represented in her case against Lake Hospital System Inc. and Dr. Timothy Pritchard by…

A new breakthrough in the field of cardiology will determine whether a patient is having a heart attack hours earlier, which could potentially save significant time and space in emergency rooms, according to The New York Times. Tests commonly used today can take four to six hours to rule out a heart attack, while the new…

A serious human error has led to the suspension of the forty year-old University of Toledo Medical Center’s living kidney transplant program, according to The Toledo Blade. Two operating room nurses were suspended for previously undisclosed actions, which is now being reported as placing a donated, viable kidney in the trash before it could be transplanted…

The differences between inpatient and outpatient care were examined in a recent blog for The New York Times, as well as a subspeciality created in the medical field to account for these differences: the “hospitalist.” The position of the hospitalist was created when it was found that many internists could not keep up with the…

There is only one word to describe the American healthcare system, according to Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society: failure. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Dr. Brawley spoke out about the assertion that the U.S. has the best health care in the world: “It’s not a…