Articles Tagged With: Malpractice
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Can Ethicists Be Sued for Recommendations? Attorneys Warn of Potential Legal Risks
The field of clinical ethics continues to evolve, with core competencies, certification, and documentation in the electronic medical record. In a recent paper, Claudia R. Sotomayor, MD, DBe, HEC-C, chief of the Ethics Consultation Service and a clinical ethicist at Georgetown University’s Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics in Washington, DC, and colleagues explored whether the professionalization of ethics consultation exposes those working in this field to the types of liability claims faced by professionals in other fields.
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Appellate Court Affirms Trial Court’s Grant of Summary Judgment in Drowning Case
The Georgia Court of Appeals recently upheld a trial court’s decision granting summary judgment to the defendants in a medical malpractice suit following the accidental drowning death of a patient after he was discharged from the hospital.
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Attorney-Client Privilege Is Vital, but Know Limitations
Attorney/client privilege can be vital in defending malpractice cases and managing other risk management issues. But sometimes, it is misunderstood by risk managers in healthcare, and missteps can have significant implications. Understanding attorney-client privilege is the first step to taking advantage of this important protection.
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Defendants Prevail Against Malpractice Claims Related to Hernia Surgery and Medication List
This case has many lessons to learn from the multiple defendants, multiple theories of malpractice liability, and multiple defenses. Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this case relates to the patient’s primary care physician, who was one of the two remaining defendants when the matter proceeded to trial.
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Failure to Diagnose and Treat Post-Surgery Infection Leads to $1.18 Million Verdict
One of the primary takeaways from this case is the importance of keeping thorough and accurate records. Keeping thorough and accurate records is important given the length of time that lapses between the underlying medical services and the potential for legal action, particularly trials.
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ED Malpractice Claims Alleging Missed Sepsis Include These Allegations
Plaintiffs’ attorneys are increasingly scrutinizing ED care for failure to promptly identify and treat sepsis.
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Malpractice Claims Involving AI Tools Are Emerging: EDs Can Mitigate Legal Exposure
Researchers explored the evolving legal landscape by studying how courts have approached allocation of liability for both AI and other complex medical software.
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‘Safe Harbors’ Can Address ED Providers’ Malpractice Fears
Many emergency physicians want to follow evidence-based guidelines to reduce unnecessary testing — but worry about liability if they do not order a diagnostic test and a patient sues. The Choosing Wisely campaign, an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, aims to reduce the overuse of potentially harmful tests and procedures.
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Defense Decision Reinstated for Patient’s Failure to Provide Expert Testimony
An important lesson from this case focuses on a critical aspect of medical malpractice cases: causation. Generally, the legal standard is that the care provider’s conduct must have been a substantial factor in causing harm such that a reasonable person would consider the conduct to have contributed to the harm.
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Mixed Defense Rulings Related to Patient’s Death Yield Lessons Regarding Experts
Factually, there was no dispute about the patient’s cause of death — it resulted from an infection. Legally, the defendant physician’s initial challenge to the plaintiff’s case was not to directly attack that factual premise itself, but to instead challenge the plaintiff’s experts.