ED Legal Letter – February 1, 2013
February 1, 2013
View Issues
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Extending Care Outside ED Brings New Liability Risks
Were you called by the intensive care unit (ICU) because a patient needs emergent intubation due to a dislodged tube or deterioration of the patients status? -
Accept Responsibility for Boarded Patients, or Face Suits
If a nurse asks the emergency physician (EP) whether an arterial blood gas (ABG) is needed because a boarded patients pulse oximetry is dropping, a busy EPs response might be to tell the nurse to order the test and let the admitting physician know about it. -
Psych Patient Leaves AMA? Mental Capacity Will Be Issue
Malpractice litigation often arises from a psychiatric patient discharged from the ED against medical advice (AMA), according to Robert Berg, JD, an attorney at Epstein Becker Green in Atlanta, GA. -
Standard of Care Breached with Boarded ED Patient?
Does a malpractice suit filed by a boarded ED patient allege he or she was being monitored differently in the ED than would have occurred in the intensive care unit (ICU)? In one claim that included this allegation, the ED nurses notes clearly showed that the same standard was followed in the ED. -
New ED Protections Already Challenged
In Georgia, statutory protections for emergency physicians (EPs) have survived two constitutional challenges. -
ED Peer Review Process IDs Trends Before Suits Occur
A new peer review and quality improvement process at the University of Michigan Hospital and Health Systems in Ann Arbor methodically samples patient safety indicators in the emergency department (ED) to spot trends that signal problems. -
One in Three ED Suits Involve Poor Communication
Can patients truthfully claim that ED staff ignored their complaints and communicated poorly with one another?