ED Legal Letter – May 1, 2015
May 1, 2015
View Issues
-
Surprising New Data on Closed ED Claims: Incomplete Assessments Are Factor in Many Med/Mal Suits
Physician reviewers at The Doctor’s Company, a Napa, CA-based medical malpractice insurer, recently analyzed 332 emergency medicine claims that closed from 2007 to 2013.
-
Is Parent Signing Child Out AMA in Your ED? Hostility Can Lead to Lawsuit
If a parent wishes to sign out a child against medical advice (AMA), emergency physicians (EPs) may become offended, annoyed, hostile, or appear unconcerned. These reactions increase the risk of a malpractice suit being filed in the event of a bad outcome, warns Laura Pimentel, MD, vice president/chief medical officer at Maryland Emergency Medicine Network in Baltimore, MD.
-
Could EP Defendant Be Held to Inappropriate Standard of Care?
Virtually every malpractice lawsuit against an emergency physician (EP) involves a conflict over whether the standard of care was met. “Breach of the standard of care is one of four things that must be proven in order to win a medical malpractice lawsuit; appropriate medical care would negate a medical malpractice claim,” explains William Sullivan, DO, JD, FACEP, an EP at University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago and a practicing attorney in Frankfort, IL.
-
“If the EP Had Only Told Me, I Would Have …
When both the emergency physician (EP) and consultant are jointly named in a malpractice suit, the case often turns on whether a certain piece of information was conveyed.
-
Clear Documentation of EP’s Thought Process Makes Malpractice Suit Unappealing to Plaintiff Attorneys
Many times, a careful review of the emergency department (ED) chart convinces plaintiff attorneys not to sue — even if at first glance, the malpractice case against the emergency physician (EP) sounded rock solid.