Physician Risk Management – August 1, 2012
August 1, 2012
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Did patient suffer harm due to doctor texting, emailing, or surfing the Web?
Was a physician on Facebook or eBay during a procedure or surgery? "This will be seen as a particularly damning piece of evidence, implying that the physician wasn't concentrating on the case," says Robert M. Wachter, MD, professor and associate chairman of the Department of Medicine and chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine at University of California San Francisco. -
When you can't locate nursing notes in your EMR
Would a jury be sympathetic if a physician failed to review nursing notes that could have prevented a patient's bad outcome, simply because they were buried somewhere within a voluminous electronic medical record (EMR)? -
Spotlight on doctors' role in prescription drug abuse
A Virginia physician was sentenced to four years for drug trafficking when patients resold their prescriptions. -
Is there an incidental finding? No follow-up can get you sued
A patient's CT scan ruled out a pulmonary emboli, but showed a 1.5 cm nodule in the right upper lobe of the lung. -
Sued? Don't gather information from others
(Editor's Note: This is the second part of a two-part series on actions physicians should take after being named in a suit. -
Is 'expert' misleading jury, or outright lying?
[Editor's note: This is the first part of a two-part series on expert witness testimony in medical malpractice cases. This month, we cover possible approaches if witnesses for the plaintiff give inaccurate testimony. Next month, we report on how a witness can be prevented from testifying and what actions could put physicians at risk for being accused of witness tampering.] -
Physician Legal Review & Commentary: Anesthesiologist found negligent in brain injury death case, $1.23M verdict
News: In the summer of 2008, a patient underwent thyroid surgery. She did not recover from the surgery, and she could not be revived in postanesthesia care. -
Physician Legal Review & Commentary: Parents awarded $74M in brain injury birth
News: In 2009, a woman delivered a full-term baby with a prolonged second stage labor. Unfortunately, the baby was deprived of oxygen during the delivery and suffered from brain damage and cerebral palsy.