Disclosing Medical Error – The Right Thing To Do
To The EditorRegarding: The Value of Disclosing Medical Error I write this in response to an article* posted by ALICIA GALLEGOS, of American Medical News,
Tort Reform – The Fox In The Hen House
The word “tort” means wrong. One would think that tort reform would represent an effort to reduce wrongs. In fact, tort reform, represents a collective
Delay in Herpes Diagnosis Leads to Disaster in a Newborn Infant
A tragic case where reliance on dysfunctional Electronic Health Records (EHR) contributed to a delayed diagnosis of herpes meningitis in a newborn. Despite worsening symptoms, automated “default entries” in the digital record repeatedly listed the infant’s condition as normal, leading to irreversible brain damage and blindness. We examine how the “copy-paste” nature of modern medical charting can discourage thorough physical examinations and facilitate catastrophic medical errors in neonatal intensive care units.
Doctors Confess Their Fatal Mistakes
Joe Kita writes at readersdigest.com a remarkable set of interviews of physicians and nurses confessing medical mistakes for the record which either could have or
What Can Go Wrong, Sometimes Does
This case of delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer as a result of mistakes made by both doctors and cytopathologists is a tragic tale of a young mother who left behind three minor children when she died. Our firm assisted this family in securing financial compensation to support the children after her death.
Incidentaloma can make healthy people ill-especially if ignored!
Kevin Pho M.D. has written that a screening test incidentaloma can make healthy people ill. This is a theme that appears too frequently in the medical
Echocardiogram Bait and Switch
ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS in a recent New York Times article describes outrageous behavior by the clinical director and medical director of Harlem medical center. Under the
Medical Malpractice – A Bogie?
Doctors knowingly fail to cooperate to make medicine safe because they would then be required to practice safe medicine, and be held accountable if they
Medicine Is An Art, Not A Science. Or Is It?
The March 8th New York Times publishes a remarkably insightful opinion piece by Atul Gawande. Gawande reminds us of a lesson learned long ago in
Why Can’t Doctors Say They Are Sorry?
Natasha Singer, in her recent New York’s Times opinion piece suggests that saying you’re sorry is difficult in the health care industry. Indeed, her article
See No Evil – Speak No Evil
January 1, 2010 Journal Watch summarizes a remarkable article entitled “Investigation of incidental findings on cardiac CT.” The article was based on a study conducted
The Pap Smear – Not Too Many – Too Few
According to the American Cancer Society’s most recent estimate for 2009, 11,270 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed and 4,070 women will