Last week, the Kansas City Star ran a series of articles discussing complaints in the insurance industry. For a summary and discussion of the articles, please click here.
A Sweatshop on Wheels
Trucking accidents are a concern for all drivers, but two new articles in the New York Times and Chicago Tribune really bring those dangers to light. Each article highlights the dangers caused by truckers’ long work hours, though they both have different views on the cause of the long work hours.
For more, click here.
The Medical Malpractice Crises: Was the sky really falling?
Dallas attorney John Browning, who represents doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases, wrote an insightful opinion piece in his local paper earlier this week. His article, Is The Sky Really Falling?, addresses the alleged medical malpractice crises.
Mr. Browning’s piece includes this conclusion:
If President Bush had listened to Mrs. Thornton’s tragic tale, he would realize that the system is neither broken nor overburdened by frivolous lawsuits; that medical negligence occurs more often than we’d care to admit; and that only a relatively small percentage of cases go all the way to trial and result in a plaintiff’s verdict. I’d also like to think there are ways to address concerns over medical malpractice other than restricting an individual’s right to go to court; such as requiring doctors and hospitals to report errors to a national, federally-supervised database (there is already a National Practition-ers Data Bank that tracks settlements, judgments, and disciplinary actions).
Saying that the sky is falling doesn’t give a complete picture of the medical malpractice issue, and it doesn’t address the most important aspect of all – the safety of patients.
Wrong Side, Wrong Procedure, Wrong Patient
“If you are having surgery, make sure your doctor marks the proper surgical site clearly — and initials it.” That’s a recommendation from a recent Washington Post article titled HEADED FOR THE HOSPITAL? HERE’S HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF.
That sounds a little extreme doesn’t it? While the hospitals may screw something up, surely they’ll get the right area, won’t they? Maybe not. The Archives of Surgery, the official medical journal of surgical associations across the country, has a recent report that studies surgeries (1) where the procedure was performed on the wrong-side or site of the body; (2) where the wrong procedures are performed; or (3) where the doctors operate on the wrong patients. There are no formal methods to report these type of surgeries, but the article’s authors surveyed several separate databases and estimated that there are between 1,300 and 2,700 of these events in the US each year. That means that each day, on average, there are 3-7 operations around the country where a doctor operates on the wrong side, performs the wrong procedure, or operates on the wrong patient. Those numbers would be almost unbelievable if they didn’t come from physicians themselves.
So maybe the advice isn’t so radical, and next time you go in the hospital, remember to protect yourself.
For more information on personal injury and medical malpractice claims, check out our firm’s site. Also, thanks to Virginia attorney Ben Glass for pointing us to the study.
