In 2004, the AMA declared a “medical malpractice crisis.” At that time, 34 percent of all physicians in the United States had been sued. The practice of medicine was at risk. Hospitals were closing. Coverage for certain high-risk specialtie…
Category: Malpractice
Are you protecting your career? 5 essential questions about your NP liability insurance
A nurse practitioner (NP) in urgent care saw a patient with a severe headache following a fall. Initial testing and symptoms suggested a concussion, leading to discharge. However, when the patient’s worsening condition later revealed an elevated …
How legal exploitation shaped the U.S. medical malpractice system
Random mal-occurrences have always accompanied medical interventions, even under the best of circumstances. These are errors of nature. In the 1960s, some attorneys in California were the first to exploit these unfortunate random outcomes to their adva…
Doctors beware: How vague contracts put your job at risk
“Crappy doc” terminations. First, let me apologize for the use of legalese. Of late, I have been hearing concerning stories about physicians who were terminated from employment on the grounds of supposedly poor-quality care. These are not w…
When it comes to medical malpractice lawsuits, forewarned is forearmed
Medical malpractice is a subject about which I am passionate. I am an obstetrician-gynecologist; I have been sued five times (one case ends in a mistrial, two in settlements of convenience, and two are dismissed with prejudice); I paid over $1 million …
Medical malpractice lawsuits: the hidden cost of social bias
I write these words after a full week of jury deliberation in the Daniel Penny trial. I now realize that what I have been describing about medical malpractice litigation is a signal of a much more serious problem infecting the social order of the entir…
Gender affirming care: a matter for the Supreme Court or a matter for a medical malpractice court?
Of note, today, of all days, when the Supreme Court of the United States is to consider state bans on treatments for gender-affirming care of transsexual youths, virtually every internet site on the subject is blocked. Nevertheless, I am a medical stud…
Peer review case: a surgeon’s fight for due process
We recently resolved a complex peer review case involving a surgeon in a Midwestern state. The case arose as the hospital began transitioning to an employed-physician model, seeking to phase out its non-employed, voluntary medical staff. Our client, a …
A clarion call about medical malpractice to leaders in health care
There are one million physicians practicing medicine in the United States. No medical intervention they recommend is immune from a complication. The exact number of complications is unknown. Some are medical errors inherent to the intervention, while o…
Inside the system that’s costing health care billions every year
It all begins with a political movement for national health in the 1970s. There are no “health systems,” just doctors and hospitals. Fee-for-service is determined by conventional principles of cost accounting, in which payment for services …
