After years of reported neglect going unaddressed, after years of reported fraudulent charges to the government form falsified documentation of treatment, after directing employees to alter information in insurance claims, after adding conditions to patients' charts whom the doctor had never seen…. After at least three patient deaths as per the records of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Tariq Mahmood is behind bars. But for what? For failure to pay property taxes. This is the result of inadequate, fragmented oversight by Federal and State agencies who lack … [Read more...]
USA Today Study Reveals Unnecessary Surgeries and Their Impact
The following article published in USA Today, reports of tens of thousands of unnecessary surgeries every year. The article includes examples and testimonies from those who suffered from these oversights and the serious impact that was caused. Article is included in this post. Click here to read the original by Peter Eisler and Barbara Hansen of USA Today. A USA TODAY study found that tens of thousands of times each year, patients undergo surgery they don’t need. Jonathan Stelly was 22, a semi-pro baseball player aiming for the big leagues, when a fainting spell sent him to his cardiologist … [Read more...]
Amputee Faces Hospital Legal Fees After Seeking Losses
The following from the Texas Tribune, reports that a San Antonio woman is caught between the errors of medical staff and Texas legislation referred to as "tort reform" resulting in a punitive back-fire for seeking compensation for her losses. Read the following article by the Texas Tribune’s Becca Aaronson, dated January 25, 2013. Despite Counsel, Amputee Hindered by Tort Laws When Connie Spears arrived at a Christus Santa Rosa hospital emergency room in 2010 with severe leg pain, she told medical staff about her history of blood clots. Doctors sent her home with a far less serious … [Read more...]
Research Worldwide Shows Tanning Beds Present Risk of Cancer
The following report from Bloomberg Businessweek informs us how study after study, all over the world, demonstrates health hazard caused by exposure to ultra violet rays produced by tanning booths, beds, etc. Any exposure to UV rays causes a weakening of the immune system spurring susceptibility to all types of cancer, especially to the three main forms of skin cancer including the number one danger, melanoma. Read the entire report below posted by Jason Gale on December 03, 2012. Teenage girls trading the risk of deadly melanoma for a year-round tan have helped spur a global backlash … [Read more...]
Tools and Supplies Left Behind After Surgery
The New York Times' writer Anahad O'Connor tells the story of complications due to oversights of surgical teams when all surgical objects aren’t accounted for after their job is done. Read these stories of foreign objects sent home with recovering patients and the troubles that follow… On an overnight shift in 2005, Sophia Savage, a nurse in Kentucky, felt a crushing pain in her abdomen and started vomiting. The next day she underwent a CT scan, which led to a startling diagnosis: A surgical sponge was lodged in her abdomen, left behind, it turned out, by a surgeon who had performed her … [Read more...]
Injured by a Doctor? You’ll likely deal with the secretive Medical Board instead of open court
Fox 4 in Dallas did a great story on the Texas Medical Board and their contribution to physician discipline since tort reform in 2003. According to the report serious disciplinary actions are down and the time taken to conduct investigations has risen. Further, Doctor confidentiality and secrecy is maintained until a final disciplinary action is completed, leaving patients unaware of allegations of malpractice by doctors. Check the Fox 4 page for a video. Some of the images are graphic and the stories are truly tragic. Its a shame our state has fallen so far in protecting patient … [Read more...]
Tort Reform has not Increased the Number of Doctors in Texas
Anew study by David A. Hyman, Charles Silver, and Bernard Black shows that Texas Tort Reform measures have not increased the number of doctors in Texas since 2003. "Does state tort reform affect physician supply? Tort reformers certainly believe so. Before Texas adopted tort reform in 2003, proponents claimed that physicians were deserting Texas in droves. After tort reform was enacted, proponents claimed there had been a dramatic increase in physicians moving to Texas due to the improved liability climate. We find no evidence to support either claim. Physician supply was not measurably … [Read more...]
All-Metal Hip Implants Prone to Early Failure, Need to be Removed
Great story by NPR on the continuing problems faced by patients who have received All-Metal Hip Implants. Implants Need To Be Removed Early by Richard Knox EnlargeRichard Knox/NPRYoung-min Kwon of Massachusetts General Hospital holds the metal-alloy ball of Susy Mansfield’s faulty artificial hip joint. The yellowish tissue on top is dead muscle caused by a reaction to the metal debris produced by the defective hip implant. When Susy Mansfield needed a hip replacement in 2009, her orthopedic surgeon chose a relatively new and untested kind of artificial hip made entirely of … [Read more...]
Federal Judge in Texas Upholds Med Mal Damages Cap
Originally posted at the Dallas Morning News: https://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2012/03/28/u-s-judge-upholds-texas-cap-on-medical-malpractice-awards/ By MARK CURRIDEN The Texas Lawbook mark.curriden@texaslawbook.net Published: 27 March 2012 08:55 PM A federal judge ruled Tuesday that a Texas law limiting noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases to $250,000 is constitutional. The decision, applauded by tort reform advocates and denounced by trial lawyers and victims of medical malpractice, ends a four-year legal battle over … [Read more...]
The Risks of Using Generic Drugs
by Sarah Hoffman, SpringerLyle ••• In June of 2011, the United States Supreme Court decided an important issue regarding the warning labels on prescription drugs in Pliva, Inc. et al v. Mensing. Mensing was a prescription drug failure-to-warn-case. It dealt with prescription drug companies’ failure to put accurate warnings on their drug labels, leading to patients taking dangerous drugs that they otherwise would not have taken. In Mensing, the Court held that name-brand manufacturers of prescription drugs have an obligation, both under the federal regulations and under state common … [Read more...]
