December 17th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Dr. Kevin Pho, General Medicine, Healthcare Lawsuits, KevinMD, Mediation, Medical Errors, Medical Litigation, Medical Malpractice, Medicine and Legal Issues, Patient Compensation, Settlement, Wall Street Journal Health Blog, When Patients Sue Doctors, WSJ
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Mediation has been cited as a way to lower the cost of litigation and compensate injured patients without going through the ordeal of a trial. In a post from the WSJ Health Blog, the problem is that few doctors are participating.
That’s a problem. A study from a law journal looked at 31 cases that went to mediation and found that,
of those cases, 16 were settled at mediation, 5 settled afterward and 10 weren’t settled. While defense attorneys were less likely to agree to mediation than plaintiff attorneys, lawyers who did participate reported satisfaction with the process, as did “plaintiffs, hospital representatives and insurers,” the study finds.
The authors write that in no cases did physicians participate in the mediation.
Many times, patients resort to suing their physicians simply to find out what happened. In a recent post here, attorney Brian Nash provided perspective from the legal standpoint, and in the comments (now 150+ strong), you can see the dissonance between the malpractice viewpoints of the physician, attorney, and patient. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
December 16th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiology, Code, Defibrillators, Dr. Wes Fisher, ECRI Institute, Emergency Medicine, Health Technology Hazards, Medical Devices, Medical Technology, Patient Safety, Wall Street Journal Health Blog
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In a desperate attempt to reach an even number it seems, hospital defibrillators were added to ECRI.org’s “Top 10 Health Technology Hazards” list of devices that threaten to kill or maim patients:
The Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list is updated each year based upon the prevalence and severity of incidents reported to ECRI Institute by healthcare facilities nationwide; information found in the Institute’s medical device problem reporting databases; and the judgment, analysis, and expertise of the organization’s multidisciplinary staff. Many of the items on this year’s list are well-recognized hazards with numerous reported incidents over the years.
If one honestly looks at the number of lives saved versus the number of deaths from defibrillators, I wonder how many of this highly-esteemed group of “multidisciplinary staff” of the ECRI might reconsider. Clearly, most of them have never been in a code situation.
– WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
Hat tip: Wall Street Journal Health Blog
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
December 16th, 2010 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, Medical Art, Opinion, Research
Tags: Acupuncture, Alan Sokal, BMJ, British Medical Journal, Buttocks, CAM, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, Cultural Studies, Dr. Harriet Hall, Dr. John McLachlan, Hoax, Homunculus, Integrative Medicine, Medical Humor, Medical Prank, Postmodern Philosophy, Reflexology, SBM, Science Based Medicine, Social Text
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In 1996, Alan Sokal got a bogus paper published in the journal Social Text. It was a parody full of meaningless statements in the jargon of postmodern philosophy and cultural studies. The editors couldn’t tell the difference between Sokal’s nonsense and the usual articles they publish.
Now a British professor of medical education, Dr. John McLachlan, has perpetrated a similar hoax on supporters of so-called “integrative” medicine. He reports his prank in an article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
After receiving an invitation to submit papers to an International Conference on Integrative Medicine, he invented a ridiculous story about a new form of reflexology and acupuncture with points represented by a homunculus map on the buttocks. He claimed to have done studies showing that
responses are stronger and of more therapeutic value than those of auricular or conventional reflexology. In some cases, the map can be used for diagnostic purposes.
The organizers asked him to submit an abstract. He did. In the abstract he said he would present only case histories, testimonies, and positive outcomes, since his methods did not lend themselves to randomized controlled trials; and he suggested that his “novel paradigm” might lead to automatic rejection by closed minds. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
December 15th, 2010 by Michael Sevilla, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Accountable Care Organizations, ACO, Active Healthcare Participant, Defensive Medicine, Doctor Anonymous, Dr. Michael Sevilla, Empowering Patients, General Medicine, Global Payment Plan, Good Medicine, Healthcare Delivery, Healthcare reform, Healthcare Reform: Putting Patients First, Lowering Healthcare Costs, Malpractice Reform, Massachusetts Medical Society, Medical Liability Reform, New U.S. Healthcare System, Ohio Health Care Coverage and Quality Council, Patient Accountability, Patient Empowerment, Patient-Centered Medical Home, Patients' Role In Healthcare, Physician Payment System, Primary Care, Team-Based Patient Care, Teamwork In Medicine, Tort Reform
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My professional organization recently asked me to participate in an interesting meeting at the state capitol talking about healthcare payment reform and how to improve the healthcare delivery system. This was sponsored by the state of Ohio and their Health Care Coverage and Quality Council.
It was the first meeting that I’ve been to where there were physicians, hospitals, insurance companies, and patients — all trying to put our heads together — present our points of view and try to come to consensus. Did we come to consensus on solutions? Not really, only that we will continue the conversation. There is no perfect solution that will make everyone happy, but we will strive to try to get to that best imperfect solution.
When is comes to healthcare delivery and healthcare payment, there was a lot of discussion on physicians and hospitals — meaning healthcare providers. The motivating factor in these cases uses terms like payment, lack of payment, incentives, bonuses, and penalties. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Doctor Anonymous*
December 14th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: BBC News, Dr. Peggy Polaneczky, Evidence-Based Health Reporting, GYN, Gynecology, Hormone Replacement Therapy, HRT, Lack of Scientific Medical Evidence, Menopause, Misleading Healthcare Readers, Non-Evidence-Based, Responsible Health Reporting, Sex Hormones, TBTAM, The Blog That Ate Manhattan, Women's Health
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Confused about hormone replacement therapy (HRT)? I can’t imagine why…
*This blog post was originally published at tbtam*
