This Makes Me Sick

Docs Phoning It In

"Prescribing antibiotics has become so common that many doctors literally are just phoning it in ... Researchers found that 40% of people who filled an antibiotic prescription had not seen a doctor in at least a month."

Flashing liability alarms are just the tip of the iceberg, no? But we can kind of see where docs are coming from; our mom pushed antibiotics like smarties. Read [USA Today]

Real Chinese Guinea Pigs

Back in college, we had friends hard up for cash who donated plasma until the veins went dry or slept in tanks while listening to East German fitness tapes in the name of "research." So it caught our eye when we learned that some patients in China are getting suckered into unnecssary heart and lung transplants so docs can get hands-on-training. There must be some $$ involved.  Too bad one of the suckers just died. Read [Epoch Times]

Sketchy Ethics 101

Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto is running for office. So, he slaps together some flyers at Kinko's. (Karl Rove will tell ya' that ya' need photos with those slogans. ) So he plops in a shot of his old pal Joseph Schallert, M.D. Sounds like good ol' democracy in action. But noooooooooooo. It's dirty. Dr. Schallert happens to be facing a malpractice lawsuit in Cueto's court. Nice that Doc had time to ham it up for the camera in between getting squeezed on the stand.   Read [Madison Record]

Anyone want to share some other legal shenanigans? EMAIL US

Dirty Campaign $$$

Hot Damn: Texas-sized trial lawyer kicks Dem. Gov. hopeful $2.5 million. Is that legal? Is he insane? This is wrong for all kinds of reasons. The GOP-incumbent called  Counselor O'Quinn a "trial lawyer sugar daddy." Read [KWTX-TV]

This got TMMS to thinking about dirty, er, legal and clean dollars flowing into elections all-time.

Batting lead off, a consortium of docs and hospitals making campaign donations to the tune of: 
$36,863,662
65% of the booty is going to the GOP with getting med mal caps at the top of the wish list.

Batting cleanup, a well-schooled crew of lawyers, donating an abusurd amount:  $89,041,046
Dems get 69%

Other Big Individual Hitters:
The Assn. of Trial Lawyers: $26,599,956.
American Medical Assn: $23,139,274
American Hospital Assn: $12,978,544

This is nuts. A system must be screwed up if docs and lawyers will donate so much cash to preserve, or change, the way liability issues are handled.

For more election season money fun, go here.

Anyone think publicly financed elections would help? Chime in.

Med Expert Gone Bad

We've been getting some tasty med mal-related email of late. One note came in from the crew at SickOfLawsuits.org.

Drum roll, please: It's the 54th annual—alright maybe the first—“Bad Science Investigation” (BSI) Awards. The best junk science from the nation's finest "expert" witnesses.

The BSI for Best “Film Editing” goes to: Dr. Ray Harron

That's right. Dr. Harron of West Virginia was hired by personal injury lawyers to read x-rays for their asbestos lawsuits – and then he was hired to read the same x-rays for silica lawsuits. In a result that was surprising to the scientific community and a federal judge, Dr. Harron improbably diagnosed the same people as being sick from both conditions! Dr. Harron may not be able to accept his award, however. After U.S. District Judge Janis Jack questioned his diagnoses of thousands of patients as having two diseases, he sought a lawyer for himself and abruptly closed his medical practice that was dedicated exclusively to reading x-rays.

Read up on the Dr. X-Ray, here.

Have some expert witness tales of your own? EMAIL US.

More awards next week.

'Don't Worry, We Do Thousands of These"

Last week, we put the word out that we wanted to HEAR YOUR STORIES about WHAT MAKES YOU SICK.

Well, we have heard from you. Here is a sad installment from Dennis Kruse who told us what happened to his son while under the care of Dr. Choi.

Dr. Choi: "I had some problems with Marshall's intubation and he went without oxygen for at least 15 minutes."

Kent Choi, MD, was the doctor on duty in the ICU in  June of 2005 after our son, Marshall Kruse, had surgery. Approximately 18 hours after Marshall’s surgery while in the recovery unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Mr. Choi suggested to us that, as a precautionary measure, perhaps our son should be intubated.

We discussed this with our son as well as Dr. Choi, whose  exact words to us were "DON’T WORRY WE DO THOUSANDS OF THESE".  We were then asked to leave while Kent Choi Md. performed the intubation.

Forty minutes later..... while standing in the hall at the ICU reception desk with some family friends,  Kent Choi Md casually approached us and said "I had some problems with Marshall's intubation and he went without oxygen for at least 15 minutes."

As this news sank in to all of us, I asked him if he had killed my son's brain. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said "don’t know." He then turned around and walked off leaving us standing in the hallway. We then demanded  to see our son and  were told we couldn’t, as they were cleaning him up. A short time later when we finally got in to see Marshall; he was grimacing and fighting for his life, as he sank into a coma. 

Do you have a story to tell? EMAIL US

This Makes Us Sick!

The whole idea behind ThisMakesMeSick is exposing the outrageous problems of America's medical liability nightmare.

We've been evenhanded over the past year going after the dirtbags causing the mess, no matter if they are lawyers, doctors, patients, politicos, or insurance companies.

Recently, we heard a truly sick tale from Blaine Stanziana about his wife's horriffic hospital stay:

My wife went into Pittsburgh's Mercy hospital on 10-3-05 for a hysterectomy. The morning of the surgery we told hospital doctors that my wife still had a sore throat. They ignored us. My wife then placed this information in the preoperative anesthetic evaluation form where question 6 asked " Have you had any of these symptoms in the past week? A Sore Throat? A cough or cold? My wife then checked the yes box's for both answers.

My wife  developed the Flesh Eating Disease called Necrotizing Fasciitious in her surgery incision six hours after  surgery. My wife then underwent five emergency surgeries in three days to save her life. She was on a breathing machine fighting for her life. In all she had seven surgeries in eight days all because the hospital did not listen to us about her having a sore throat the morning of the surgery.

Here is a photo taken by Blaine of his wife after the incident.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

If you have a tale, let's hear it! EMAIL US

 

9/11 Responders Waiting For Answers

Pres. Bush's 9/11 health efforts:

"Five years after the World Trade Center towers collapsed in a vortex of dust and ash, government officials have only recently begun to take a role in the care of many of the 40,000 responders and recovery workers who were made sick by toxic materials at ground zero."

Dr. John Howard was appointed by the Bush administration in February to coordinate the federal government’s 9/11 health efforts and admits that costly delays and missed opportunities may have shattered responders’ trust in the government. “I can’t blame them for thinking, ‘Where were you when we needed you?’" Right.

“They seem to be running from the people who are sick, not standing with them and helping them,” said Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, a Democrat who represents parts of Manhattan and Queens.

Read [Amherst Times]

What's going on here? Anyone versed on the subject?

Dr. Responsibility

Gastric-Bypass Doc Flees Iowa for NY, Leaving Six Dead Patients Behind
"In charges made public ... the Iowa Board of Medical Examiners accused him of "a substantial lack of knowledge or ability" and of "engaging in practice harmful or detrimental to the public." The charges could lead to a fine or suspension of his Iowa medical license."

And, what else? Read [Des Moines Register]

Bush, Frustrated Docs, and a Crusader

Pres. Bush Takes a Break From The Middle East: "These trial lawyers need to back off."  Read [Washington Post]

Retired Doc Volunteering At Clinic: Priceless. Getting Malpractice Insurance: $10,000. Read [Insurance Journal]

Woman Whose Husband Died During Sinus Surgery Helps Others Navigate Med-Mal Legal World Read [OC Register]

A Californian Asks: "Do any medical malpractice attorneys advance costs, or split them with the client? Also, why are so many experts needed?"
For the answer, click here [The Daily Breeze]

Executioner's Bad Song

Doc who was Missouri’s executioner extraordinaire has been suspended for some questionable anesthesia practices on judgment days. Turns out he’d also been sued for malpractice more than 20 times doing his “day job.” Read [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Friday Headlines

The size of the malpractice verdict was stunning: $28 million, one of the biggest in Central Florida history. Now, as the losing attorneys work to knock that down, they're also trying a rarely used and very aggressive tactic: attacking individual jurors and accusing the whole panel of prejudice. Yikes. Protect your kneecaps, kids. Read [Orlando Sentinel]

Better late than never: An Arkansas doctor is being investigated by the state's medical board after 10 of his patients died from lethal mixtures of drugs or overdoses of prescription medicines. Read [WIS-TV]

For the past 20 years Urban Ministries Open Door Clinic in Raleigh, North Carolina has provided free health care and other services to uninsured patients. Dr. Donald T. Lucey says his work there has rejuvenated his love of medicine. He sent out a letter to 230 retired and soon-to-retire physicians hoping they would join him to work at the clinic. The letter mentioned a $100 malpractice insurance option for volunteers in free clinics and the "exceptionally small" history of malpractice claims brought against them. So far, two doctors have responded. Maybe the replies got lost in the mail. Read [Raleigh News & Observer]

Learn to Use That Fax Machine

A man who is HIV positive has sued his Charlotte doctor, saying he was denied a promotion after the doctor faxed confidential medical records to his office. He contends that his boss found the report and then proceeded to discriminate against him at work. Nice execution. Read [Winston-Salem Journal]

Anyone Can Be A Physical Therapist

Caryn Dinetz wanted to and all she had to do was lift Karen Levine's licensing information off of a New York State Web site. Then she polished up a resume with Levine’s name, presented the required medical malpractice insurance forms using Levine's policy number and voila. Yikes! Talk about liability nightmare. Read [Newsday]

Medical Liability News Just Won't Quit

The Florida House has voted unanimously to provide $6 million for care of paralyzed teen. But she may never get the dough.

Minouche Noel was 6 months old when she was treated by a state-run program. Already diagnosed with spina bifida, docs performed an unnecessary surgery to remove a lesion on her back, which led to a spinal infection. The infection went undiagnosed and untreated until she was paralyzed. A jury determined a decade ago the state was at fault and awarded her $8.5 million in compensation. The state has never appealed the case, but because Florida law requires jury verdicts larger than $200,000 against public agencies to be approved by the Legislature, the family has been denied the claim. The bill may have trouble passing the Senate; Republican leaders have balked at spending tax funds on medical claims bills. Nice! Read [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

We Don't Even Know Where to Begin

1) More than a dozen more ear-stapling businesses have been told to shut down by the Mississippi Medical Licensure Board because they aren’t licensed. The small, stainless steel staples are supposed to apply pressure to points that control appetite and cravings for nicotine. Do people sue if they keep eating? Read [Clarion Ledger]

2) This happened in Canada, but we couldn’t let it go. A hospital had to cancel 17 elective surgeries after six doctors were suspended because they were not completing patients’ charts. Oh, yeah, the slackin’ docs had 28 days to take care of this huge liability risk. Read

3) A New Jersey woman with a history of beating her son laid a real swift kick to his neck in 2003. The boy died from internal bleeding and heart failure several hours after being admitted to a hospital. Now, three medical experts say it was Pascack Valley Hospital’s shoddy care--not mom's footwork--that caused the boy’s death. So mom was found guilty of assault instead of murder. Even if the facts are what they are, the whole thing just sickens us. Read [Bergen Record]

Read more news that MakesUsSick here and here. And contact us if you have some news that MakesYouSick.

Different Flavors of Free Speech

TheMakesUsSick!
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to sending a mail bomb to a Chicago surgeon he said botched his penile enlargement surgery. Ouch. Read [KMGH-TV]

The 1st Amendment Lives
Lawyer Geoffrey Fieger has filed a federal lawsuit against the Michigan Supreme Court seeking to block it from enforcing two court rules requiring lawyers to conduct themselves in a courteous manner. Last month, attorneys for Fieger argued before the Michigan Supreme Court that the lawyer has a First Amendment right to publicly criticize judges by using obscenities and likening them to Nazis. The Attorney Grievance Commission wants to reprimand Fieger for twice appearing on radio shows and making remarks about state Court of Appeals judges. The judges overturned a $15 million medical malpractice judgment he won. Touché! Read [Lansing State Journal]

Double Dipping Medical Directors

Guest blogger Jeffrey Segal, M.D., a board-certified neurosurgeon and the founder and president of Medical Justice Services, Inc., says a physician abuses the system—and his fellow doctors.

I think that one thing is not negotiable:You shouldn’t be allowed to work “both sides” at the same time for personal gain.

Introducing ethics into the debate seems obvious enough. But it isn’t.

As long as there has been managed care, there have been medical directors of managed care organizations (MCO). These are physicians who review confidential medical records and, among other things, make determinations of “medical necessity.” This includes determining whether to pay for specific procedures, and if so, how much.

When such records are reviewed, the physician who sends the information to the MCO assumes that the information will remain confidential, and it will be reviewed solely on its own merits.

Imagine the surprise when a physician learned that the Medical Director for one of the larger MCOs in the Northeast was wearing two hats.

By day, he was reviewing confidential charts, as expected.

By night, he was serving as a plaintiff’s expert witness to medical malpractice attorneys.

Serve But Don't Sue, Solider

Nearly five years ago, Army Staff Sgt. Michael McClaran had laparoscopic surgery at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu to fix his indigestion and acid reflux.  The operation partly corrected the problem, but the surgeon mistakenly severed two nerves, leaving half of McClaran's diaphragm paralyzed.

Now, he has trouble digesting food,  experiences shortness of breath and can no longer play the French horn in the Army band. Because McClaran is on active duty - he's been in the military for 20 years - he can't sue for malpractice. Under the Federal Tort Claims Act and a 1950 U.S. Supreme Court decision, active-duty military personnel are barred from suing the U.S. government for injuries "incident to service," even if gross negligence was the cause. Nice! Read [Coshocton Tribune]

Stash the camera new poppa

Hat tip to our friends at Common Good for catching this depressing story from the Windy City. In a Sun-Times op-ed piece, a new mother blasts the fact that her husband couldn't capture the birth of their third child on camera.  Seems that pesky liability concerns led to the ban at Northwestern Memorial and most other major hospitals across Illinois. Maybe courtroom artists can pick up the slack. What a shame. Read [Chicago Sun-Times]

It's a broken system driven by fear

The ER doc arrived for his usual shift at a hospital in Washington. The problem was that it WAS a typical day where another patient would be subjected to a litany of tests--"The cost of this young man’s head, neck, face and abdominal CAT scans, ambulance ride, and extensive evaluation was likely in the range of $20,000"--that weren't needed. But the doc's colleagues ordered them to cover their collective derrieres. We'll let the doc's story speak for itself. Read [The Olympian]

Doctor Reprimanded for Calling Patient Fat

Dr. Terry Bennett believes in being honest with his patients, but one woman was so offended about the way he spoke to her about her weight, she filed a complaint with the New Hampshire Board of Medicine.  The board charged him with misconduct and disrespectful and unprofessional behavior and they asked him to admit he made a mistake. He refused and now he faces possible revocation of his medical license. “Part of my job is to tell you the truth," Bennett said. "You come in here, you pay $75 to sit on the couch. I'm not going to sit here and talk about the weather with you. If you're noticeably obese, I know that you are going to have future health problems." Some have cried there were racist undertones to his comments. A number of his patients have come to his defense. Can’t anybody handle the truth anymore? Read [New Hampshire Union-Leader]