Sweet Benefits: Hospital employee cashes in after visit to ER at work Read [New York Daily News]
Novel Idea: One surgeon's deadly prescriptions for lawsuit happy lawyers Read [Webwire]
'Suit: Singer silenced by sloppy dentists Read [St. Clair Record]
Opinion: Lower health care costs by banning all media advertising of health care providers, lawyers and law firms, insurance companies and, most of all, prescription drugs.
Hmmm? Yeah, that's the ticket. Read [Detroit Free Press]
City Attorney: Liability risk too high, forget the defibrillators Read [The Record]
Common Good: "Fear of erratic jury decisions in medical malpractice cases has spawned a culture of fear, causing inefficiencies that infect every level of medicine." Read [Wall Street Journal]
Texas Republican Skewers GOP Lawman: "Liability insurance carriers successfully fought to limit the right to a jury trial for patients who suffer grievous bodily harm at the hands of negligent doctors and hospitals." Read [Star-Telegram]
Dr. Michael Gleeson is miffed that his lawyer got $600K when he sued the cops and won $2 million.
While the doc/lawyer friction is interesting. The back story to how it got to this point is fantastic.
In 1999, Dr. Gleeson approached the owner of the Grandview Gentlemen's Club.
"How about I enhance your employees' breasts," he said. Or at least something to that effect.
"Brilliant," the proprietor probably replied. And they had a deal.
Gleeson got to work, enlarging the breasts by inserting an implant through a tunnel from the belly button to the pocket beneath the breasts.
But then, let's call her Cheyenne West, didn't like her new look. So she called the cops.
The police arrested Dr. Gleeson on 400, YES 400, separate charges linked to his services.
But the charges were eventually tossed and Dr. Gleeson sued the cops and some local governments for the mess. And he won.
Now, Dr. Gleeson says his lawyer shouldn't have gotten a 30% cut and he's asking a federal judge to slice it.
We love this story. Read [Pocono Record]
Opinion: An affidavit of [lawsuit] merit usually costs from $500 to $5,000 and prevents the poor from launching med mal 'suits. Read [Muskogee Phoenix]
We mentioned the Okla. Supreme Court striking this down, here.
Doc in drugs-for-sex scandal, now faces rape charges Read [WMDT-TV]
Get the dirt on docs in Arizona, here.
? Shouldn't every state have such transparency for patients?
Residents of South Florida, Cook County, and South Texas: You all live in Judicial Hellholes. At least that's what the American Tort Reform Association says.
"Judicial Hellholes are places where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, generally against defendants, in civil lawsuits."
Check it out, here.
Anyone think differently?
We said, "don't resuscitate grandma." So now we're gonna sue. Read [Kaiser Network]
Who's at fault, here?
Pill pushing doc's patient overdoses, murder charges filed Read [Las Vegas Now]
'Soothing' ointment chafes grandma, payday ensues Read [Roanoke Times]
Chemo overload in San Mateo Read [San Mateo Daily Journal]
Oklahoma Supreme Court says experts don't need to sign off on med mal suits Read [Tulsa World]
Eli Lily hid side-effects info, kept pushing schizo drug Read [Wilmington Star News]
Adios cowboys! A third of Wyoming docs plan to flee Read [Casper Star Tribune]
VA and health care behemoth Kaiser pushing docs to web for diagnosis info, options Read [Kansas City Star]
Bad Apples: North Dakota rebuking record number of state's lawyers Read [Bismark Tribune]
Patient gets screwed out of friend's kidney, dies, and CAN'T sue Read [New York Sun]
Some random musings we found while perusing the wide world o' blogs
Aggravated DocSurg says: "Whenever I see an award in a malpractice case that is this high [he's talking about $8.25 million in Fort Myers], I remind myself to continuously express to patients one of the basic tenets of life: Bad things happen. Sometimes, they happen despite the best efforts of everyone involved. Surgery, like life, offers no guarantees."
Callous? The truth?
GruntDoc keyed us into this interesting legal move [via Overlawyered]. Seems the the former president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Kim Presbrey, has started a new malpractice insurance company, Doctors Direct, focusing on neurosurgeons and heart surgeons.
Get in where the getting is good.
And lastly, we've been meaning to mention a site under the name, My Surgery Nightmare. Is the proof in the wide-eyes?
Have some favorite blogs? Drop us a line, here.
PS Check out the 2006 Medical Weblog Awards. Lots of links to cool med-related sites, from docs to patients and everything in between. You can even nominate ThisMakesMeSick for "Best Health Policies/Ethics Weblog." (Insert shameless plug)
We got this blog started for the simple fact that things were making us sick.
And the best tales of sketchy lawyers, slack docs, lying patients and greedy insurance moguls have come from readers like you who stop by ThisMakesMeSick.
Chime in, here!
In case you need some prodding, a greatest hits collection:
Stay in Hospital Takes Wicked Turn
Hospitals Shut Door On Doc's Charity Work
Grandma's Fears From the ICU
Double Dipping Medical Directors
Dr. Choi Had No Idea What He Was Doing
From a scrappy news service in Thailand comes this little gem for peace in medicine:
"Both doctors and patients must also be assured that a safeguard will be put in place to prevent frivolous claims for compensation. For example, a satisfactory list of criteria must be established before a medical malpractice lawsuit can be initiated." Read [Nation Multimedia]
Any volunteers want a seat at the roundtable to set these ground rules?
We want to hear your thoughts and personal stories.
Have you...
• Fretted over rising malpractice premiums?
• Signed a truly unbelievable medical liability waiver?
• Faced a frivolous lawsuit?
• Dealt with a doctor or a hospital who wouldn't take responsiblity for their actions?
• Practiced defensive medicine?Let us know about groups and individuals offering real solutions. And be sure to add your comments to our posts.
Contact the editor of ThisMakesMeSick.
Subscribe to our RSS Feed.
"This election destroyed a popular Karl Rove myth. The truth is that trial attorneys are winning, attacks on trial attorneys are backfiring and opponents of the civil justice system are losing."
The CEO of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America said.
"We have discovered that virtually all patients are willing to sign a contract in which they agree not to sue their doctors on frivolous grounds."
Jeffrey Segal, M.D, a board-certified neurosurgeon and the founder and president of Medical Justice Services, Inc., said.
"Low-risk obstetrics has been done here for 60 years, but not anymore."
Carl Hanson, chief operating officer of the county-run Minidoka Memorial Hospital in southern Idaho hospital's, explained as they get out of the baby business. Read
"I have children, and I don't know where they're at."
Rosalinda Elison, a former patient at the UC Irvine Medical Center’s fertility clinic, said after learning that that her eggs and embryos had been stolen and implanted in another woman who then gave birth to twins.
Read more You Don't Say, here.
$4.6 million
New York state grants available to expand the use of electronic medical records. Such initiatives have been hailed nationally as a way to cut medication errors, save money and improve patient safety. LINK
$700,000
Amount raised by Fairness and Accountability in Insurance Reform to oppose malpractice limits in Arizona. LINK
$450,000
Amount the Arizona Medical Association says Arizonans for Access to Health Care has raised to decide whether to push for montetary limits on lawsuits. LINK
Read more CRISIS BY NUMBERS, here.
Recent Comments