This Makes Me Sick

Docs Flee, Lawyers Slacking, and a Lost Kidney

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]

Searching For Blues

Ah, the land o' Google

Search: Hospital horror stories

Results: Four Chicago filmmakers helping patients avoid their own horrors; 
An ER patient in a Bronx hospital details her stay in a house of horrors;
And the Top 10 secrets your hospital won't tell you.

We've written about some nightmarish stays, here.

Last lil note for the day: Can we tell you how many people find ThisMakesMeSick by searching "ear stapling?" We wrote about it, here. All hail the new weight loss solution.

News Roundup

Extra! Extra!  Docs Say they'll Be in Short Supply Come 2020 Read [BYU NewsNet]

Wisconsin BS? Law: Adult Kids Can't Sue For Malpractice If Parent Dies Read [WTMJ-TV]

Forget Suing Docs, The Mold That Nearly Snuffed Me Was The Builder's Fault Read [Orlando Sun-Sentinel]

Frankenstein Cometh: Grandma Claims Doc Left Bolt in Her Neck Read [Roanoke Times]

Surprise, Surprise: Tort Reform Not Keeping Docs in Land O' Lincoln Read [Courier News]

'Cock' Doc Underfire

Alright, the more appropriate term is "penis doctor." But it still galls us that some cardiologist read a how-to book and began performing delicate surgeries outside his discipline. In this case, "visions of grandeur" became "distorted organs." We'll leave it to the Chicagoist who said it, ah, best:

This morning's Sun-Times ran a story about Dr. Sheldon Burman, the founder of the MSD Clinic, an abattoir of masculinity located in our old Northwest Side childhood stomping grounds. "MSD", by the way, stands for "Male Sexual Dysfunction", although with the rash of malpractice claims filed against Burman (45 and counting), it could just as well stand for "my scary-looking ding-a-ling". Guaranteeing an increase of one-half inch in length and a fifty percent increase in penile thickness, Burman and his crack (smoking?) team essentially helped men change their penis size from "pudding snack cup" to "rusty, dented tuna can". The sheer number of malpractice claims against Burman were enough for state medical officials to start the process of revoking Burman's medical license. Burman still stands by the thouands of procedures he's done since 1981.

We digressed today. We know. We take responsibility. But it's still a liability mess.

FYI: Doc Burman said he had no formal training but taught himself the  knife tricks. Read [UPI]

IS THIS ROUTINE IN MEDICINE? LET US KNOW.

Fearing the Prison Infirmary

Symbionese Liberation Army cohort Kathleen Soliah—nee Sara Jane Olson—who was finally caught in 1999 after living on the run for 23-years, fears falling ill in the Central California Women's Facility where she's doing time. Why? Seems the misfit who rolled with the gang best known for kidnapping newspaper heiress Patty Hearst fears "a prison healthcare system that experts say claims one life a week through malpractice or neglect." Really? Seems the LA Times unearthed some nasty tales on that front back in July. Read about it here. Or, just check out the juicy profile of Soliah's life on the trash detail making 24 cents an hour. Read [KTLA-TV] 

New York Hospital Woes

Yikes! The venerable New York Post touches on the spike in complaints against NY hospitals, from maggots found in a patient's breathing tube to a newborn whose skull was fractured. Read

A Doc's Double VIsion

According to prosecutors in a case in Arizona, Dr. Bradley Schwartz  grew to detest  Dr. David Brian Stidham, his former associate. The reason: Schwartz was forced into drug rehab by the Arizona Board of Medical Examiners in the fall of 2002 and he thought Stidham would keep their practice going while he was "gone." He didn't, and started his own practice leaving Schwartz in the cold. What happened next was a rational... he conspired to whack Stidham in October 2004. Recently, he was sentenced to life in prison for this.

So the stage is set for—you guessed it—a malpractice lawsuit. Seems a family is suing him, because he was allegedly flying on drugs when he performed surgery on their teenage son in November 2001. The kid's got double vision now. The doc tried to get the case moved or delayed because he's burned out. No dice. Read [The Arizona Daily Star]

Solid Rebuke… 12 Years Later!

The Rhode Island state medical board has finally found Dr. Aaron R. Sherman, a Warwick OB/GYN, guilty of unprofessional conduct for injecting a young woman with Valium without telling her, causing her to fall unconscious in the examining room. She remained there for a half-hour. It is uncertain whether she was alone or with him in the room. Oh yeah, this occurred in 1994. Better later than…. Read [The Providence 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]

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.