Medical roundup

  • Scorecards on complication rates and outcomes may reveal little about who’s a bad doctor since best docs sometimes take hardest cases [Saurabh Jha, KevinMD] “Anatomy of error: a surgeon remembers his mistakes” [The New Yorker]
  • When parents and doctors don’t agree, are allegations of “medical child abuse” levied too liberally? [Maxine Eichner, New York Times; Lenore Skenazy, see also “medical kidnapping” links]
  • ABA’s Standing Committee on Medical Professional Liability derailed in bid for House of Delegates resolution endorsing unlimited punitive damages in product liability [Drug & Device Law first, second, third posts]
  • Wisconsin repeals medical whistleblower law [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]
  • “Politically Driven Unionization Threatens In-Home Care” [David Osborne, IBD]
  • Ninth Circuit upholds Washington state regulations forcing family pharmacy to dispense morning-after pills [The Becket Fund]
  • Pathologist who frequently diagnosed shaken baby syndrome loses Montana role [Missoulian]

One Comment

  • FIL, a retired neurologist, specialized in stroke, epilepsy, and other degenerative neuromuscular diseases. If you just looked at his “numbers” then the great bulk of his patients died, most horribly. This is forgetting the patients who were terminal before he saw them, but could then be included in “his” numbers. Many patients as well as friends and family members still sought him out as he was usually correct when making a diagnosis where other doctors had it just plain wrong or completely misread the symptoms.

    On a similar note, I am a “clean” for two years cancer patient. Many of my surgeon’s patients do not last long. Yet, he had the skill set to operate rather successfully on me. A “number” often has little impact on your outcome.