Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Posts Tagged ‘hospitals’

New York Times and thimerosal

Creationists apparently have no monopoly on unscientific nonsense. There’s an excellent article in the New York Times on the thimerosal controversy (Jun. 20 and links therein), though it fails to follow the money from the plaintiffs’ bar behind the pseudoscience. (Gardiner Harris and Anahad O’Connor, “On Autism’s Cause, It’s Parents vs. Research”, NY Times, Jun. 25). Meanwhile, the Huffington Post spouts irresponsible conspiracy theories for why ABC refused to endorse Robert Kennedy Jr.’s attack on the vaccine industry. The excellent Skeptico blog follows up its earlier post on the subject. And you just knew Michael Fumento would weigh in, and he shows the real costs of the plaintiffs’ bar scaremongering:

The conspiracy-mongers have scared parents into not protecting their children. “Sadly, as exemptions proliferate, disease ‘hot spots’ are cropping up across the United States,” observed an article in the Winter 2004 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. “Outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, mumps, rubella and diphtheria are reoccurring, costing hundreds of lives and hospitalizing thousands more.”

Remember that next time you hear the plaintiffs’ bar taking credit for safety innovations that have saved lives.

Filed under: , ,

Opinionistas blog

“I like employment law because it revolves entirely around crazy people,” explains the anonymous “Opinionistas,” who claims to be a junior associate at a prominent New York firm, at least until senior partners discover her cynical blog:

“Honey, how was your day?” “Um, well, actually I got pissed off and peed all over the floor of the ER, in front of 2 potential cardiac arrests and a trauma victim, so I’m kinda fired. But it was discrimination! They actually fired me because I’m one-fifteenth Native American on my mother’s side!” So the guy gets a scummy lawyer to take his case, he sues the hospital, and the hospital calls us for help. Then we demand to see the Urinator’s (I come up with little nicknames for all of them) personal email account. Then the real fun begins. Hours spent reading about his extramarital flirtation with Marta, the 3rd floor nurse anesthetist, his anger with his boss for not permitting 3 20-minute coffee breaks each morning, his wife’s current interest (or lack thereof) in sex.

She also has summer associate gossip (via Legal Reader).

Filed under: ,

Sen. Grassley and the hospital litigators

It’s not exactly a secret around Washington that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Ia.) has been a good friend to the corps of plaintiff’s lawyers who employ the False Claims Act (the so-called “whistleblower” law) to sue universities, defense firms and other federal contractors. But is he also doing favors for the team of lawyers headed by Dickie Scruggs suing many of the nation’s nonprofit hospitals over alleged failure to meet charitable obligations? The American Spectator’s anonymous “The Prowler” assembles some of the evidence (“Grassley, Lott & Scruggs”, Jun. 14).

Filed under: , , ,

In Britain, less fearful M.D.s

David Asman, reflecting on his wife’s experience in British and American hospitals, notices some patterns (“There’s No Place Like Home”, American Spectator/Wall Street Journal, Jun. 8):

There is also much less of a tendency in British medicine to make decisions on the basis of whether one will be sued for that decision. This can lead to a much healthier period of recuperation. For example, as soon as my wife was ambulatory, I was determined to get her out of the hospital as much as possible….

Now try leaving a hospital as an inpatient in the U.S. In fact, we did try and were frustrated at every step. You’d have better luck breaking out of prison. Forms, permission slips and guards at the gate all conspire to keep you in bounds. It was clear that what prevented us from getting out was the pressing fear on everyone’s part of getting sued. Anything happens on the outside and folks naturally sue the hospital for not doing their job as the patient’s nanny.

Why are the Brits so less concerned about being sued? I can only guess that Britain’s practice of forcing losers in civil cases to pay for court costs has lessened the number of lawsuits, and thus the paranoia about lawsuits from which American medical services suffer….

Filed under: , , ,

Medical matters: new at Point of Law

Loads of coverage of health matters in recent weeks over at our sister website, including: liability fears and emergency room admissions; New Jersey bans “retaliating” against expert witnesses over testimony they give, no matter how untrue it may be; Ted on one lawprof’s grossly misleading use of med-mal statistics, and a second round of the same; pain medication in nursing homes (and more on nursing homes); two doctors pick up stakes; Australian med-mal rates fall after reform; same thing in Texas; HHS introduces a distinctive “early offers” program for medical malpractice claims involving its clients; please don’t let him grow up to be an M.D.; Pennsylvania hospitals’ bill; MICRA and Prop 103; the March of Dimes wants Bendectin back; federal judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan throws out a major Dickie Scruggs case against the non-profit health sector; and a must-read article on defensive medicine. To explore all this and much more, follow the links provided or visit the site’s topical page on medicine and law.

Filed under: , , , , , , ,

Disabled docs’ demands

Gail Heriot (May 3), Erin O’Connor (Apr. 30), and Martin Grace (May 2) all comment on the case of Heidi Baer of Quincy, Mass., who having failed the medical boards three times is now suing the National Board of Medical Examiners under the Americans with Disabilities Act for not giving her extra time on the exam to accommodate her dyslexia. (J.M. Lawrence, “Med student’s dyslexia plea: I need time to pursue dream”, Boston Herald, Apr. 30). For more on ADA and test accommodation, see Jul. 21, 2004, Nov. 13, 2003 and links from there. In Connecticut, meanwhile, Dr. Benjamin Smith is seeking $2.5 million from Norwalk Hospital over alleged overwork and failure to accommodate his attention deficit disorder (ADD). The two sides dispute whether Smith was made to work beyond the 80-hour maximum that is supposed to be placed on residents’ workloads; Dr. Eric M. Mazur, chairman of the hospital’s internal medicine department, denies that the institution was insensitive to Dr. Smith’s needs, saying it “rearranged some of his schedules, reduced his patient load and put him on days instead of nights” and wound up terminating him for performance. He added what must count as one of the strongly worded statements of its kind we’ve seen in a while:

“The medical establishment is often accused of not policing itself, and not clearing out bad apples,” Mazur said. “It was the consensus of the faculty that his continued employment would endanger patient care.”

(Marian Gail Brown, “Doc asks $2m for overwork”, Connecticut Post, Apr. 21)(& welcome Grand Rounds XXXVI readers).

Filed under: , ,

Hospital infections, a real crime

How is Britain’s new Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, addressing public alarm about “superbug” infections in hospitals? In part by floating the idea of criminally prosecuting hospital personnel after infections break out. And of course prosecutors will never for a moment consider bringing such charges without strong evidence of culpable mens rea on the part of the hospital personnel. Right? (Andrew Sparrow, “Warning to hospitals over MRSA”, Daily Telegraph, May 16). Hat tip and thanks for the link: Michelle Malkin, May 16.

Filed under: , , , ,

Clarence Stowers

Should we name him this site’s Man of the Year? Last week, after finding the freshly cut fingertip of an employee in his frozen custard at a Wilmington, N.C. dessert stand, Mr. Stowers “refus[ed] to return the evidence so it could be reattached. And now it’s too late for doctors to do anything for 23-year-old Brandon Fizer.”

Soon after Stowers found the finger in a mouthful of chocolate soft-serve he bought Sunday at Kohl’s Frozen Custard in Wilmington, he put it in his freezer at home, taking it out only occasionally to show to television cameras.

He refused to give it to the shop’s owner, and refused to give it to a doctor who was treating Fizer, who accidentally stuck his hand in a mixing machine and had his right index finger lopped off at the first knuckle.

Medical experts say an attempt to reattach a severed finger can generally be made within six hours.

But according to the shop’s management, Stowers wouldn’t give it back when he was in the store 30 minutes after the accident.

“The general manager attempted to retrieve it and rush it to the hospital,” reads a statement posted Thursday on Kohl’s Web site. “Unfortunately, the customer refused to give it to her and declared that he would be calling the TV stations and an attorney as he exited the store.”

What attorney decided to represent Mr. Stowers? Glad you asked; it’s Lee Andrews of Greensboro, N.C., who

wouldn’t say if a lawsuit against Kohl’s is planned, saying he needed “to get some more facts.”

But Andrews said his client is concerned about possible disease in the fingertip and kept it because he wanted someone to test it for “all the diseases that are out here now.”

“He’s upset to the point that he’s been debilitated to some degree,” Andrews said. “Emotionally, it’s been very upsetting to him.”

(“Fight over finger found in custard”, AP/CNN, May 6).

Filed under: ,

Why object to HIPAA?

Why get annoyed at the federal medical privacy law (discussed in this space Mar. 16, Feb. 5, 2004, etc.)?

*Because it means your patients at the VA hospital often have no names on their doors? (MedRants, Mar. 31);

* Because it keeps you from talking about a patient’s condition when members of his extended family call to express concern? (Virginia A. Smith and Dawn Fallik, “Questions remain two years after medical privacy act”, Jewish World Review, Mar. 5);

* Because it brings out the worst in editorial writers at papers like the Philadelphia Inquirer? (Jeff Drummond’s HIPAA blog, Mar. 23).

And: MedRants has more (May 2).

Filed under: , , ,

U.K. roundup

Meals-on-wheels officials in Gloucestershire were preparing to distribute to elderly clients paper napkins printed with tips on how to avoid being a crime victim, but paused the initiative after being warned that no safety assessment had been made of the possible choking hazard should pensioners insert the napkins into their mouths; the distribution eventually went forward, but critics said the episode encouraged the portrayal of aged persons as senile (Martin Wainwright, “No napkins … elderly might eat them”, The Guardian, Apr. 13). The Royal Chesterfield hospital is locked in a longstanding battle with claims-chasers who prowl its accident and emergency facilities promoting no-win, no-fee legal practices. Said a spokesman: “They have been approaching patients, asking them how they came about their injuries, was it their fault and if they want to sue. We have had several complaints from patients. These people are also handing out official-looking leaflets with an NHS-type logo which makes it look as if the hospital is endorsing their actions.” (Nick Britten, “Hospital lawyers target ‘ambulance chasers'”, Daily Telegraph, Apr. 14). Until recently a number of Scottish prisons provided inmates with chamberpots rather than in-cell toilets for overnight use; the practice has now been ruled a human rights violation and taxpayers are on the hook for compensation claims that some see rising as high as £100 million. (Hamish MacDonell and John Robertson, “Slopping-out prisoners ‘to sue for £100m'”, The Scotsman, Feb. 11; Kirsty Scott, “Slopping out judged a breach of human rights”, The Guardian, Apr. 27, 2004). And the newsletter of the Association of Lloyd’s Members, serving participants in the venerable London insurance market, will be reprinting with credit occasional items from this website (after having asked our permission, which we were happy to grant).

Filed under: , , , , ,