medical malpractice Tag

29 Sep

Posted at 13:28h in Cancer Research, Legal-Malpractice

Most patients trust their cancer diagnosis. That trust is often warranted — but it probably shouldn't be unconditional, particularly when the initial findings are subtle, ambiguous, or delivered quickly in a busy clinical setting. A 2013 study in BMJ Quality & Safety estimated that roughly 12 million American adults experience a diagnostic error in outpatient care every year. In that same journal, a separate 2013 analysis found that cancer was the leading source of serious harm in diagnostic malpractice claims — not surgical errors, not medication mistakes, but diagnostic failures. According to the National Academy of Medicine's 2015 report Improving Diagnosis in Health Care, most Americans will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime — and cancer sits at the severe end of that spectrum, where errors carry the heaviest consequences and the least margin for delay.

[caption id="attachment_76345" align="aligncenter" width="500"]cancer-diagnosis-misdiagnosis-pexels Photo by Thirdman [/caption]

28 Sep

Posted at 14:49h in Legal-Malpractice

A medical complication can raise questions without giving a clear answer. Some problems are recognized risks of treatment, while others may point to a concern with how care was provided. Telling those situations apart takes a close look at the treatment, the patient's condition, the decisions made, and the events that followed. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer may review these details together to see whether the facts support a possible malpractice claim or simply reflect a known complication. According to the AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), distinguishing preventable harm from an expected complication of treatment is one of the most challenging aspects of patient safety review — and requires systematic analysis of clinical decisions, timing, and the information available to providers at each stage of care.

how-lawyers-separate-medical-complications-from-malpractice.jpg

28 Sep

Posted at 11:20h in Legal-Malpractice

Washington State is home to a large network of hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers serving communities across both urban and rural areas. Most medical professionals provide competent and dedicated care, but mistakes can still occur. When preventable medical errors lead to serious harm, patients often have questions about their legal rights and available options. You may have a valid medical malpractice claim if a healthcare provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care and that failure caused you harm. While not every poor medical outcome is the result of malpractice, certain warning signs may indicate that negligence played a role in your injury or worsening condition. According to the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information), medical errors remain a significant cause of preventable patient harm in the United States, and establishing whether a specific adverse outcome resulted from a deviation from accepted standards of care requires careful review of the clinical record and expert opinion.

Valid Medical Malpractice Claim (1)

11 May

Posted at 18:37h in Author Interviews, JAMA
William M. Sage MD JD James R. Dougherty Chair for Faculty Excellence School of Law The University of TexasMedicalResearch.com Interview with: William M. Sage MD JD James R. Dougherty Chair for Faculty Excellence School of Law The University of Texas Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We reviewed settlement agreements in malpractice claims closed by The University of Texas System as part of a larger study on incorporating patient perspectives into safety improvement funded by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. Over the five years studied, we found that 88.7% of the 124 settlement agreements that met our study criteria contained non-disclosure provisions, but with little standardization or consistency. Restrictions on disclosure, which selectively burdened patients and their families, seemed broader than needed to protect health care providers from disparagement or to avoid attracting additional litigation. Medical malpractice could happen to anyone at any time during your visit to your hospital. If you or a member of your family have been the victim of medical palpractice you might want to look into getting help from someone like this Tate Law Offices Ft. Worth Personal Injury Law Firm or a law firm that is local to you that might be able to help with your case. Nearly half of the agreements (46.4%) prohibited disclosure of the underlying facts, which may be inconsistent with emerging principles of patient safety and compassionate care, and 26.4% prohibited reporting to regulatory bodies, a restriction that the health system subsequently eliminated in response to our findings. Settlements reached after tort reform took full effect in Texas had stricter non-disclosure provisions than earlier settlements, suggesting greater leverage by defendants notwithstanding the reduced risk of additional litigation.