As many Oregon patients know, a medical malpractice lawsuit is a lengthy process. It must be initially established that the health care providers involved in the case actually owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. The appropriate level of care must also be determined...
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Hospital Negligence
Supervision of doctors in training may require guidelines
As some Oregon patients know, patient care in teaching hospitals is often handled in part by physicians in training. These resident doctors have backup and may call supervising physicians. A recent study looked at when the call for advice should be made in a pediatric...
Wandering elderly patients in Oregon
Elderly Oregon residents who reside in nursing homes or who are hospitalized may be at risk for becoming disoriented and walking away from their facilities. A new environment coupled with unfamiliar faces can create a dangerous recipe for confusion and subsequent...
New Jersey hospitals liable when doctors lack insurance
Oregon patients may be interested in a case where the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that an injured patient cannot sue a surgeon for the failure to have proper medical malpractice insurance. In a split decision, the high court held that the state medical board...
Hospital warns of possible HIV outbreak due to error
Seattle Children's Hospital has warned about 12,000 families that their children may have been exposed to HIV or hepatitis at its Bellevue Clinic. It is telling those who may have been exposed to get tested for hepatitis B and C and HIV. The hospital in Oregon's...
Can Toyota make hospitals safer?
As patient volumes increase in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, some public hospitals are turning to a surprising source to help them keep pace: Toyota. By adapting the Japanese automaker's production system to health care, hospital administrators have been able...
Hospitals make efforts to reduce medical malpractice lawsuits
Oregon residents may be surprised to learn that approximately 1 million medical injuries occur each year. Many of these injuries are caused by doctor or hospital negligence or mistakes, and health care facilities across the country are taking proactive steps to reduce...
New standards for patient care at nursing homes
Families in Oregon that have loved ones who are living in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities may be interested to learn about a proposed rule that was recently issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. On July 16, CMS published a set of...
Do pharmaceutical payments compromise physician integrity? Part II
Earlier this week, we began a discussion about doctors who receive payments (cash and otherwise) from pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers. These for-profit companies are not buying lunch for physicians and paying them to speak on behalf of their...
Do pharmaceutical payments compromise physician integrity? Part I
Medicine is a science. And like all sciences, one of its most important aspects is objectivity. If a doctor prescribes a certain course of treatment or a certain medication, it should be because it has proven to be effective, it is reasonably safe and it will meet the...