There are very few relationships that are more sacred and more demanding of our trust than those between us and our doctors. Our doctors often know more about us than our closest friends, and they are the ones who we turn to when we need answers about our health and…
Doctors are some of the most well-respected members of our communities. They are usually highly trained, caring, and competent people. We can probably all think of a great doctor that helped us or a loved one get through a difficult period in our lives. Unfortunately, just like in any other…
All patients place immense trust in their medical professional when they visit them for help identifying or treating a medical problem. With that trust comes a responsibility on the part of the medical staff members—from doctors and dentists to nurses and nurse’s assistants—to conduct themselves in a reasonably prudent manner…
California has onerous medical and nursing home malpractice awards. As we’ve discussed, under no circumstances can an award for non-economic damages (e.g., pain, suffering, disfigurement, etc.) be more than $250,000.00. If a jury, in its judgment, believes a person’s damages are worth more than the cap, a judge must reduce…
She is probably too young to have any understanding of what happened to her, but little Malyia Jeffers life will never be the same after her long emergency room wait at Methodist Hospital in Sacramento. Her father took her there with a fever and a rash, and was asked to…
Tri-City Medical Center and Pomerado Hospital have been fined by the California Department of Public Health for medical mistakes that caused patient injury within the last year. A fine of $50,000 was assessed against each entity. At Tri-City, a patient was seriously burned when a cauterization machine ignited oxygen in…
Rancho Springs Medical Center and Inland Valley Regional Medical Center were informed by Medicare last week that they will lose Federal Medicare funding because of their repeated failure to follow basic care standards. The hospitals were also hit with hefty fines for serious healthcare related deficiencies. The decision by Medicare…
A new device that tracks and locates retained objects (surgical items left inside a patient after an operation) is getting attention. The RF Surgical Detection System uses a wand to scan the surgical area to find any tagged items that might have been left inside the patient. Tags are small…
The California Department of Public Health fined three San Diego area hospitals for making mistakes that could cause “death or serious injury.” The implicated hospitals are Grossmont Hospital, Sharp Memorial Hospital, and UCSD Medical Center. According to the Union Tribune, Grossmont hospital received a $50,000 fine for marking the wrong…
CNN is out with a story about how to avoid medical mistakes. The story – which can be found by clicking here – highlights the story of a pregnant woman who is mistakenly given a CT scan of her abdomen, sites some startling statistics. For example, the Joint Commission, which…