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Not infrequently, parents are reluctant to proceed with medical treatment for their children in the emergency department (ED). When the treatment is clearly indicated, and when parental reluctance progresses to outright refusal, ED physicians are faced with difficult choices.
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How can a misread on an EKG years prior, which led to no immediate negative outcome, be held up at a distant time in the future as malpractice? It doesn't seem right to the practicing ED physician.
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Caring for patients with little privacy other than thin curtains in a crowded emergency department seems to fly in the face of the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). But what are the actual liability risks of this practice?
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With the help of a quarterly bonus system for physicians and staff, one South Carolina surgery center achieved a cost per case (medical supplies, implants, and drugs) of $159 in July 2007, and it has averaged a cost per case of $227 for 2007 at press time.
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A surgical tech takes fentanyl from an anesthesia tray and substitutes it with a normal saline solution (NSS). He is caught when someone sees him taking the drug from the unattended anesthesia tray.
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Organizations accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) in Skokie, IL, won't have to make major changes to meet new and revised standards in 2008, but they do have to read the standards manual carefully.
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American hospitals are making measurable strides in the quality of care provided for patients with surgical conditions, according to Improving America's Hospitals: The Joint Commission's Annual Report on Quality and Safety 2007, The Joint Commission's second report on health care quality and patient safety in hospitals.
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It's bad enough when a patient suffers an adverse event from a wrong-site surgery or a medication error; it only adds insult to injury when the patient or his insurer is billed for the procedure in which the error occurred.