Healthcare Risk Management – October 1, 2012
October 1, 2012
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2 infant abductions show strengths of security systems, but also process failure
Infant abduction is a constant threat to hospitals with obstetrics units, and many facilities have implemented sophisticated technology in recent years to lower that risk. The strengths of the technology were illustrated in one recent abduction, but another revealed a process failure that allowed a baby to be taken for five hours. -
Limit access, urge parents not to linger after discharge
Limiting access to hospital units is one strategy for reducing the risk of abductions and other threats to children, notes Dan Yaross, director of security at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Cincinnati. -
287 infants abducted since ‘83 Many are from mom’s room
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Hotel-like card keys restrict access to high-risk units
Hospitals are taking a closer look at visitor access, especially in units such as obstetrics where visitors should be monitored closely, and one hospital is finding success with a key card similar to those used in hotels. -
Do you use Code Pink for a missing older child?
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More hospitals ‘going bare,’ taking big gamble on med mal
With a tough economy and mounting pressures on healthcare providers, more hospitals are going bare and foregoing medical malpractice insurance coverage in the hopes that they can cover any judgment on their own. -
Going bare is like ‘playing Russian roulette’
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Bankruptcy not the only risk when going bare
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Board members, C-level execs at risk from going bare
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BYOD: It’s not a party invite, but a hospital problem
Providers are increasingly faced with the dilemma of whether to ban all personal electronic devices such as iPads and BlackBerrys in patient care areas or allow clinicians to use them. -
Checklist helps hospital curtail early c-sections
Elective deliveries before 39 weeks, often performed as a convenience to the patient or the physician, have long been known to threaten patient safety and risk hospital liability. One hospital is reporting great success with a checklist and firm refusal to permit early deliveries without a good reason. -
Elective policy aims to cut pre-39 week deliveries
This is a portion of the Elective Delivery Policy use at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville to minimize unnecessary deliveries before 39 weeks gestation: -
Study finds $2.6 trillion savings with new liability system
Replacing the American medical liability system with a no-fault patients compensation system would create at least $2.6 trillion in savings over 10 years, according to a new study by the German economics firm BioScience Valuation in Grainau. -
Court rules against malicious prosecution claim by docs
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Pacific Health, related entities agree to $16.5 million for kickbacks
The United States has entered into a settlement agreement with Pacific Health Corp. (PHC) and related entities in which they agreed to pay the government and the state of California $16.5 million for allegedly engaging in an illegal kickback scheme in Los Angeles, the Justice Department announced recently. -
Legal Review & Commentary: $178 million verdict awarded to victim of botched gastric bypass procedure
News: In one of the largest verdicts handed down in recent Florida history, a hospital was ordered to pay $178 million in damages for permanently disabling a 38-year-old patient during gastric bypass surgery. -
Legal Review & Commentary: Failure to timely perform a cesarean section results in severe brain injury, $55 million award
News: A 32-year-old woman presented to the hospital following a planned home delivery with the assistance of a midwife.