Healthcare Risk Management – September 1, 2015
September 1, 2015
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Providers must tread carefully if patient objects to caregiver
Recent racial controversies have prompted some risk managers to wonder how to respond if a patient objects to the race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation of a caregiver. The situation is difficult, and labor law experts advise risk managers to step very carefully once the issue is raised.
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Healthcare Risk Management’ s Ebola coverage wins first place
Healthcare Risk Management has earned First Place in the Best Healthcare Interpretative or Analytical Reporting category in 2015 Specialized Information Publishers Association journalism awards for coverage of the first U.S. Ebola cases.
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Nursing home bars black nurses, loses lawsuit
When considering whether to accommodate a patient’s request regarding caregivers of a particular race, gender, or religion, the case that comes closest to setting a precedent for healthcare providers is Chaney v. Plainfield Healthcare Center, which involves a Plainfield, IN-based nursing home that forbade black nurses from treating certain patients.
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New and increased liabilities emerging from Affordable Care Act
Risk managers should be aware that the Affordable Care Act is creating new liabilities that were not apparent when the law first took effect, says Rob Francis, COO of The Doctors Company, based in Napa, CA, and the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer.
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Hospital investigating after ESPN publishes football player’s medical record
When a professional football player’s medical record was published by the sports network ESPN, even those who are outside the healthcare community scratched their heads and wondered how that could happen. The hospital administration is determined to find out.
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Greater New York Hospital Association says no more reality television access
After complaints by a family that New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City allowed a dying man to be videotaped for a reality television program without his permission, the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) announced recently that emergency departments (EDs) in the city will now ban television crews.
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Infant injured by an ‘old school’ trick that most hospitals and healthcare systems ban
A Houston, TX, hospital is facing a lawsuit after a newborn was seriously burned in an attempt to draw blood, and the incident could be a warning bell that techniques formally banned as too dangerous might still be performed in your hospital.
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Sleep apnea can pose malpractice risk in surgery
Surgical malpractice cases are increasingly citing obstructive sleep apnea OSA as a factor in the patient injury, according to a new study.
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Work hour restrictions not improving safety
Work hour restrictions for resident physicians, revised nationally four years ago largely to protect patients against physician trainees’ fatigue-related errors, have not had the desired effect of lowering postoperative complication rates in several common surgical specialties, according to new study results.
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UCLA Health targeted in cyber attack
The UCLA Health system in Los Angeles was the victim of a cyber attack involving the personal data of 4.5 million people recently, and it is facing two class-action lawsuits from those affected.
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Research confirms ‘weekend effect’ on patient safety
Researchers from the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, say more research is needed to understand why patients are more likely to die in the hospital on the weekend.
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Physician not following through on proposed plan costs hospital $4.8 million
An adult female went into the hospital for a consultation regarding surgery on her bowel. Upon examination and confirmation the woman was suffering from a leaky bowel, the surgeon recommended a laparoscopic ileocecectomy, which is a less invasive form of surgery using small incisions, special instruments, and cameras.
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Failure to transfer patient to a qualified facility results in $23 million jury verdict
In 2010, an infant was born prematurely and with a severe white matter brain injury known as severe cystic periventricular leukomalacia, which is a brain issue that will lead to a lifetime of complications. Earlier that same year, the mother of the child went to her obstetrician for routine tests, which revealed she had high blood pressure and protein in her urine.
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Clarification
In the August issue of Legal Review & Commentary, in the story “Failure to update a patient’s EHRs leads to $35.4 million verdict against hospital,” we should have said that the plaintiff’s brain abnormalities required her treating physician to record her condition on a paper Problem List.