ED Legal Letter
RSSArticles
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ED Care Difficult to Defend if Patient Died Shortly After Discharge
Such cases are ‘every emergency physician’s greatest fear.’
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Don’t Blindside Consultants Legally: Be Up-front About Charting Practices
Prevent adversarial relationship during litigation.
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Med/Mal Suit Possible if EP’s Name Appears in Adverse Event Report
Federal investigators demand ‘anything and everything.’
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Hospitals Increasingly Held Liable for EPs’ Negligence
Plaintiffs might view an EP as another ‘deep pocket.’
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Report: 10% of ED Malpractice Claims Involve Medication Errors
Wrong drug orders and no drug orders are common reasons for lawsuits.
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Study: Individual EPs Rarely Fined for EMTALA Violations
Almost all civil monetary penalties are against facilities.
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Missed Spinal Epidural Abscess: ‘Lightning Rod for Litigation’
In these cases, EPs are the second most commonly sued physicians.
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Some Plaintiffs Face Higher Burden of Proof
Two Texas physicians weigh in on how tort reform, in their view, has affected the practice of emergency medicine and malpractice litigation in their state.
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Test Ordered in ED, but Patient Discharged or Admitted?
The EP can be held liable for failure to "close the loop” on non-emergent abnormal findings. The hospital can be held liable for not instituting a reconciliation process to flag discrepancies between the EP’s readings and those of the radiologist.
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Patient Could Allege Opioids Given by EP Sparked Addiction
Experts say that as time passes, EPs should increasingly expect to be included as potential targets of malpractice claims alleging that opioids were prescribed without adequate indication or in excessive amounts.