Employee Management
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IRBs, Researchers Starting to Recognize Security Breaches of Online Survey Data
Researchers at the University of Houston discovered a survey study had been breached. Large number of surveys poured in, with batches arriving in two-minute intervals. Other signs of a breach included suspicious responses, unusual email addresses and patterns, responses from outside the United States, and missing contact information.
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United Kingdom Begins First COVID-19 Human Challenge Study
Lawmakers, academics, and the research community have hotly debated the ethics of a human challenge study since the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the United Kingdom has started dosing patients in its human challenge study, some bioethicists say this trial can show vaccine efficacy in ways the larger vaccine trials cannot.
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Study of COVID-19 Vaccine in Pregnant People ‘Too Late’
On Feb. 18, Pfizer and BioNTech announced they would dose about 4,000 healthy pregnant women with the COVID-19 vaccine to evaluate its safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity. Although pregnant people were excluded initially from the COVD-19 trials, research has shown they are at higher risk for more severe disease.
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Appellate Court Upholds Judgment Against Patient Over Lack of Expert Testimony
The appellate court’s analysis in this case highlights how the application of res ipsa loquitur to medical malpractice cases still requires expert opinion. In fact, plaintiff was under the mistaken impression that because she relied on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur — a legal theory under which “the thing speaks for itself,” meaning that an inference of negligence is supported when an injury would not have occurred if not for negligence on behalf of the person who controlled the object causing the injury — she would not need to present a declaration from an expert in support of her position.
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Texas Appellate Court Orders Lawsuit Against Physician for Postoperative Injuries to Proceed
Once again, the focus of the court’s decision rests in the sufficiency of the expert report. Here, the appellate court studied the plaintiff’s proffered expert report and found it addressed all the deficiencies highlighted by the court during the first appeal.
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Emergency Medicine Trainees More Likely Sued Than Radiology Trainees
Medical malpractice claims naming physician trainees is infrequent, and the number of lawsuits is trending downward over time, according to the authors of a study.
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CARES Act Funds Come with Many Obligations
The Department of Health and Human Services has been distributing $175 billion to “eligible healthcare providers” on the front lines of the coronavirus response in various phases, but that money comes with many obligations. Failure to comply with all the requirements can result in substantial liability.
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Patient Photos in Electronic Health Record Cut Wrong Order Entries by 35%
Wrong-patient order entry is a constant threat to patient safety. A team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston launched a project to add patient photos to the electronic health record. Two years later, the error rate had decreased by 35%.
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In 2021, Assisted Living Litigation Might Hinge on Immunity
Assisted living facilities and their affiliated hospitals and health systems are bracing for a wave of lawsuits associated with COVID-19. It remains to be seen how much immunity they can expect from laws implemented during the pandemic. Risk management for assisted living facilities should be more responsive, nimble, and organized than ever before.
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Do Not Promise Success, and Document Well
There are two things healthcare professionals can do to position themselves for a good defense in case of a malpractice lawsuit. First, do not promise patients success or even imply it. Also, be careful when creating policies and procedures.