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It may seem counterintuitive to suggest hiring more nurses when a health care provider already is struggling with tight budgets and a bad economy, but some experts say increased nursing staff can yield significant patient safety improvements that will more than pay for the personnel costs. The key, they say, is to look beyond the initial expenditure to the savings that accrue downstream.
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Lewis A. Bartell, JD, a partner with Kaplan Belsky Ross Bartell in Garden City, NY, says he has seen co-defendants turn on each other many times in his 20 years of litigating medical malpractice and negligence actions, representing hospitals, nurses, physicians, and other health care providers. He says risk managers should consider potential difficulties with a co-defendant as soon as a case arises.
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When a co-defendant starts saying everything is the hospital's fault, it might be because you have deeper pockets. Ward off some of that finger-pointing by making sure the doctors have enough coverage to pay the tab themselves.
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The recent action by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) declaring some medical errors "never events" events that should never happen could prompt an increase in malpractice claims, says Erik A. Johnson, FCAS, MAAA, assistant director and actuary with Aon Global Risk Consulting in Chicago.
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Medical malpractice claims will moderately increase in 2010, partly because claims increase when people are struggling through a tough economy and money is tight. Your med-mal premiums or self-insurance risks are going to increase also, maybe in double digits, reversing the more positive trends of recent years.
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A 59-year-old woman was admitted to the observation area of a local hospital. The woman was thought to have had an allergic reaction to cholesterol medication she was taking, and the staff recommended she remain under observation for 23 hours. The next morning, the woman experienced chest pains and the nurse administered meperidine and nitroglycerine. The nurse did not inform the attending physician of the administration. The woman was discharged and died the same day.
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A Maryland hospital and one of its subcontractors are being sued for malpractice by the family of a man who say a technician mistakenly released a clamp that allowed the patient to bleed to death before anyone noticed the error.
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Let people apologize when appropriate, but remember that what you say in private may not be suitable for the public.
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The allegations of Medicare fraud at the Tulare (CA) Regional Medical Center and its parent, the Tulare District Healthcare System, show how whistle-blower cases can go beyond the classic type of kickbacks...
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Patrick J. Hurd, JD, an attorney with LeclairRyan in Norfolk, VA, has seen cases in which hospitals struggled to discharge illegal immigrants, and he says the keys to success are proceeding cautiously and prudently, documenting the choices made and the rationale behind each.
