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It's a problem that every ED grapples with: A patient comes in complaining of chronic pain and you give him or her a one-time prescription for a powerful narcotic with instructions to seek comprehensive treatment from a primary care provider (PCP).
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While no one has precise numbers, the practice of human trafficking is hardly limited to third-world countries. In fact, experts maintain it is big business in the United States, with somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 people trafficked into the country each year.
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After a controversial court opinion and a highly charged emotional trial, a federal jury in Maine awarded Lorraine Morin $50,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages against Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC) for failure to stabilize her prior to discharging her from the emergency department (ED) after a second-trimester miscarriage.
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All members of the ED staff, including physicians, residents, interns, and nurses, are mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect, says Robert D. Kreisman, a medical malpractice attorney with Kreisman Law Offices in Chicago.
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When an emergency physician (EP) reported suspected child abuse, he inadvertently gave the wrong family's information to the authorities, and the child was removed from the home. If you were the EP in question, would you expect to be on the receiving end of a lawsuit?
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Very little literature or case law exists to shed light on the circumstances that might result in litigation against health care providers for allegedly making false reports of suspected abuse of adult ED patients, according to Edward Monico, MD, JD, assistant professor in the department of emergency medicine at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.
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Does the EP's charting indicate that a patient was discharged home, while an ED nurse's documentation states, "The patient looks very sick and I don't think he should be discharged," go unacknowledged without any additional explanation?
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Musculoskeletal injuries account for approximately 10-15% of all childhood injuries, with most occurring as a result of a fall, sports-related injury, motor vehicle trauma, or intentional physical abuse.
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Nearly 8% of 355,088 children received a CT scan in a 3-year period, with 3.5% of the children receiving more than one, according to a recent study.
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Is your patient telling you, "It's probably something I ate," "It's nothing," "There isn't any heart history in my family," or "I'm way too young to have a heart problem?"
