Med Mal News

A study conducted by the Meyers Primary Care Institute, a joint endeavor of the Fallon Foundation and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, concludes patients prefer to be told by their health care providers when medical mistakes have been made. The study's results were reported in the article “Health Plan Members' Views About Disclosure of Medical Errors,” published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers queried nearly 1000 members of a New England health maintenance organization, asking them what their reactions would be when presented with four hypothetical situations: two with possible life-threatening results and two with less drastic possible complications. The subjects were asked how they would feel in each of the four scenarios if given full disclosure of the mistakes that caused a problem, and, conversely, their reactions if not told that a medical mistake had been made. The study found that patients would be less inclined to switch health care providers if given honest information about mistakes, and disclosure would engender greater trust in their provider. Still, although they appreciated honesty, the subjects reported they would not be less inclined to seek legal advice if given full disclosure, even if the health care provider were properly apologetic, with a mission to promote primary care research and education.

Physician Discipline-Reporting Web Sites Are Critiqued

Public Citizen, the national consumer advocacy group, has been monitoring the efficacy and user-friendliness of physician discipline-reporting Web sites throughout the 50 states to see which of them make the grade. Public Citizen's Health Research Group gave seven states' sites an “A” for content, while another 20 states' sites received an “A” for user-friendliness. Several states, however, received grades of “C” or below on both measures. The group found that, overall, there had been a “modest improvement” over a similar survey conducted in 2000.

Dental X-Rays May Cause Low Birth Weight

Researchers at Washington University School of Dentistry in Seattle have concluded a study of the effects of dental X-rays on pregnant women. The results: women who receive dental X-rays during pregnancy are three times more likely to give birth to low birth-weight babies than are women who did not have dental X-rays during pregnancy. The common wisdom up to now has been that, although pregnant women should avoid X-rays where possible, low-dose X-rays to the mother's neck and head could be tolerated. But, the study found that those women among the 4500 subjects who had had dental X-rays during pregnancy were shown to have a much higher possibility of giving birth to a baby under 5 lbs.

Lipid-Lowering Therapy Promotes Post-Op Survival

The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a recent study indicating that when statins are given to non-cardiac patients after major surgery, mortality rates drop substantially. In the article, “Lipid-Lowering Therapy and In-Hospital Mortality Following Major Non-Cardiac Surgery,” Vol. 291 No. 17, May 5, 2004, researchers described their observations of the surgical outcomes for more than 780,000 patients who were operated on in 2000 and 2001. They found that administering statins, which stabilize atherosclerotic plaques, within 2 days of surgery decreased death rates in the group that received them by 38% over those in the group of patients who did not receive them.

Maybe Honesty Is the Best Policy, But It Doesn't Prevent Lawsuits

A study conducted by the Meyers Primary Care Institute, a joint endeavor of the Fallon Foundation and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, concludes patients prefer to be told by their health care providers when medical mistakes have been made. The study's results were reported in the article “Health Plan Members' Views About Disclosure of Medical Errors,” published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The researchers queried nearly 1000 members of a New England health maintenance organization, asking them what their reactions would be when presented with four hypothetical situations: two with possible life-threatening results and two with less drastic possible complications. The subjects were asked how they would feel in each of the four scenarios if given full disclosure of the mistakes that caused a problem, and, conversely, their reactions if not told that a medical mistake had been made. The study found that patients would be less inclined to switch health care providers if given honest information about mistakes, and disclosure would engender greater trust in their provider. Still, although they appreciated honesty, the subjects reported they would not be less inclined to seek legal advice if given full disclosure, even if the health care provider were properly apologetic, with a mission to promote primary care research and education.

Physician Discipline-Reporting Web Sites Are Critiqued

Public Citizen, the national consumer advocacy group, has been monitoring the efficacy and user-friendliness of physician discipline-reporting Web sites throughout the 50 states to see which of them make the grade. Public Citizen's Health Research Group gave seven states' sites an “A” for content, while another 20 states' sites received an “A” for user-friendliness. Several states, however, received grades of “C” or below on both measures. The group found that, overall, there had been a “modest improvement” over a similar survey conducted in 2000.

Dental X-Rays May Cause Low Birth Weight

Researchers at Washington University School of Dentistry in Seattle have concluded a study of the effects of dental X-rays on pregnant women. The results: women who receive dental X-rays during pregnancy are three times more likely to give birth to low birth-weight babies than are women who did not have dental X-rays during pregnancy. The common wisdom up to now has been that, although pregnant women should avoid X-rays where possible, low-dose X-rays to the mother's neck and head could be tolerated. But, the study found that those women among the 4500 subjects who had had dental X-rays during pregnancy were shown to have a much higher possibility of giving birth to a baby under 5 lbs.