Med Mal News

When Maryland's leading medical malpractice insurance provider, Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, informed its policyholders in August that, because of lower payouts last year, premium rates next year would remain flat, the legality of Maryland's recently passed insurance subsidy program was thrown into question. The state's insurance administration asked for a legal opinion as to whether it could continue to subsidized medical malpractice insurance if rates were no longer on the rise. The State Office of the Attorney General answered last month by informing the insurance administration that the legislature's apparent intent was for the subsidies to continue even when rates stopped rising.

Medical Journals Slowing Flow of Vital Information, FDA Official Says

In a speech before the National Press Club in late September, Scott Gottlieb, MD, the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs, criticized medical journals for embargoing medical test information until after publication of the studies, a practice that can result in months-long delays between the time findings are made and the time the information gets to the medical community. “[A]s a friend to the journals, and as a champion of their vital role, I need to ask why they retain the luxury of bottling up information behind peer review processes that can wind on for weeks or months longer than they have to, and embargo policies that serve no useful purpose,” Gottlieb said in a prepared statement. “In its Sept. 15 issue, for example,” noted Gottlieb, “The New England Journal of Medicine published an article concerning early treatment of acute coronary syndromes — the precursors to heart attacks. Just a week earlier, while rounding at my hospital, I had seen a patient with just such a condition. I am not sure the article would have directly impacted my thinking on how to treat my patient, but it may have.”

Katrina Hospital Deaths Under Investigation

The Associated Press reported on Oct. 3 that six hospitals and 13 nursing homes were under investigation by the state Attorney General in connection with the deaths that occurred in those facilities during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. No charges had yet been filed, but questions have been circulating since the disaster stuck concerning why so many lives were lost in spite of the existence of legally mandated evacuation plans.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. is one of the entities under investigation. After the Oct. 1 search of its Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, Tenet issued a statement saying, “Tenet previously disclosed that about 2000 patients, physicians, employees and family members had been safely evacuated from Memorial following Hurricane Katrina after the levees failed and surrounded the hospital campus with water from Lake Pontchartrain. For 4 days after the levee failures, the hospital was without law enforcement security, power, proper sanitation and air-conditioning. The hospital's administration team and Tenet put together an evacuation force using privately hired helicopters, boats and buses.” Thirty-four patients on the Memorial Medical Center campus died after the hurricane, 24 of whom were patients in a separately owned and operated long-term health care facility.

JCAHO Establishes Technology Advisory Panel

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has established a Health-care Information Technology Advisory Panel to focus attention on the improvement of patient safety and clinical processes as new health care information systems are implemented. The panel includes representatives from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, American Health Information Management Association, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Veterans Health Administration, and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and is made up of researchers, physicians, nurses, chief information officers, educators and leaders of health care organizations. Members will be asked to recommend ways JCAHO's accreditation process and the use of technology can be used to improve safety, quality and efficiency in patient care.

Aggressive Treatment for Heart Attack Victims Questioned

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine's Sept. 15 edition asserts that favorable outcomes for victims of small heart attacks are no greater if patients are subjected to quick vessel-clearing procedures than if they are given drugs. The results of the study, led by Dr. Robbert J. deWinter of the University of Amsterdam, go against the current wisdom in both the United States and in Europe, where most patients experiencing small heart attacks are given bypass operations or angioplasties. Approximately 1200 patients were observed for the study, with half given drugs only and the other half given blood-thinning drugs followed by administration of angioplasty tests within 48 hours. Nearly 80% of the people in this second group were given angioplasties or bypasses. The number of deaths in both groups was low (2.5%) and was roughly equal.

Legislation Promoting Openness Proposed

U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) introduced legislation Sept. 28 that would encourage physicians, hospitals and health systems to adopt a model that provides liability protections for physicians who disclose medical errors to patients and offer to enter into negotiations for fair compensation. “This legislation will help reduce medical error rates and medical malpractice costs by opening the lines of communication between doctors and patients – encouraging honesty and accountability in the process and most importantly improving care,” said Obama of the National Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation (MEDiC) Act. The MEDiC program, which will be administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if approved, is supported by Consumer's Union, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), The Sorry Works! Coalition, The Medical Society of the State of New York and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Group Angry with Attorneys Who Advertise

Advocacy group Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse has begun a campaign it calls “Sick of Lawsuits” that aims to raise public awareness of what it considers lawyers' abuses of the legal system. The group denounces the use of attorney advertisements that seek clients with questionable lawsuits; charges that attorneys, by blowing the dangers of the use of certain drugs out of proportion, have discouraged people from using drugs that are therapeutic for them; and accuses lawyers of forcing the costs of medical care higher than they should be. The group is asking people to join them in lobbying elected officials for change.

Maryland Doctors Get Subsidies Despite Break from Insurer

When Maryland's leading medical malpractice insurance provider, Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, informed its policyholders in August that, because of lower payouts last year, premium rates next year would remain flat, the legality of Maryland's recently passed insurance subsidy program was thrown into question. The state's insurance administration asked for a legal opinion as to whether it could continue to subsidized medical malpractice insurance if rates were no longer on the rise. The State Office of the Attorney General answered last month by informing the insurance administration that the legislature's apparent intent was for the subsidies to continue even when rates stopped rising.

Medical Journals Slowing Flow of Vital Information, FDA Official Says

In a speech before the National Press Club in late September, Scott Gottlieb, MD, the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs, criticized medical journals for embargoing medical test information until after publication of the studies, a practice that can result in months-long delays between the time findings are made and the time the information gets to the medical community. “[A]s a friend to the journals, and as a champion of their vital role, I need to ask why they retain the luxury of bottling up information behind peer review processes that can wind on for weeks or months longer than they have to, and embargo policies that serve no useful purpose,” Gottlieb said in a prepared statement. “In its Sept. 15 issue, for example,” noted Gottlieb, “The New England Journal of Medicine published an article concerning early treatment of acute coronary syndromes — the precursors to heart attacks. Just a week earlier, while rounding at my hospital, I had seen a patient with just such a condition. I am not sure the article would have directly impacted my thinking on how to treat my patient, but it may have.”

Katrina Hospital Deaths Under Investigation

The Associated Press reported on Oct. 3 that six hospitals and 13 nursing homes were under investigation by the state Attorney General in connection with the deaths that occurred in those facilities during the Hurricane Katrina crisis. No charges had yet been filed, but questions have been circulating since the disaster stuck concerning why so many lives were lost in spite of the existence of legally mandated evacuation plans.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. is one of the entities under investigation. After the Oct. 1 search of its Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, Tenet issued a statement saying, “Tenet previously disclosed that about 2000 patients, physicians, employees and family members had been safely evacuated from Memorial following Hurricane Katrina after the levees failed and surrounded the hospital campus with water from Lake Pontchartrain. For 4 days after the levee failures, the hospital was without law enforcement security, power, proper sanitation and air-conditioning. The hospital's administration team and Tenet put together an evacuation force using privately hired helicopters, boats and buses.” Thirty-four patients on the Memorial Medical Center campus died after the hurricane, 24 of whom were patients in a separately owned and operated long-term health care facility.

JCAHO Establishes Technology Advisory Panel

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has established a Health-care Information Technology Advisory Panel to focus attention on the improvement of patient safety and clinical processes as new health care information systems are implemented. The panel includes representatives from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, American Health Information Management Association, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Veterans Health Administration, and Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and is made up of researchers, physicians, nurses, chief information officers, educators and leaders of health care organizations. Members will be asked to recommend ways JCAHO's accreditation process and the use of technology can be used to improve safety, quality and efficiency in patient care.

Aggressive Treatment for Heart Attack Victims Questioned

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine's Sept. 15 edition asserts that favorable outcomes for victims of small heart attacks are no greater if patients are subjected to quick vessel-clearing procedures than if they are given drugs. The results of the study, led by Dr. Robbert J. deWinter of the University of Amsterdam, go against the current wisdom in both the United States and in Europe, where most patients experiencing small heart attacks are given bypass operations or angioplasties. Approximately 1200 patients were observed for the study, with half given drugs only and the other half given blood-thinning drugs followed by administration of angioplasty tests within 48 hours. Nearly 80% of the people in this second group were given angioplasties or bypasses. The number of deaths in both groups was low (2.5%) and was roughly equal.

Legislation Promoting Openness Proposed

U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) introduced legislation Sept. 28 that would encourage physicians, hospitals and health systems to adopt a model that provides liability protections for physicians who disclose medical errors to patients and offer to enter into negotiations for fair compensation. “This legislation will help reduce medical error rates and medical malpractice costs by opening the lines of communication between doctors and patients – encouraging honesty and accountability in the process and most importantly improving care,” said Obama of the National Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation (MEDiC) Act. The MEDiC program, which will be administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services if approved, is supported by Consumer's Union, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), The Sorry Works! Coalition, The Medical Society of the State of New York and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.