Med Mal News

Hospital Workers Fired for Prying into Famous Patient's Files

Fifteen employees at the Bellflower, CA, branch of Kaiser Permanente hospital were fired in March for allegedly accessing information in the medical files of Nadya Suleman, the woman who gave birth to octuplets earlier this year, and whose story has been the subject of intense media attention. The fired employees, as well as others who were disciplined but not dismissed, were apparently snooping into Suleman's records merely out of curiosity, and no personal information was leaked or sold to the media. The security breaches were discovered by the hospital's computer monitoring security system, which allowed administrators to see who had accessed the patient's files. The employees who had no medical need to look into those files were then identified and disciplined.

Southern California Hospital Settles Patient Dumping Suit

Following allegations that some hospitals were discharging patients and then dumping them on the streets to fend for themselves, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo announced a settlement April 9 with College Hospital's Costa Mesa, CA, and Ceritos, CA, facilities. The settlement, which terminates the case against the hospital for illegal “patient dumping,” calls for the facilities to stop the practice of leaving mentally ill and homeless people on the streets following hospital discharge. The hospital will also contribute $1.4 million to charities that help the homeless and the mentally ill and pay $400,000 in civil fines.

Red Cross Report Details Medical Personnel Involvement With Torture

An article published in the New York Review of Books has disclosed the existence of a 2007 International Red Cross report that showed deep involvement by medical personnel in the torture of suspected terrorists as they were being interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Danner, Mark, New York Review of Books, Volume 56, Number 7, 4/30/09. The report, whose findings are based on interviews with 14 detainees, states, “In some cases it was alleged that, based on their [the detainees'] assessments, health personnel gave instructions to interrogators to continue, to adjust or to stop particular methods [of torture].” Another detainee interviewed said a medical professional threatened to withhold medical care if he refused to cooperate with his interrogators. The detainees were unable to identify the medical personnel by name because none of the identities of the interrogators or their helpers were disclosed to the prisoners.

The Red Cross report describes what its authors see as the proper roles of medical professionals with regard to detainees who are about to or are already undergoing interrogation. These roles are: 1) To conduct a medical assessment before or after questioning has begun in order to determine if the detainee is physically and psychologically fit to be interrogated; and 2) To provide emergency medical treatment if a detainee needs it while being questioned. Medical professionals should, in other words, protect detainees from being badly treated, and should not assist in determining how much torture a detainee can stand during an interrogation. For medical personnel to assist in such proceedings, the report concludes, “is contrary to international standards of medical ethics.” The Red Cross report may be accessed through the New York Review of Books Web site, at: http://www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf.

Children of Woman Ignored in ER Accept Settlement

The County of Los Angeles will pay $3 million to settle a suit brought by the family of a woman who died unattended in an L.A. County hospital emergency room. Forty-three-year-old Edith Rodriquez's death in May 2007 was recorded by security cameras at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Medical Center. They showed her writhing on the emergency room floor, in obvious pain, as hospital personnel passed by and did nothing. She died as a result of a perforated bowel 45 minutes after she fell to the floor.

Damage Cap in Nevada is Lifted in Cases of Gross Negligence

Nevada's voters imposed a $350,000 non-economic damages cap on medical malpractice awards in 2004, but the State's Assembly voted 26-15 on April 20 to alter the law. The legislators loosened the rule to allow for unlimited non-economic damages in cases of gross medical negligence, which the legislation defines as being consciously indifferent to the consequences of providing substandard medical care or being indifferent to the safety and welfare of a patient. They also expanded the time for filing an action by one year, allowing med-mal suits to be filed up to four years after the date of injury. The changes were prompted in large part by Nevada's citizens' outrage over last year's Hepatitis C outbreak, which was caused by unsafe practices at a surgical center.

After Reforms, PA Continues to See Drop in Med-Mal Suits

As they have since tort reform measures were instituted in Pennsylvania in 2003, the number of medical malpractice filings in the State dropped in 2008. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, which compiles yearly statistics on med-mal filings, reports that 1,602 such suits were filed in 2008, as compared with 1,641 in the previous year. In 2002, just before the reforms were instituted, 2,904 medical malpractice suits were filed. The 2003 reform measures included a requirement that plaintiffs file with their claims a physician's certificate of merit stating that there was a likely deviation from the standard of care. The reforms also imposed a rule requiring plaintiffs to file their claims in the jurisdiction in which they received the alleged substandard treatment.

Group Says Criminal Prosecution of Mistake a Bad Idea

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), which works with health care providers, patients and others to try to prevent medication errors, issued a release in April decrying the State of Ohio's decision to prosecute a pharmacist for involuntary manslaughter. The charge came after a pharmacist failed to prevent a subordinate from inadvertently mixing too much sodium chloride into a two-year-old child's chemotherapy mixture. The dose killed the child. “Unfortunately,” states the release, “when a fatal medication error occurs, there often is considerable pressure from the public and the legal system to blame and discipline individuals for mistakes. However, criminal prosecution sends the false message that clinical perfection is an attainable goal, and that 'good' healthcare practitioners never make errors and should be criminally punished if they are involved in an error.” ISMP advocates reserving disciplinary action for licensing boards, noting that the medical profession, which already is dwindling, will have an even harder time recruiting new practitioners if the threat of criminal prosecution and potential incarceration becomes commonplace. The ISMP release may be found at: http://www.ismp.org/pressroom/PR20090423.pdf.

Hospital Workers Fired for Prying into Famous Patient's Files

Fifteen employees at the Bellflower, CA, branch of Kaiser Permanente hospital were fired in March for allegedly accessing information in the medical files of Nadya Suleman, the woman who gave birth to octuplets earlier this year, and whose story has been the subject of intense media attention. The fired employees, as well as others who were disciplined but not dismissed, were apparently snooping into Suleman's records merely out of curiosity, and no personal information was leaked or sold to the media. The security breaches were discovered by the hospital's computer monitoring security system, which allowed administrators to see who had accessed the patient's files. The employees who had no medical need to look into those files were then identified and disciplined.

Southern California Hospital Settles Patient Dumping Suit

Following allegations that some hospitals were discharging patients and then dumping them on the streets to fend for themselves, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo announced a settlement April 9 with College Hospital's Costa Mesa, CA, and Ceritos, CA, facilities. The settlement, which terminates the case against the hospital for illegal “patient dumping,” calls for the facilities to stop the practice of leaving mentally ill and homeless people on the streets following hospital discharge. The hospital will also contribute $1.4 million to charities that help the homeless and the mentally ill and pay $400,000 in civil fines.

Red Cross Report Details Medical Personnel Involvement With Torture

An article published in the New York Review of Books has disclosed the existence of a 2007 International Red Cross report that showed deep involvement by medical personnel in the torture of suspected terrorists as they were being interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Danner, Mark, New York Review of Books, Volume 56, Number 7, 4/30/09. The report, whose findings are based on interviews with 14 detainees, states, “In some cases it was alleged that, based on their [the detainees'] assessments, health personnel gave instructions to interrogators to continue, to adjust or to stop particular methods [of torture].” Another detainee interviewed said a medical professional threatened to withhold medical care if he refused to cooperate with his interrogators. The detainees were unable to identify the medical personnel by name because none of the identities of the interrogators or their helpers were disclosed to the prisoners.

The Red Cross report describes what its authors see as the proper roles of medical professionals with regard to detainees who are about to or are already undergoing interrogation. These roles are: 1) To conduct a medical assessment before or after questioning has begun in order to determine if the detainee is physically and psychologically fit to be interrogated; and 2) To provide emergency medical treatment if a detainee needs it while being questioned. Medical professionals should, in other words, protect detainees from being badly treated, and should not assist in determining how much torture a detainee can stand during an interrogation. For medical personnel to assist in such proceedings, the report concludes, “is contrary to international standards of medical ethics.” The Red Cross report may be accessed through the New York Review of Books Web site, at: http://www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf.

Children of Woman Ignored in ER Accept Settlement

The County of Los Angeles will pay $3 million to settle a suit brought by the family of a woman who died unattended in an L.A. County hospital emergency room. Forty-three-year-old Edith Rodriquez's death in May 2007 was recorded by security cameras at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Medical Center. They showed her writhing on the emergency room floor, in obvious pain, as hospital personnel passed by and did nothing. She died as a result of a perforated bowel 45 minutes after she fell to the floor.

Damage Cap in Nevada is Lifted in Cases of Gross Negligence

Nevada's voters imposed a $350,000 non-economic damages cap on medical malpractice awards in 2004, but the State's Assembly voted 26-15 on April 20 to alter the law. The legislators loosened the rule to allow for unlimited non-economic damages in cases of gross medical negligence, which the legislation defines as being consciously indifferent to the consequences of providing substandard medical care or being indifferent to the safety and welfare of a patient. They also expanded the time for filing an action by one year, allowing med-mal suits to be filed up to four years after the date of injury. The changes were prompted in large part by Nevada's citizens' outrage over last year's Hepatitis C outbreak, which was caused by unsafe practices at a surgical center.

After Reforms, PA Continues to See Drop in Med-Mal Suits

As they have since tort reform measures were instituted in Pennsylvania in 2003, the number of medical malpractice filings in the State dropped in 2008. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, which compiles yearly statistics on med-mal filings, reports that 1,602 such suits were filed in 2008, as compared with 1,641 in the previous year. In 2002, just before the reforms were instituted, 2,904 medical malpractice suits were filed. The 2003 reform measures included a requirement that plaintiffs file with their claims a physician's certificate of merit stating that there was a likely deviation from the standard of care. The reforms also imposed a rule requiring plaintiffs to file their claims in the jurisdiction in which they received the alleged substandard treatment.

Group Says Criminal Prosecution of Mistake a Bad Idea

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), which works with health care providers, patients and others to try to prevent medication errors, issued a release in April decrying the State of Ohio's decision to prosecute a pharmacist for involuntary manslaughter. The charge came after a pharmacist failed to prevent a subordinate from inadvertently mixing too much sodium chloride into a two-year-old child's chemotherapy mixture. The dose killed the child. “Unfortunately,” states the release, “when a fatal medication error occurs, there often is considerable pressure from the public and the legal system to blame and discipline individuals for mistakes. However, criminal prosecution sends the false message that clinical perfection is an attainable goal, and that 'good' healthcare practitioners never make errors and should be criminally punished if they are involved in an error.” ISMP advocates reserving disciplinary action for licensing boards, noting that the medical profession, which already is dwindling, will have an even harder time recruiting new practitioners if the threat of criminal prosecution and potential incarceration becomes commonplace. The ISMP release may be found at: http://www.ismp.org/pressroom/PR20090423.pdf.