Med Mal News

New York Studies Show Cause of Death Is Often Misreported

The death certificate may be one of the most important pieces of evidence in a wrongful death case, yet a study published in May in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease indicates that the cause of death may often be misreported on these crucial documents. The article describes the results of two studies that asked more than 500 resident doctors in New York City teaching hospitals whether they believed in the accuracy of death certificates, and whether they themselves had ever misreported a patient's cause of death. Only about a third of them believed that death certificates are accurate overall, and about half of them admitted to having reported the wrong cause of death, often because of external pressure. Most who impugned the accuracy of the documents cited system obstructions, in which their reporting systems would not permit input of true causes of death. Particularly disturbing were the number of respondents who reported being pressed to list an alternate cause of death if the patient died of septic shock (70%) or from acute respiratory distress syndrome (34.2%). Those residents who reported listing an alternate cause of death to the real one generally blamed cardiovascular disease (64.6%) for a patient's death, with the next two false causes identified being pneumonia (19.5%) and cancer (12.4%). The journal article is available at: www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2013/12_0288.htm.

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'CA Senate Leader Wants Discussions on MICRA

California's Senate President Pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, says he is willing to get behind legislation to raise the damages cap set by the 38-year-old Medical Insurance Compensation Reform Act (MICRA). But first, he wants those for and against the change to get together and come up with a compromise position. “I support a reasonable increase in the MICRA cap, and I would prefer to do that legislatively,” Steinberg said. “But the best way that that can actually get done is with real conversation, real negotiation between the affected stakeholders. And I think it's an appropriate subject for discussion. That's different from whether or not we have the votes now in both houses to pass this bill.” MICRA caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice actions at $250,000, an amount that, despite inflation, has not changed since the law's passage in 1975. At the time of Steinberg's comments, no talks between the opposing sides were yet scheduled.

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New York Studies Show Cause of Death Is Often Misreported

The death certificate may be one of the most important pieces of evidence in a wrongful death case, yet a study published in May in the journal Preventing Chronic Disease indicates that the cause of death may often be misreported on these crucial documents. The article describes the results of two studies that asked more than 500 resident doctors in New York City teaching hospitals whether they believed in the accuracy of death certificates, and whether they themselves had ever misreported a patient's cause of death. Only about a third of them believed that death certificates are accurate overall, and about half of them admitted to having reported the wrong cause of death, often because of external pressure. Most who impugned the accuracy of the documents cited system obstructions, in which their reporting systems would not permit input of true causes of death. Particularly disturbing were the number of respondents who reported being pressed to list an alternate cause of death if the patient died of septic shock (70%) or from acute respiratory distress syndrome (34.2%). Those residents who reported listing an alternate cause of death to the real one generally blamed cardiovascular disease (64.6%) for a patient's death, with the next two false causes identified being pneumonia (19.5%) and cancer (12.4%). The journal article is available at: www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2013/12_0288.htm.

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'CA Senate Leader Wants Discussions on MICRA

California's Senate President Pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, says he is willing to get behind legislation to raise the damages cap set by the 38-year-old Medical Insurance Compensation Reform Act (MICRA). But first, he wants those for and against the change to get together and come up with a compromise position. “I support a reasonable increase in the MICRA cap, and I would prefer to do that legislatively,” Steinberg said. “But the best way that that can actually get done is with real conversation, real negotiation between the affected stakeholders. And I think it's an appropriate subject for discussion. That's different from whether or not we have the votes now in both houses to pass this bill.” MICRA caps non-economic damages in medical malpractice actions at $250,000, an amount that, despite inflation, has not changed since the law's passage in 1975. At the time of Steinberg's comments, no talks between the opposing sides were yet scheduled.

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