By Lea Yu on June 25, 2010
Health professionals agree that some radiation scans are unnecessary, and potentially harmful, but there is considerable debate over what needs to be done to protect patients.
The discussion played out in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, where one health expert called for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to strengthen regulations, and two others rejected ... Read more »
Posted in Medical Errors, News & Notes, Tort Reform
By Jill Replogle on April 14, 2010
About one in four cardiologists say they order tests to avoid being sued, a new study shows. The Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Maine Medical Center in Portland surveyed nearly 600 doctors to determine, among other things, how non-medical issues influence their decisions to order invasive heart tests.
From the Associated Press:
Doctors who treated ... Read more »
Posted in Medical Errors, News & Notes, Tort Reform
By Jill Replogle on March 24, 2010
The president of the American Medical Association says a recent decision by the Georgia Supreme Court to strike down medical liability caps could limit patients’ access to healthcare. The reaction came in response to the court’s ruling on Monday, which said the $350,000 cap defined under a 2005 state law violates the right to a ... Read more »
Posted in Medical Errors, News & Notes, Tort Reform
By Jill Replogle on March 24, 2010
Cesarean sections have reached an all-time high in the U.S., driven in part by legal pressure faced by doctors, according to a new report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The rate of Cesarean births increased by over 50 percent from 1996 to 2007, with nearly one in three babies now delivered by the ... Read more »
Posted in Medical Errors, News & Notes, Tort Reform
By Matthew Richmond on March 23, 2010
Delaware, home base of more than half of all Fortune 500 companies, also has the most business-friendly courts in the country, a survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce suggests. By contrast, when it comes to a ”reasonable and balanced” approach to tort liability cases, West Virginia is at the bottom of the heap, the survey says, with Lousiana and Mississippi ranked 49th and ... Read more »
Posted in News & Notes, Tort Reform
By Jill Replogle on March 16, 2010
In a 4-3 ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld a state law making it more difficult for patients to win malpractice lawsuits in cases where emergency medical assistance was required. The law, passed in 2005, requires plaintiffs to establish that emergency healthcare providers knowingly mistreated patients.
The Associated Press reports (via BusinessWeek):
The court’s majority opinion, penned ... Read more »
Posted in Medical Errors, News & Notes, Tort Reform
