C. Difficile Infections
March 11, 2012
C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) infections remain one of the most serious and common healthcare-associated infections (“HAI”). In recent years, efforts in the U.S. to address and reduce HAIs in hospitals have met with some success, except for C. difficile infections. One reason f[...]
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Patient Dumping Settlements In 2011
March 10, 2012
The Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“OIG”) has reported the following settlements involving patient dumping cases in 2011 that resulted in the payment of a civil monetary penalty (the settling parties denied the patient dumping allega[...]
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When Did Hip Replacement Manufacturer Know About Failures?
March 5, 2012
In an article appearing in The New York Times on February 21, 2012, it was reported that the all-metal artificial hip replacement known as the DePuy ASR (articular surface replacement) manufactured by DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, which was implanted in 93,000 pati[...]
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We’re Celebrating One Full Year Of Daily Blog Postings!
March 4, 2012
Well, we have reached a significant milestone — one complete year of our daily blog postings (we started daily posting in our Blog on March 5, 2011 and have posted every day since). When we first started to blog, we thought that it might be difficult to find relevant, interesting informat[...]
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Poor People Sue For Medical Malpractice Less Than Others
March 2, 2012
It is a not-so-uncommon belief among doctors and other medical providers that the risk of being sued for medical malpractice by a poor patient is much greater than the risk of being sued for medical malpractice by other patients. This perception may help explain why, at least in part, some doctor[...]
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Hospital Acquired Infections
February 28, 2012
Nearly 4.5 hospital acquired infections occur for every 100 hospital admissions in the United States each year, costing the healthcare system between $5.7 billion and $6.8 billion per year (2007). Hospital acquired infections range from mild infections to life-threatening or life-ending infection[...]
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Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Disciplinary Statistics
February 27, 2012
When a doctor or other medical provider commits medical malpractice and a medical malpractice claim is paid on his/her behalf, the medical malpractice payment is supposed to be officially reported and the appropriate disciplinary agency is supposed to investigate the medical malpractice claim and ta[...]
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The Costs Of Prescription Drug Abuse
February 26, 2012
Prescription painkillers such as methodone, oxycodone (brand name: OxyContin), and hydrocodone (brand name: Vicodin) are the most abused prescription drugs in the United States. The sale of prescription painkillers in the United States has more than tripled since 1999. Over 36,000 people died from [...]
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