U.S. Statistics Regarding Physicians
April 6, 2011
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2009, there were 921,900 medical doctors in the United States during 2006 (an increase from 813,800 in 2000), of which 560,400 were based in offices. 665,600 were men and 256,300 were women. 685,200 had graduate[...]
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U.S. Statistics For Organ Transplants
April 5, 2011
As medicine and medical techniques have advanced over the years, organ transplants in the United States have generally increased in number and complexity. Whereas only 203 lung transplants were performed in 1990, 1,469 were performed in 2007 (2006 one-year survival rate: 82.4%). 2,631 liver transpla[...]
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Health Care Fraud Recoveries And Enforcement Actions
March 17, 2011
According to this report, during Fiscal Year 2010, the Federal government received approximately $2.5 billion in health care fraud judgments and settlements and the Medicare Trust Fund received approximately $2.86 billion including more than $683.2 million in Federal Medicaid money in fraud recove[...]
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Fall Prevention And Medical Malpractice
March 15, 2011
It is not uncommon for a patient in a hospital or in a nursing home to suffer one or more falls, resulting in serious injuries or even death. Not all falls are the result of medical malpractice (by definition in Maryland, medical malpractice occurs when the care given by the heal[...]
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CEREBRAL PALSY AND MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
March 14, 2011
Cerebral palsy, which is often called “CP”, is described by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and keep their balance and posture as a result of injury to parts of the brain, or as a result of a[...]
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MEDICATION ERRORS MADE BY PHARMACIES
March 12, 2011
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) is a non-governmental, official public standards-setting authority for prescription and over-the-counter medicines and other healthcare products manufactured or sold in the United States. Prior to 2009, USP maintained a national medication error and adverse drug[...]
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TOP RATED HOSPITALS OFFER BETTER PATIENT SAFETY
March 11, 2011
HealthGrades, an independent source of physician information and hospital quality outcomes, has recently issued the results of a study that found that patients have a 46% lower risk of experiencing a patient safety incident at a top-rated hospital compared to a poorly-rated hospital. The findings we[...]
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MARYLAND MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWS – CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE
March 10, 2011
A bill has been introduced in the Maryland General Assembly during the 2011 Session to entrench the affirmative defense of contributory negligence in Maryland. In general terms, contributory negligence is conduct on the part of the injured person which falls below the standard of care to which the i[...]
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HEALTH CARE COSTS AND TORT REFORM
March 8, 2011
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has stated that tort reform might reduce health care costs by 0.5 percent, saving approximately $11 billion out of a total of $2.5 trillion in health care costs annually. The actual costs of malpractice insurance premiums, court verdicts, and the[...]
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USE OF THE INTERNET TO RESEARCH HEALTHCARE INFORMATION
March 7, 2011
According to the Bupa Health Pulse 2010 international healthcare survey of over 12,000 people in 12 countries, nearly half (46%) of people who use the internet to search for health information do so to self-diagnose. The survey further notes that 68% of the respondents used the internet to find i[...]
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