New York Medical Malpractice

Should doctors be able to practice while under investigation for medical malpractice. Some say yes, others strongly disagree. New York Newsday points out:

Gov. David A. Paterson’s measures aimed at improving patient safety and putting more teeth into physician discipline drew a mixed reaction yesterday from experts in health care and the legal profession.

During his news briefing yesterday, Paterson alluded to Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, the Long Island physician caught in controversy after more than 10,000 of his patients were notified they might have been exposed to hepatitis C, B and HIV.

Under the governor’s plan, physicians would not be able to practice while an investigation is under way. But that denies doctors the right of due process, said Dr. Melissa Palmer, a liver specialist in Plainview who evaluated dozens of Finkelstein’s patients for liver disease. “What happened to innocent until proven guilty?” she said yesterday.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think all doctors should be using universal precautions,” she said of guidelines to prevent the transmission of communicable infections in health care settings. “But until they’re actually proven 100 percent guilty, they should not be forced from practice.”

While this is a measure to protect the public, does this go too far in taking away doctor’s rights? You decide. Please voice your opinion, and leave a comment.

A new safety bill in New York increases accountability for those who suffer medical malpractice. NY Newsday documents:

Most doctors charged with misconduct by the state Health Department will have their names made public and all will have just one day to produce office records demanded by investigators under a wide-ranging patient safety bill agreement announced Monday by Gov. David A. Paterson.

The article points out that this rule was created due to the Finkelstein case in which records were not available for 3 years:

Finkelstein, a pain-management doctor who worked primarily from a Plainview office, had infected at least one patient with hepatitis C by reusing syringes in multidose vials. More than 10,000 patients were eventually notified of possible exposure to tainted syringes.

Finkelstein also had accumulated 10 malpractice settlements in a decade, which critics said should have triggered an investigation by the Office of Professional Medical Conduct, the health department agency that investigates doctors. The law will require continuous state review of malpractice records to see if troubling patterns emerge, prompting inquiry. Hannon said it would “restore confidence in the physician-patient relationship. … We can turn around to people who were critical of the system because of Finkelstein and say we have made substantial improvement.”

This new development is great. It seems to fill the existing legal loophole and increase patient safety.

Medical malpractice is hotly debated in think tanks and legal forums of all types as one of the most controversial of our generation. The Civil Defense Blog of the Drum Major Policy Institute points out:

America’s medical malpractice system is one part Rip van Winkle and one part Anna Nicole Smith.

It’s Rip van Winkle because malpractice policy usually lies dormant for a decade or more until it hears the clamor of a liability insurance crisis. Once awakened, moreover, it typically acts as if the health care system has not changed since its prior revival. Why Anna Nichole Smith? Because malpractice liability is a train wreck that Americans can’t help watching. Once captivated, the public imbues malpractice with importance to the U.S. health care system far beyond that indicated by objective criteria. The Jury’s Still Out: A Critical Look at Malpractice Reform

Check out the great discussion about medical malpractice law and reform in the comments of the above post. What are your thoughts?

The days of military immunity from medical malpractice may be over. Hudson Valley Press Online reports:

In order to provide servicemen and women with the rights to hold the military accountable for medical malpractice, Hinchey last month introduced the Carmelo Rodriguez Military Medical Accountability Act of 2008. The bill is named after the late Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez of Ellenville, New York, who died of skin cancer last year after a series of extraordinary mistakes made by military medical personnel.

“Under the Federal Tort Claims Act, federal prisoners and even illegal aliens in the United States have the ability to seek damages from the federal government for medical malpractice, but members of our nation’s military still do not,” Hinchey wrote in letters to House Armed Services Committee Ike Skelton (D-MO) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) urging them to hold hearings on the matter. “While I believe it is time for the Congress to put our military personnel on equal footing with all Americans, I understand that some consider this to be a controversial proposal. In my view, it is the responsibility of Congress to aggressively examine this issue out of respect to the sacrifices our servicemen and women have made in order to serve our country. Those sacrifices and service surely merit Congress taking the time to hold a discussion of the circumstances that face the men and women of the armed forces.”

Its good to see Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat from New York, out in front of an effort to help our soldiers get the medical care they deserve.

In an odd case of “medical malpractice” and harassmentNew York Newsday reports:

Richard Karpf was bullied as a child and kicked out of his apartment by roommates while attending a Mexican medical school.

Dennis White started having panic attacks when he was 6 and suffered from sleep disorders and depression as an adult.

Their lives crossed in 1996 when Karpf became White’s psychiatrist. Six years later, White called police and said Karpf had revealed a plot to kill people and feed their dismembered bodies to sharks.

Yesterday, the two men met again as White’s medical malpractice trial against Karpf opened in State Supreme Court in Mineola.

If you’ve been harassed by a former doctor, psychiatrist, or perhaps a patient, please contact an attorney.

The apparent decrease in sanctions against doctor error and indiscretion is certainly alarming. All Headline News reports:

New York, NY (AHN) - While complaints against physicians keep on rising in the Big Apple, New York state’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct has penalized fewer doctors in 2007, an 11-year record low.

An 18-page report by the New York Public Interest Research Group and the Center for Medical Consumers attributed the dip in disciplinary measures to the OPMC’s high rate of using a nondisciplinary monitoring system. The report’s authors branded the state’s physician disciplinary system as one of America’s most pro-doctor systems.

The article continues:

From 1996 to 2003, prejudicial actions in the form of license revocations, suspensions and practice restrictions went up from 314 to 395 in the state. But in the last five years it has gone down by 20 percent to 316 in 2007.

Its unfortunate that NYC has experienced lax enforcement of medical malpractice regulations. Thankfully, groups like the New York Public Interest Research Group are taking up the slack and raising public awareness about the issue.

In the face of the Supreme Court’s Feres doctrine, soldiers can’t sue for malpractice. Rick Mays in the Army Times highlights:

A New York congressman is hunting for cosponsors for a bill that would let service members sue the military for medical malpractice.

The Carmelo Rodriquez Military Medical Accountability Act, introduced by Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey, is named for a Marine sergeant who died last year from skin cancer after what Hinchey said was a series of mistakes by military medical personnel.

Rodriquez, who was 29 when he died, had a melanoma on his buttocks that had been misdiagnosed as a birthmark or wart by military doctors in Iraq, Hinchey said, citing medical records his office obtained from the Army when the Marine’s family sought his help.

Rodriquez ended up having three surgeries, plus radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but the care came too late, after the cancer had spread, Hinchey said.

His legislation would reverse a 1950 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, known as the Feres Doctrine, that prohibits lawsuits for medical negligence that harms service members.

Hopefully the Feres decision will be overridden by the Military Medical Accountability Act, so that military medical doctors can be held accountable and our troops can have better military care.

Accountability for medical malpractice is critical to patient health. There is a movement in New York to create greater transparency in this key area.New York Newsday reports:

Under Paterson’s proposal, any professional discipline charges would be made public. Right now the public isn’t notified of physician misconduct unless and until the doctor is found guilty. Charges are issued after an investigation is complete, which can take an average of about six months.

The goal is to give the Office of Professional Medical Conduct more power and oversight of physicians, to provide more information to New Yorkers in the case of public health threats, and to prevent problems from happening in the first place.

The article continues:

State law is currently silent about when officials can disclose charges of professional misconduct to the public, but attorneys for the state say a legislative change is necessary before charges against a doctor can be released.

A 2005 investigation by the comptroller’s office found that the OPMC was thorough in its investigation of cases of potential misconduct, but wasn’t proactively rooting it out.

Hopefully, this legislative movement will be successful for public health and a higher degree of accountability.

New regulations suggest a dramatic increase in medical malpractice. PR Inside reports:

New federal guidelines issued Wednesday for doctors treating smokers could trigger a wave of wrongful death medical malpractice legal actions, suggests Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), which serves as the legal action arm of the antismoking community.

Indeed, says ASH, there are over 40,000 potential plaintiffs yearly.

The guidelines require physicians not only to thoroughly warn smoking patients about the dangers of smoking, but also mandate that the clinicians provide one of more of the treatments which have been proven effective in helping people quit.

Yet most physicians reportedly fail to do this, and as a direct result a major study shows, more than 40,000 smokers die needlessly. ASH notes that hundreds of thousands more become disabled annually, and could also bring malpractice actions.

For clarification of these new regulations, seek legal counsel.

Findlaw asks “What should I do if I think I have a medical malpractice claim?

A: You should talk to a lawyer who specializes in such cases, as soon as possible. Tell the attorney exactly what happened, from your first visit to the doctor or other health care provider, through your last contact with him or her. If possible, obtain your medical records and bring them to your first meeting with the attorney. There are time limits governing how long someone may wait to bring a medical malpractice claim, so time is of the essence.

You may also want to check out this Medical Malpractice Checklist.

Great advice for anyone who thinks they may have a medical malpractice claim or needs a medical malpractice lawyer.