80% of doctors now use some form of Electronic Medical Records. I am sure you have noticed that when you are in the doctor's office, your doctor is likely looking at a screen and asking you questions. Or, when you or a loved one is in the hospital, you have 5 different people asking you the sam...
Schmidt, Sethi & Akmajian Blog
Study Confirms That Patients At Greater Risk For Medical Malpractice When They Go to the Hospital On The Weekend
Have you ever worried that the care you get at a hospital during the weekend is substandard. Well, you have reason to. A recent study from the BMJ Quality and Safety Journal looked at the rates of mortality (death) for patients admitted into the hospital during the weekend. They found that for...
Medical Malpractice Expert May Be Asked About Personal Practices/Deadline to File Motion For New Trial/Final Appealable Judgment
Jaynes v. McConnell, 721 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 20 (App. Div. I, September 15, 2015) (J. Gemmill) DEADLINE FOR FILING MOTION FOR NEW TRIAL NOT TRIGGERED UNTIL FINAL APPEALABLE JUDGMENT ENTERED/DEFENDANT'S MEDICAL EXPERT MAY BE ASKED ABOUT PERSONAL PRACTICES Plaintiff sued her colorectal surgeons for n...
Why Your Doctors Won't Talk To Us, And What We Do To Make Sure The Jury Understands Your Injuries And Medical Treatment
Doctors and lawyers often mix like oil and water. It is no secret many doctors view lawyers with skepticisms at best and contempt at worse. Much of this animosity is because lawyers expose a doctor's malpractice when he or she seriously harms or kills a patient. While this underlying tension ...
Civil Procedure/Medical Malpractice: Required Qualifications of Expert/Right to Substitute New Expert
Preston v. Amadei, 720 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 22 (App. Div. I, August 27, 2015) (J. Brown) STANDARD OF CARE EXPERT IN MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE MUST ENGAGE IN CLINICAL PRACTICE IN SAME SPECIALTY AS DEFENDANT BUT IF EXPERT IS FOUND UNQUALIFIED PLAINTIFF MUST HAVE REASONABLE TIME TO SUBSTITUTE NEW EXPERT THAT I...
Surgeon and Hospital Scorecard Now Available
By James Campbell A valuable tool just became available that allows patients to compare the complication rates of different hospitals and surgeons for different procedures. This tool is called the Surgeon Scorecard. The reviewed procedures are: knee replacement, hip replacement, neck fusion, l...
Electronic Medical Records Are Threating Your Health and Frustrating Your Doctor
I have been practicing in the medical malpractice field for over twenty years. In that time, I have seen many trends that effect patient health. The transition to electronic medical records (EMR's) is one of the biggest changes to modern medicine in the last 50 years, and not in a good way. ...
Legislators Were Hoodwinked by the Myth of “Defensive Medicine” To Pass Laws Harmful To Patients
Forbes Magazine is a business magazine. It takes the side of business. Nonetheless, it could not help but report on a New England Journal of Medicine article that blew the doors off the idea of “defensive medicine.” Defensive medicine is a term coined by the insurance industry to describe the ...
Discharge Instructions Confusing? Make Sure You know Your Next Step
A recent blog by Dr. Suneel Dhand, MD, about the confusion created by discharge paperwork from the Emergency Department got me thinking about several of my medical malpractice cases where this was a recurrent problem. Much of the confusion comes from some Emergency Doctor's misconnection with t...
Tools for Finding the Right Hospital
Hospitals and doctors are like any other kind of professional: there are great ones, there are awful ones and those that are somewhere in between. Because a hospital or doctor is responsible for your health or life, it is important to find the one that best fits your needs. Here are some tools to...
Who And Why Are All These People Taking Care Of Me In A Hospital? A Guide To Modern Hospital Care Delivery
I recently went to Tucson Medical Center to visit a loved one. She is an out of town visitor who, unfortunately, needed urgent medical care and hospitalization. This made me think how bewildering this process is to a patient and their family. Who are all these people coming into the room? Wh...
Electronic Medical Records Mistakes Are Medical Malpractice and Require You Check Your Test Results
Our modern world of technology has its good points and bad. Electronic medical records came with the promise of reduced errors, including increased communication among health care providers, reduction in medication errors, and better coordination of testing and services. This brave new world pro...
Joint Commission Releases 2014 Sentinel Event Statistics
What Is a Sentinal Event? A sentinel event is a Patient Safety Event (not primarily related to the natural course of the patient's illness or underlying condition), that reaches a patient and results in any of the following: Death Permanent harm Severe temporary harm and intervention require...
Torts—Products Liability: Learned Intermediary Rule Abolished
Watts v.Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp., 705 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 19 (App. Div. I, January 29, 2015) (J. Gemmill) LEARNED INTERMEDIARY DOCTRINE INCONSISTENT WITH AZ COMPARATIVE FAULT & REALITIES OF 21st CENTURY DRUG ADVERTISING Plaintiff alleges she contracted hepatitis and lupus from an acne medic...
Torts—Defamation—False Light--Damages
Desert Palm Surgical Group v. Petta, 704 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 9 (App. Div. I, January 15, 2015) (J. Winthrop) DEFAMATION AND FALSE LIGHT INVASION OF PRIVACY DAMAGE AWARD OF $12 MILLION REQUIRES SUPPORTING EVIDENCE BEYOND PLAINTIFFS' VAGUE, CONCLUSIONARY TESTIMONY Petta had numerous cosmetic surgerie...
Tools for Finding Better and More Affordable Care
Consumers of healthcare often feel fairly tied down and helpless, as if they have no choice in who they will receive healthcare from and at what cost. The healthcare industry--including, importantly, insurance companies--have done a good job of taking control over consumers and making consumers ...
The Costs of "Defensive Medicine" Myth Busted!
Often doctors, their malpractice insurance companies and their lobbyists claim health care is being ruined by so called defensive medicine. The story goes that medical costs are being dramatically driven up because doctors' fear of lawsuits causes them to order unnecessary tests and procedures. ...
U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Birth Control Coverage
In a 5-4 split decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that employers of for-profit organizations do not have to provide coverage to female employees for birth control under the Affordable Care Act requirements if it is against the organization's religious beliefs...
Government Data Gives Local Hospital's Complication and Caregiving Statistics.
Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services released the results of a study that showed that one person in eight develops a “hospital acquired complication.” Here is the link to the study. Examples of hospital caused complications are things like adverse drug events, surgical infectio...
Remembering Bob Beal
A memorial and celebration will be held to remember our friend and former law partner, Robert A. Beal, on June, 14, 2014 at the Tucson Country Club. It will begin at 3:00pm.
(Uh-Oh)versharing - The Importance of Honoring a Confidentiality Agreement
The majority of cases we handle for our clients settle before trial. Typically during a settlement conference, where all parties come together with a focus on resolution. In settlement, no party admits fault, and everyone agrees that the deal is being done to avoid risk, uncertainty and ongoing e...
Time is of the Essence When Treating Advanced Infections
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study about patients presenting to hospitals in septic shock. Septic shock occurs when the body's defenses are overwhelmed by an infection that has spread to the patient's blood. Infections that turn into septic shock can start anywhere in ...
When is a Hospital Responsible for Medical Malpractice?
If you have experienced medical malpractice, you may be wondering who to sue? You may want to go after the doctor that is specifically responsible for the malpractice, or you may want to sue the hospital as a whole. You can sue the hospital for malpractice if you are targeting a specific employee...
What are Needlestick Injuries?
Hospitals and doctors' offices are places that individuals go to get treated for illnesses, but sometimes they can be the most dangerous locations to obtain devastating sicknesses as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, needlestick injuries are a very real threat in ...
Common Tucson Malpractice Issues -- Failure to Treat Infections
By: James Campbell, Tucson Medical Malpractice Lawyer Unfortunately, infections are a way of life for modern medical care. In cities like Tucson, surgeries occur in large institutions, and large institutions are breeding grounds for aggressive infections. As a result, getting an infection from a...