The Washington State Supreme Court remanded a medical malpractice discovery dispute to the trial court for an in-camera record review relating to the state's peer review and quality improvement statutes. The court analyzed and ruled on three issues: a hospital's records of the...
Pilots are forced to retire at the age of 65. In many states, senior citizen drivers must undergo a road test every year to maintain their license. Insurance companies often pay tractor trailer drivers to retire when their age and physical conditions pose too much of a risk....
To a patient, whether a physician is employed by the hospital or practices independently makes no difference, but for the medical staff office, keeping track of who is employed and who isn't can be a pain in the neck. Employed physicians must follow a set of rules that don't...
The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that a hospital is not precluded from making claims of immunity and reversed a trial court's decision that awarded a physician punitive damages following the suspension of the physician's medical staff privileges.
A Louisiana Court of Appeals affirmed and amended a trial court's decision that an Alexandria, La., hospital failed to comply with its own bylaws in suspending a cardiovascular surgeon and performed its peer review process with malice.
Back in the "old days," physicians who practiced in the community also practiced in the hospital, so defining who belonged in the active category was a breeze. But with the advent of hospitalists, medical staff categories have blurred, and it's beginning to affect which...
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed a §1983 civil rights claim brought by a U.S. Army physician resulting from an allegedly inappropriate report of a medical malpractice claim to the NPDB.
Given that today's culture is fully immersed in technology, it is easy to assume that any information you might need can be found with a few clicks. Occasionally, however, a few clicks can turn into an hours-long search-and in the world of medical staff services, it seems this...
Admitting fault and apologizing are skills that don't come naturally to many physicians, not because they are physicians, but because they are human, says Daniel O'Connell, PhD, master trainer and course manager at the Institute for Healthcare Communication in New Haven, Conn.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia granted a plaintiff's motion to compel discovery of a hospital's fall prevention policies, training materials, and incident reports after a patient fell while his bed sensor was turned off and suffered injuries that...
