Archive for June, 2010

Reporting, Investigation, Disclosure, and Remedying of Medical Errors Leads to Similar or Lower Than Average Malpractice Claims Costs

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

A Veterans Affairs Medical Center developed a comprehensive process designed to proactively identify and remedy medical errors. Key elements of the process include widely publicizing the disclosure policy and process throughout the hospital, prompt reporting and investigation of potential errors, full disclosure of investigation results to the patient and/or family, and apology and fair remedy when an error has occurred, including appropriate compensation. The program led to liability claims costs that were the same or lower than those of a comparison group of similar Veterans Affairs hospitals that did not practice full disclosure.

According to recent government surveys:

Between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year in hospitals because of medical errors [1] while an estimated 40,000 individuals suffer medical harm in the health care system each day…

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Posted in VA Healthcare Problems, VA Malpractice, VA Medical Malpractice | 1 Comment »

Veterans get hooked, not healed, at VA hospital

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Two doctors who worked at the Hampton VA Medical Center say powerful narcotics are being over prescribed to veterans there, leaving them addicted while their underlying medical conditions go untreated.

The doctors have warned that the high volume of narcotics may be feeding a pipeline of dangerous drugs that are illegally resold in the community, with potentially fatal results.

Federal authorities are looking into the allegations.

One of the doctors was fired after airing her concerns.

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Posted in VA Healthcare Problems | 4 Comments »

Legal battle continues over training death

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
By David Porter – The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday May 30, 2010 16:27:56 EDT

GARFIELD, N.J.  – A federal judge found the Navy 80 percent negligent in the training death of Seaman Freddie Porter Jr. when it awarded $1.25 million to his mother, Cassita Massiah, last December.

As it stands, it won’t be the Navy paying Massiah. Instead, a company found to be 20 percent negligent – the owner of the tugboat that overran Porter’s small Navy vessel more than two years ago – has been ordered to pay the total damages.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. has spawned a legal battle that could alter how the government defends itself in similar lawsuits.

The seeming inequity stems from long-held legal precedent of sovereign immunity that protects the government from lawsuits – in this case, by military personnel injured or killed in the course of service. The government can be sued by a third party  – a product manufacturer, for example – to contribute to a damage award, but those suits rarely succeed, according to Daniel Rose, an attorney representing Massiah.

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Posted in VA Reports | 4 Comments »