Valleywide Legal Blog

Malpractice Outside the Hospital Is On The Rise

Recently the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) issued a report analyzing paid malpractice claims in the hospital setting and in the outpatient setting.  http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/23/2427.short.  The data came from the National Practitioner Data Bank, to which all malpractice payments must … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Hospitals |

$2.6 Million Award in Massachussets

A Massachusetts jury awarded a man $2.6 million for a surgical staple which was improperly placed in his small bowel and left there following hernia surgery.  The 21 year old man underwent eight additional operations over the follwing five months as … Read More

Posted in Verdicts |

Melanoma Update

Dr. Robert Stern of the Harvard Medical School is one of the leading experts in the country on the subject of melanoma.  Along with colleagues, he has studied and written extensively about melanoma, its causes and treatment.  In what I think … Read More

Posted in Melanoma |

The Business of Medicine, Part Two

I recently wrote about the fact that medicine is a business and that we are its customers.  At the center of the debate raging in this country over health care, and especially Medicare, is the rate at which health care … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Hospitals |

Malpractice Costs: The Never Events

For many years, informed people in the health care industry have recognized the problem of preventable medical errors and the costs associated with them.  More recently, those responsible for paying the bills for patients injured by preventable medical errors have … Read More

Posted in Hospitals, Malpractice costs |

Malpractice Costs All of Us

Medical malpractice is a huge problem in the United States.  Not only does it exact a great personal toll on the patients who are its victims and their families, it exacts a great economic toll on society as a whole.  According … Read More

Posted in Malpractice costs |

The Business of Medicine

In our national debate about the cost of health care, we often forget that medicine is a business and we, the patients, are its customers.  When doctors decide to order a test for us or to do some procedure on … Read More

Posted in Doctors |

Melanoma Update

The other day I wrote about the increasing prevalence of melanoma here in Arizona.  This bad news has finally been offset by some good news.  There are some new drug therapies being created which show real promise in extending the … Read More

Posted in Uncategorized |

Damage Caps Are Unfair.

Recently, I wrote about a proposal pending in Congress to establish a system of national caps on non-economic damages suffered as the result of medical negligence.  Non-economic damages are all damages other than lost wages and medical bills.  I will … Read More

Posted in Malpractice caps |