Valleywide Legal Blog
Physician Conflicts of Interest
One of the very first of the ethical rules promulgated by the American Medical Association requires doctors to place the welfare of the patient ahead of the doctor’s own self-interest or obligations to others. As life grows ever more complicated, … Read More
A New Problem For Hospitals – And Patients
When you go to the hospital for an operation, you expect that the hospital will have the surgical instruments and medical devices the surgeon will need to perform the procedure. With rare exceptions, that has not been a problem in … Read More
Technology Comes For The Humble Stethoscope.
Two hundred years ago, a Frenchman invented a tube with which he could listen to heart and lung sounds. This was the first stethoscope. Heart disease is one of the major causes of death throughout the world. Often the abnormalities … Read More
Black Box Medicine: It’s A Thing.
We have all heard about the self-driving cars that are coming to a highway near you in the not-too-distant future. They are powered by artificial intelligence (“AI”). We had a fatal accident here in Arizona last year when a self-driving … Read More
Medical Malpractice and Off-Label Use.
Off-label use is the use of a medication or a medical device for a purpose other than the purpose the Food and Drug Administration has approved for it. Doctors sometimes prescribe a medication originally developed to treat one medical condition … Read More
Posted in Doctors, drug companies, Informed Consent, Lawsuits, Medical Devices, medical errors, Medical Malpractice, medical malpractice cases, medical mistakes, Medical Negligence, medical research, Medication Errors, Orthopedics, plaintiff, Secrecy | Lots of Malpractice – Be Careful Out There.
Regardless of what the medical profession would have you believe, there is a lot of medical malpractice out there. Many patients are victims but few end up suing. Most just choose to walk away. Many more were never told that … Read More
Posted in disclosure of medical mistakes, Doctors, drug companies, Fee for Service, Fraud, Health Care Costs, Lawsuits, Medical Costs, Medical Devices, medical errors, medical ethics, Medical Malpractice, medical mistakes, Medical Negligence, Misdiagnosis, Secrecy, Surgical Errors | Big Pharma and You.
Forgive me for getting on my insulin soapbox again. Because of my young grandson’s Type 1 diabetes, I am very interested in all things Type 1 related. I am especially interested in what it takes to keep him alive. Every … Read More
Power Morcellators Revisited
I have written in the past about power morcellators and the harm they have caused patients. I have links here, here and here. Despite their risks, power morcellators continue to be used by surgeons for minimally invasive gynecological surgery. In … Read More
Secret Conflicts of Interest
By now I am sure it is common knowledge that doctors are often paid by drug companies and by the manufacturers of medical devices. There is a strong correlation between the amount of a company’s drugs a doctor prescribes and … Read More
Posted in disclosure of medical mistakes, Doctors, drug companies, Health Care Costs, Hospital Negligence, Hospitals, Medical Devices, medical errors, medical ethics, Medical Malpractice, medical mistakes, Medical Negligence, medical research, science news, Secrecy | It’s The Money, Stupid.
I recently wrote about the loopholes in the FDA’s medical device approval process and how very few medical devices are subjected to rigorous scrutiny before being approved for use in patients. Here is another example of the price we pay, … Read More
Posted in Doctors, Fee for Service, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, heart attack, Heart Attacks, Hospitals, Informed Consent, Medical Costs, Medical Devices, medical ethics, Medicare, placebo | 
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