Valleywide Legal Blog

State Legislatures Are Making Your Health Care Less Safe

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am not a big fan of state medical boards.  My complaint is that there is a lot of malpractice out there and the medical boards do not do an effective job of … Read More

Posted in Arizona Medical Board, Doctors, Fraud, health, medical errors, medical ethics, medical research, science news |

Our Health Care Spending Subsidizes the Rest of the World

If you follow this blog or read much about health care spending, you know that we in the United States spend twice as much per person on health care as any other nation on earth.  We pay way more for … Read More

Posted in Doctors, drug companies, Fee for Service, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, Hospitals, Medical Costs, Medical Devices, medical research, Medicare |

New Hope For Pancreatic Cancer Patients

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer afflicting human beings.  85% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will live less than five years following their diagnosis.  Looking at it another way, although only 3% of all … Read More

Posted in Cancer, Doctors, health, Lung Cancer, Medical Costs, medical research, science news |

Are We Headed Back to the Bad Old Days?

My granddaughter and I were looking at songs in a folk singing book the other day and one of them was “Sweet Molly Malone.”  If you know the song, you know Molly was a fishmonger in old Dublin, who died … Read More

Posted in antibiotic resistant bacteria, General Health, health, healthy living, Infection, medical research, science news |

The Truth About Medical Malpractice Juries

It is an article of faith among doctors that medical malpractice juries are anti-doctor, incompetent to resolve medical questions and overly generous to patients who bring lawsuits.  They have been making the same complaints for the last 50 years at … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Lawsuits, Medical Malpractice, medical malpractice claims, medical malpractice lawsuits, medical mistakes, Medical Negligence, medical research, plaintiff, tort reform |

The Brave New World of Genomic Testing.

An organism’s genome controls its destiny.  This is as true for the human genome as it is for the genome of the Covid-2 coronavirus.  It was less than 20 years ago that scientists first sequenced the human genome.  The project … Read More

Posted in drug companies, genetic testing, Health Care Costs, healthy living, medical research, science news, Vaccines |

Defective Surgical Staplers And The FDA.

The surgical stapler is an important tool.  Rather than spend substantial time sewing body parts together during abdominal, thoracic or bowel surgeries, surgeons can use a stapler to close up wounds and attach body parts.  Removable staples are also used … Read More

Posted in disclosure of medical mistakes, Doctors, health, Hospitals, Medical Devices, medical mistakes, medical research, Secrecy |

Coronavirus Fraud.

Dishonest people are always looking for a way to steal money from you, from your neighbor or from the government.  If you have money, you are fair game.  A crisis like the Covid pandemic provides these people with a fearful … Read More

Posted in Doctors, Fraud, Health Care Costs, Health Insurers, medical ethics, medical research, Medicare, science news |

Why Your Local Non-Profit Hospital Makes So Much Money.

We are all familiar with non-profit hospitals.  They are pillars of the community.  They may provide free or nearly free care to the needy or they may do free medical research for the public good.  The one thing they don’t … Read More

Posted in Fee for Service, Health Care Costs, Hospitals, Medical Costs, medical ethics, medical research, Medicare, Nurses, Secrecy |

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

Posted in Doctors, drug companies, Health Care Costs, Hospitals, Informed Consent, Medical Devices, medical ethics, medical research, PODS, Secrecy |