Vested Interest - News and Notes - December 2002 Issue

Nurses Shortage Costs Lives

Americans scheduled for routine surgery, such as a knee replacement run a 31 percent greater risk of dying if they are admitted to a hospital with a severe shortage of nurses, a study says. An estimated 20,000 people die each year because they have checked into a hospital with overworked nurses, says a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That’s about a fifth of the roughly 98,000 deaths attributed each year to medical errors in the U.S. (ATLA L@w News Digest – October 24, 2002)

Doctors Who Suggest Pot Can Keep Licenses

A federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled that the government cannot revoke the prescription drug licenses of doctors who recommend marijuana to sick patients. The three-judge panel also ruled that the Justice Department cannot investigate doctors for merely recommending marijuana to patients. The court noted that doctors are not allowed to dispense marijuana, but said that physicians had a constitutional right to speak candidly with their patients about marijuana without fear of government sanctions. (AP– October 30, 2002)

Reporting Errors Poses Woes for Doctors

Most physicians believe that reducing medical errors should be a national priority but are much less likely than the public to believe that quality of care is a problem, according to a new survey. The study in the Archives of Internal Medicine also found that nearly all physicians believe that fear of medical malpractice suits is a barrier to the reporting of errors and that greater legal safeguards are needed for reporting systems to be effective. (ATLA L@w News Digest – October 31, 2002)

Airline Water Unsafe to Drink

Hoosier Microbiology Laboratories in Muncie, Indiana, tested airline water on 14 different flights everywhere from Atlanta to Sydney, Australia and found unfriendly bacteria in the tank water from galley and lavatory taps. Their water-quality snapshot found a long list of microscopic life, from Salmonella and Staphylococcus to tiny insect eggs. Worse, contamination was the rule, not the exception: almost all of the bacteria levels were tens, sometimes hundreds, of times above U.S. government limits. (ATLA L@w News Digest – November 7, 2002)

Pennsylvania Cuts Med-Mal Rates for Doctors

Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner approved a 15 percent rate cut for physicians who purchase medical liability coverage from the state’s Joint Underwriting Association and have no malpractice claims history. The insurance department said the rate cut is part of the state’s program to address the medical-liability crisis. In addition, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department recently has approved and licensed a number of insurance entities to offer medical-malpractice market alternatives. (ATLA L@w News Digest – November 7, 2002)

Supreme Court Tightens Rules

The U.S. Supreme Court tightened the rules for removing state tort cases to federal courts, saying the statutes don’t allow a more expansive interpretation given by some U.S. appellate circuits. Removal to federal courts is most frequently sought by corporate defendants to reduce a perceived advantage for plaintiffs in state courts. Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the unanimous court in Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. v. Henson (01-757), quoting from a 1918 precedent, Great Northern Railway Co. v. Alexander: "The right of removal is entirely a creature of statute and a ‘suit commenced in a state court must remain there until cause is shown for its transfer under some act of Congress.’" (Liability & Insurance Week – November 12, 2002)

Communications Training for Med Students

A few doctors account for most medical malpractice lawsuits, and doctors who don’t have good communication skills make up a majority of the cases. By spring 2004, all medical students nationwide will have to pay an extra $950 so trained actors can test their ability to communicate with their patients, a move that medical officials believe will cut down on medical malpractice lawsuits. All students, before they start their residency program, will have to travel to one of about five testing sites nationwide to take the clinical portion of their United States Medical Licensing examination, which already tests their medical knowledge. (ATLA L@w News Digest – November 14, 2002)

At-Home Defibrillator Approved by FDA

People will soon be able to plunk down $2,295 for an at-home defibrillator in hopes their loved ones will pull it out and save them if their heart suddenly stop beating. The FDA has approved the first defibrillator specifically for home use, heating up debate over whether the broader sale of the heart jump-starters, already common in airports and shopping malls, will save lots more lives, or waste precious minutes if distraught relatives hunt for the machine before dialing 911. (ATLA L@w News Digest – November 14, 2002)

FDA Studies French Fries-Cancer Link

The FDA has tested more than 150 foods for a possible cancer-causing compound, and the agency says there’s a huge variation in the amounts it’s finding. The research is part of an effort to investigate acrylamide, a compound that causes cancer in laboratory animals. Its risk to humans is unknown. Acrylamide is found in varying amounts in french fries, potato chips, crackers, breads, processed cereals and a broad range of other foods that are cooked at high temperatures. (ATLA L@w News Digest – October 10, 2002)

Business Scandals Rock Juror Attitudes

A study of juror attitudes in the post-Enron era shows that companies across the board will be paying the price in the courtroom for the corporate misdeeds that have dominated this year’s headlines. The study found that educated white males feel especially betrayed by the recent rash of scandals. As a result, what historically has been the biggest support base of large corporations has eroded dramatically. The shift in juror outlook hurts corporations facing class action litigation as well. Jurors do not feel particularly well-disposed toward plaintiffs’ lawyers. But that does not necessarily translate into a dim view toward the merits of the case itself. Instead, jurors award more money to make up for the cut the lawyers will get. (New York Law Journal – October 17, 2002)

Medical Malpractice Materials and Information

The Center for Justice & Democracy has put together a comprehensive Medical Malpractice Guide (September 25, 2002). It is a compilation of information and statistics to thwart the false claims of doctors and insurance companies. It can be downloaded at the CJ&D website at www.centerjd.org. Also from there you can link to the website for Americans for Insurance Reform and download their new study "Medical Malpractice Insurance: Stable Losses/Unstable Rates" (October 10, 2002). Their report confirms the correlation between the economy and stock/bond markets and rising medical malpractice insurance rates, not lawsuits.

Secret Settlements Banned

South Carolina’s federal judges have bucked the state’s legal community and banned all court-sanctioned secret settlements of lawsuits. The ban has been widely hailed as a new standard to protect the public from faulty products, unsafe working conditions and even sexual predators. This is the first federal judicial district to take such a strict ban on secret settlements. The new rules do not affect all federal lawsuits. They apply only to cases in which people involved in suits ask a judge to enforce secrecy with the threat of contempt of court. The change does not affect state courts where the vast majority of suits are filed. (The State [South Carolina]– November 12, 2002)

Nursing Home Report Card Released

The government has released data to help consumers judge the quality of care at 17,000 nursing homes around the country, just six weeks after the federal government cut back payments to finance such care. For each nursing home, the government is publishing up to 10 measures of performance or quality, including the percentage of residents who are in physical restraints or have infections, bedsores, pain or symptoms of acute confusion or delirium. Publication of the data, for all nursing homes that participate in Medicaid or Medicare, expands on a pilot program begun in April in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington State. Federal officials said they intended to publish similar performance data for home health agencies next year. Report cards on hospitals and perhaps on doctors will follow. (ATLA L@w News Digest – November 14, 2002)

Malpractice Insurer Halting New Business

Hoping to avoid the fate of an increasing number of troubled medical malpractice companies, the state’s largest carrier of such insurance will stop accepting new business Jan. 1 to maintain its financial health. ISMIE Mutual Insurance Co. says it has reached its limit on the number of doctors it can insure and still maintain adequate surpluses given the dramatic increase in policyholders in recent months. (Chicago Tribune – November 14, 2002)