Vested Interest - News and Notes - June 2005 Issue

Adverse Safety Cases on the Rise in Hospitals

The number of adverse patient-safety incidents is increasing in the nation’s hospitals as a group, while the gap is widening between the best-performing hospitals and the worst-performing hospitals, according to a study released by HealthGrades. The study of 38.6 million hospitalizations from 2001 through 2003 relied on data from Medicare patients at nearly 5,000 hospitals. The best performers reduced the number of safety incidents, while the worst ones saw the number of such incidents increase. Failure to rescue, pressure sores and post-operative sepsis were the three most prevalent problems, 62 percent of incidents. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 5, 2005)

Tort Reform Advocates Misuse Data

Tort reform advocates often say the U.S. court system creates a drag on productivity, research and development, job creation and international competitiveness. But publicly available data do not support that conclusion, contends a new report by the Economic Policy Institute. The institute, frequently at odds with policies backed by the Bush administration, came out swinging with "The Frivolous Case for Tort Law Changes," a briefing paper. The report is sharply critical of an annual estimate by Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, a consulting company, which put the cost of the U.S. tort system at $246 billion in 2003. The EPI joins other groups such as the Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Justice and Democracy, which say the $246 billion figure is a grossly inflated representation of the costs of tort litigation and is misused by tort reform advocates. Asked to comment on the institute’s report, Tillinghast said it was true that tort reform advocates use the data "in a way that’s probably misleading." (ATLA Law News Digest – May 19, 2005)

Saudis Lobby to Limit Liability on Additive

A company largely owned by the Saudi government has spent more than $1.5 million since 1998 lobbying Congress to shield the chemical industry from liability for damages caused by MTBE, a potentially cancer-causing gasoline additive that has seeped into water supplies. Many communities have sued oil and chemical companies for clean up costs, but the industry has maintained it should not be obliged to pay for damages caused by a product used to meet a federal requirement for cleaner-burning gasoline. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 19, 2005)

Drug Industry Working on Ad Code

The chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry said the drug companies were trying to develop a voluntary code of conduct for the advertising of prescription medicines on television and in print. A bill was recently introduced in Congress that directs the Federal Communications Commission to ban broadcast advertising of erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra, Levitra and Cialis from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. The drug lobbyist said the industry would emphasize the need for advertisements to be serious and to highlight a drug’s risks as well as benefits. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 19, 2005)

Doctors Can Sue HMOs

A group of Broward County, Florida, doctors has won a major, but possibly temporary, victory in the quest of state healthcare provides to sue insurers over charges of slow or reduced payments. Insurers say the decision, if allowed to stand, could cause healthcare costs to climb. Healthcare providers say they’re entitled to prompt, proper pay and point to recent reports that HMOs last year enjoyed record profits. Three state appellate judges took the unusual step of recognizing "the potential impact of this decision on the industry" and asked the Florida Supreme Court to examine this matter "of great public importance." The health plans formally asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the matter. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 26, 2005)

Flaw in Defibrillator Not Disclosed

A medical device maker, the Guidant Corporation, did not tell doctors or patients for three years that a unit implanted in an estimated 24,000 people that is designed to shock a faltering heart contains a flaw that has caused a small number of those units to short-circuit and malfunction. The matter has come to light after the death of a 21-year-old college student with a genetic heart disease. After his death, Guidant told doctors that it was aware of 25 other cases in which the defibrillator, a Ventak Prizm 2 Model 1861, had been affected by the same flaw. (ATLA Law News Digest – May 26, 2005)

Rising Doctor Premiums Not Due to Lawsuit Awards

A new study by Dartmouth College researchers suggests that huge jury awards and financial settlements for injured patients have not caused the explosive increase in doctors’ insurance premiums. The researchers said a more likely explanation for the escalation is that malpractice insurance companies have raised doctors’ premiums to compensate for falling investment returns. The Dartmouth economists studied actual payments made to patients between 1991 and 2003. The results were published in the journal Health Affairs. Researchers found that payments grew an average of 4 percent annually during the years covered by the study, or 52 percent overall since 1991, but only 1.6 percent a years since 2000. The increases are roughly equivalent to the overall rise in healthcare costs. (Boston Globe – June 1, 2005)

Cancer Seen in Family Members of Asbestos Workers

People who were exposed to asbestos through a family member who worked with the material appear to run the risk of developing the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma many years later. A new study found 32 cases of mesothelioma diagnosed since 1990 among family members. Wives and daughters were most often affected, with the lag time between asbestos exposure and cancer development topping 40 years in most cases. The findings are published in the May issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 2, 2005)

Judge Explains Success of Fen-Phen Defense

The case of a diet drug plaintiff in Philadelphia was recently bumped out of court at a preliminary stage after the drug’s manufacturer, Wyeth Corp., made a successful argument based on the learned intermediary doctrine. It’s not the first time Wyeth has won summary judgment in a fen-phen case by citing the doctrine. While the plaintiff is seeking an appeal, a judge has written an opinion explaining why he feels the plaintiff failed to meet her burden. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 2, 2005)

Drug Makers Withhold Data

When the drug industry came under fire last summer for failing to disclose poor results from studies of antidepressants, major drug makers promised to provide more information about their research on new medicines. But nearly a year later, crucial facts about many clinical trials remain hidden. Within the drug industry, companies are sharply divided about how much information to reveal, both about new studies and completed studies for drugs already being sold. Doctors and patients lack critical information about important drugs, and the companies can hide negative trial results by refusing to publish studies, or by cherry-picking and highlighting the most favorable data from studies they do publish. (ATLA Law News Digest – June 2, 2005)

Hospitals Trying to Save Patients by Curbing Mistakes

For 13 straight months at a New Jersey hospital, not one patient on a ventilator has developed pneumonia. Typically there is a case of pneumonia every week among ventilator patients at busy ICUs, and up to 40 percent of these patients die. This hospital is among hundreds nationwide that are drastically curbing in-house infections. The Boston-based Institute for Heathcare Improvement has signed up about one-fifth of the nation’s 5,500 hospitals for its "100,000 Lives Campaign." It aims to save that many patients each year by focusing on six problem areas, including medication errors. (AP – June 3, 2005)