ED Legal Letter – September 1, 2012
September 1, 2012
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Liability Reform Lessons from the ‘Common Law’: AHC Media
Tort reform advocates and legislators need to better understand the impact of the common law when drafting language to curtail frivolous litigation or establish damages caps.1 Two recent state Supreme Court cases, one from South Carolina and one from Missouri, dampen the cause of medical malpractice liability reform. -
Missed Timeframes Unexplained? Case May Become Indefensible
An EKG revealed a womans obvious ST-elevation myocardial infarction, but she refused to go to the cardiac catheterization lab before speaking to her husband, who proved difficult to reach by phone. -
Inconsistencies in EPs’ Ordering of Head CTs
There is significant variation in emergency physicians ordering of head CT scans for trauma patients, according to a survey of 37 attending EPs conducted during 2009, which quantified their risk tolerance and malpractice fear.1 -
Apologies: Early Offers Mean Fewer ED Suits
When a teenage patient presented to the ED at University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) in Ann Arbor with unexplained pain in her thigh, the emergency physician (EP) did all the appropriate things to make her comfortable, stabilize the situation, and get her a referral quickly to other specialists, but did not arrive at a definitive diagnosis.