http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/ Published by Patrick Malone & Associates, P.C. en-us 2013-05-24T15:19:49-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/how_restrictions_on_malpractic.html The New York Times has a good readers' dialog in its letters to the editor, following up on a study published last week by law professor Joanna Schwartz about how malpractice lawsuits help hospitals correct patient safety lapses. The dialog... Medical Malpractice Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-24T15:19:49-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/lipstick_is_a_host_for_potenti_1.html No one would choose to consume toxic metals such as lead, cadmium and chromium, but millions of women unknowingly do it every day. According to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives, 32 brands of lipsticks and lip glosses sold throughout... Product Safety Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-23T09:24:17-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/fda_issues_warning_labels_and_1.html Earlier this year we wrote about the FDA’s concern over a certain class of sleep medication whose active ingredient is zolpidem. The feds said its dosage should be lowered. Last week, as reported on AboutLawsuits.com, the FDA approved a new... Medications Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-22T09:14:40-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/treatment_risk_rises_when_drug_1.html Medical providers, insurance companies and well-informed medical consumers know that drugs, devices and treatments aren’t considered best-practice—or even credible—unless and until research has been conducted, the results reviewed by scientific peers and the results published in a reputable journal. So... Testing Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-20T09:03:32-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/medicare_takes_a_pass_on_expan_1.html Many Medicare recipients delay getting hospice services because they must agree to cease curative treatments such as chemotherapy. So by the time they do enter hospice, their condition is much more dire, and many often have mere days to live.... End of Life Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-19T13:53:25-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/study_finds_malpractice_suits.html A new survey of hospital risk managers finds that malpractice lawsuits can give them important clues to holes in their hospitals' patient safety nets that need patching. The study by UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz was excerpted in the New... Medical Malpractice Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-17T12:52:51-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/medicare_study_exposes_wildly_1.html Although we’ve addressed the difficulty of knowing the cost of medical care before the bill arrives, few recent stories have illustrated the problem as well as one widely covered last week, including by the New York Times. A hospital in... Hospitals Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-16T07:50:16-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/half_of_hepatitis_c_patients_r_1.html It has been about a year since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that all members of the baby boomer generation get tested for hepatitis C to determine, as we wrote, if they harbor the virus, or... Infections Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-15T08:58:09-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/wisconsin_law_proposes_to_keep_1.html We’ve written about the wide range of state authority and competence in regulating medical practice, (for example, here and here.) Mostly, compromised patient safety occurs because of official acts of omission; rarely does a state appear to commit to compromising... Disclosure Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-13T08:28:09-05:00 http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2013/05/malpractice_payouts_dont_drain_1.html For years now, medical professional organizations and insurers have waged war on the legal system for redressing medical malpractice that harms patients. They claim that too often payouts are so large and frivolous that they force clinicians to practice “defensive... Medical Malpractice Patrick A. Malone 2013-05-12T12:40:54-05:00