The CDC's HAI Progress Report provides both national and state-by-state
summaries of healthcare-associated infections. On the national level,
the report found:
A 46 percent decrease in CLABSI between 2008 and 2013
A 19 percent decrease in SSIs related to the 10 select procedures tracked in the report between 2008 and 2013
A 6 percent increase in CAUTI between 2009 and 2013; although
initial data from 2014 seem to indicate that these infections have
started to decrease
An 8 percent decrease in hospital-onset MRSA bacteremia between 2011 and 2013
A 10 percent decrease in hospital-onset C. difficile infections between 2011 and 2013
Data from Massachusetts hospitals showed areas of concern in Catheter
associated urinary tract infections as well as surgical site infections in colon surgeries.
The Boston Globe Magazine published last Sunday a lengthy article on the role of physician apologies in the medical malpractice landscape. The article:
You really should read the full article, but here is an important outtake:
"The misleading image of the doctor besieged by bogus lawsuits
dangerously obscures an important fact: The vast majority of major
medical errors never see the light of day. A classic 1991 study found
that only about 2 percent of patients harmed by medical negligence filed
a claim.... Harvard-affiliated
hospitals were the target of only 90 malpractice claims relating to
children between 2006 and 2010, a period when doctors racked up millions
of patient encounters. The vast majority of the medical care at these
hospitals is superb, to be sure, but it strains credibility to think
that any major academic center makes a harmful mistake so rarely..."
Boston area hospitals score 50-50 on Medicare's new program that ties payments to quality of care
Jordan Rau writes in The KHN Blog, Capsules, about a recent Kaiser Health News analysis of Medicare's new Value-Based Purchasing program that ties Medicare payments to quality of care.
The study, which included the country’s 212 major health care markets, reveals that hospitals in Fort Wayne, Ind., are faring the best on average while hospitals in Washington, D.C., are doing the worst. Interestingly, data on Boston hospitals shows 50% of hospitals getting a bonus based on performance, and 50% getting a penalty, with no average change in payments.
Below is state level data for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island:
Massachusetts - 54% receiving a bonus, 46% receiving a penalty (of 56 hospitals) with a .01% average change in payments.
New Hampshire - 69% receiving a bonus, 31% receiving a penalty (of 13 hospitals) with a .08% average change in payments.
Rhode Island - 36% receiving a bonus, 64% receiving a penalty (of 11 hospitals) with a -.10% average change in payments.
You can view how individual hospitals in each regional market did by using KHN’s interactive chart, which allows searching by region. KHN’s new analysis averaged hospital performance in each of those markets. You can read more about the data here.
The health care cost control bill recently passed by the
Massachusetts legislature and signed by Governor Deval Patrick on August
6 contains specific language that facilitates an approach of Disclosure,
Apology, and Offer (DA&O) to address medical malpractice claims.
Language in the bill was agreed to by three principal groups –
the Massachusetts Medical Society, Massachusetts Bar Association, and
Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys. Approval of the law makes
Massachusetts the first in the nation to have comprehensive legislation
that will enable the conduct of a DA&O program in different practice
environments with different insurance arrangements.
Changes include provisions for a six-month, pre-litigation resolution
period that affords the time to go through a DA&O process with
sharing of all pertinent medical records by the patient, full disclosure
by providers, and for statements of apology by providers to be
inadmissible in court.
Under the DA&O model, healthcare professionals and institutions
and their insurers disclose to patients and families when unanticipated
adverse outcomes occur; investigate and explain what happened; establish
systems to improve patient safety and prevent the recurrence of such
incidents; and, where appropriate, apologize and offer fair financial
compensation without the patient having to resort to legal action. Patients will always have the right to consult an attorney to advise
them of their rights and to evaluate the fairness of any offer or to
bring legal action if they so choose.
The Disclosure, Apology, and Offer approach to settling medical
liability claims in the commonwealth was announced in April as an initiative launched by an alliance of six major health care and patient
advocacy organizations.
Via Medical Malpractice Law News: A coalition of seven Massachusetts hospitals are undertaking an
intiative to transform a culture of "secrecy and denial" regarding
medical errors according to a report in The Boston Globe.
The hospitals in the coalition include Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, Baystate Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital. The plan calls on health providers to fully disclose mistakes to
patients and apologize. Under the plan, patients who accept a financial settlement forfeit their right to sue.
"records for more than 16,000 doctors and found 654 of them have settled one or more malpractice claims in the last decade. Out of those, only six doctors — less than 1 percent — have been disciplined by the state board."
The Associated Press is reporting via Google News that "a Massachusetts gun-maker has agreed to pay nearly $600,000" to the families of two men (one wounded one killed) by a gun said to be stolen from the company, Kahr Arms. See the AP article here: Mass. gun-maker to pay $600K in gun-death lawsuit
Information from the abstract of the study, authored by Dwight Golann, a professor at the School of Law, Suffolk University, in Boston, Massachusetts reads:
"Most medical malpractice claims are neither settled nor adjudicated. Instead, they are abandoned by the plaintiffs who bring them. This study measured the frequency and cost of abandoned claims and gathered opinions from attorneys and other experts on why plaintiffs drop claims. Plaintiffs in the study abandoned 58.6 percent of claims against defendants, while settling only 26.6 percent and adjudicating 14.8 percent. Claims are not dropped because a large percentage of them are frivolous, but for other reasons. The most important is that as plaintiffs acquire more information in the course of a lawsuit, they often conclude that a claim is weaker than they had first thought. The author recommends that insurers and hospitals adopt new procedures to encourage both plaintiff attorneys and defense representatives to exchange information more efficiently, discuss the merits of malpractice cases more candidly, and resolve cases quickly. Such reforms would greatly reduce both the frequency and the duration of cases that are dropped, and thus the cost of malpractice litigation."
Channel 5 carries the news story of the family of a woman who died from a medication error at Mass General Hospital filing a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit. Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. attorney for the family states in the item that "This was a systemic failure within the hospital, within the nursing practices of the hospital and with the doctor's oversight responsibility — clear negligence on behalf of the hospital and the doctors and nurses involved."
Listen to this WBUR report from Bob Oaks on proposed changes to medical malpractice laws in Massachusetts by Governor Deval Patrick. Quoting the story:
Under proposed changes, doctors in Massachusetts would be able to apologize to patients — without the risk that their apology could be used against them later, in court. The state would also implement a six-month “cooling off period,” so that hospitals and patients could try to resolve problems without lawsuits.
Click here to view the news article on WBUR.org and hear the audio of the news story.
Each year Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly complies the largest reported verdicts and settlements of the previous year of $1 million or more. And each year, one firm stands apart — Lubin & Meyer PC. The Boston-based personal injury and medical malpractice law firm dominates the list year after year. In 2010, Lubin & Meyer attorneys accounted for 20 of the largest settlements listed — nearly 1/3 of all settlements listed. This includes the largest medical malpractice settlement of the year — $6 million lawsuit for newborn who received overdose of an anti-seizure drug.
New England Cable News reporter Alysha Palumbo reports from Boston on February 16 on lawsuit naming an ambulance company as liable in the death of 68-year-old woman.
Bloomberg News reports that Pfizer will pay triple damages totaling $142.1 million for marketing practices of its epilepsy drug, Neurontin, found to be in violation of U.S. racketeering laws.
"U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston yesterday upheld a jury’s finding that Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals deserved the award over the companies’ claims that Pfizer illegally promoted Neurontin for unapproved uses. Saris tripled the jury’s award of $47.3 million under a provision of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970."
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has published the annual largest verdicts round up in its January 20, 2011 4:38 pm Thu, January 20, 2011 issue:
"Two Boston trial lawyers took on Big Tobacco and won the largest jury verdict in the state last year in a wrongful death suit that exposed a disturbing campaign to distribute menthol cigarettes to inner-city children. The $152 million award in Evans v. Lorillard is nearly 10 times larger than 2009’s top verdict of $15.7 million ..."
"Young people tend to find employment outside white-collar occupations, taking jobs where the risk is higher for workers of all ages. By definition, teens are inexperienced at the work they do, heightening their chances of injury. Because eight out of 10 teenagers are employed before leaving high school, their safety is a public health concern that’s getting increasing attention."
An accompanying graphic of work-related injuries to teens, show the startling evidence. Click on the thumbnail to link to the article where you can view the whole story and a larger version of this graphic.
The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled this week in a historic decision regarding snow removal and slip and fall injuries. A Boston.com article reports on the ruling saying...
"...the state’s high court ruled yesterday that landowners must make sure their property is clear of any snow and ice that could cause injury to others, regardless of whether the snow came from Mother Nature or from a plow or other source."
Boston, MA (PRWEB) — Seven partners from Sugarman and Sugarman, P.C., have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America and are featured in the Boston's Best Lawyers 2010 Edition, a supplement to the Boston Globe.
One of the feature stories is that of Neil Sugarman, named by Best Lawyers as "Lawyer of the Year" for Product Liability Litigation. The article highlights Mr. Sugarman's highly successful 40-year career, fighting for personal injury victims. The article notes that Mr. Sugarman focuses his practice on products liability, medical malpractice, construction site accidents and complex personal injury cases and finds product liability cases "particularly satisfying…the complex cases always intrigued me." In the article, Mr. Sugarman also explains that "product liability and personal injury lawyers must always convey credibility before the jury, being accurate and forthright…Once the jury realizes that you are not only truthful but accurate, then what you have to say usually gets translated into a positive result for your client."
Boston, MA -- Lubin & Meyer PC is pleased to announce that three of its Boston trial attorneys have been named to the 2010 edition of Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession.
Founder Andrew C. Meyer, Jr. has been named every year since Best Lawyers inception in 1995 in both Medical Malpractice Law and Personal Injury Litigation. Robert M. Higgins, has been named each year since 2008, and is selected in the category of Medical Malpractice Law. This year, William J. Thompson joins their select company, named to Best Lawyers® 2010 under the practice area of Personal Injury Litigation.
According to the article in The Providence Journal:
"Sokolove is not seeking to practice law in Rhode Island, but instead open a branch of his Delaware-based firm here, court papers show. South Dakota is the only other state in which he does not have a presence.
A lawyer must be licensed to practice law in Rhode Island and be a dues paying member of the bar association to practice here. The state Supreme Court licenses lawyers to operate as limited liability corporations."
An article in the The National Law Journal and Law.com details key court opinion involving mid-trial jury deliberations. In the article by Sheri Qualters, the Massachusetts high court let stand a $6 million jury judgment in a personal injury case. As reported on Law.com:
"The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts' July 16 unanimous ruling in Kelly v. Foxboro Realty Associates LLC, heard by six of the court's seven justices, said that the trial judge committed an error by allowing jurors to talk about evidence by themselves during a trial despite one side's objection. But the opinion, authored by Associate Justice Robert J. Cordy, also upheld the judgment and said the judge's decision to allow the juror discussions didn't harm the defendant's case."
To read the entire article, click on: Mid-Trial Jury Discussions. The article is free, but may require registration.
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) July 31, 2009 -- Personal injury attorney Anthony Tarricone of Hamilton, Mass., has been eleced president of the trial lawyers group, American Association of Justice. Tarricone is a partner at the aviation law firm of Kreindler & Kreindler LLP. See full article here: Trial Lawyers
Here is a pointer to an important decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court regarding jury predeliberation discussions as found on Law.com ...
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts' July 16 unanimous ruling in Kelly v. Foxboro Realty Associates LLC, heard by six of the court's seven justices, said that the trial judge committed an error by allowing jurors to talk about evidence by themselves during a trial despite one side's objection. But the opinion, authored by Associate Justice Robert J. Cordy, also upheld the judgment and said the judge's decision to allow the juror discussions didn't harm the defendant's case.
From the Boston Globe: Danvers firm faces criminal charge A Danvers-based company was indicted yesterday in the 2005 death of a Saugus woman, who fell from an inflatable climbing wall, in a rare case of an amusement ride company being charged criminally in the state. Read full article on Boston.com
"The largest contractor on the Big Dig [Modern Continental] pleaded guilty yesterday to 39 federal charges of overbilling and lying about construction defects on the project, but prosecutors dropped five other charges that had implicated the company in the fatal 2006 collapse of the ceiling of the Interstate 90 tunnel."
The average amount for a medical malpractice claim paid in Massachusetts for 2007 is $530,963. This is the third highest avg. claim paid in the nation according to statistics compiled by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, whose statehealthfacts.org web site. The two states ranking higher than Massachusetts in avg. size of claim paid are Wyoming and Illinois with $641,692 and $634,971 per claim avg.
The web site offers comparative statistics on medical malpractice claims paid in all 50 states. Leading the pack in total dollars paid is New York state with $674,683,750 (an average of $441,547 per claim paid). Massachusetts ranks 7th in total claim dollars paid with $148,669,500.
The table below offers data on the top ten state's in average amount of medical malpractice claims paid (2007)... For more information, see the Kaiser web site, click on: med mal claims paid data.
Use of this web site and its content is for informational purposes only. It is not written by a lawyer and it does not provide legal advice. Care is taken to provide accurate information at the time of publication, but there is no guarantee that all information is accurate. Any links to other web sites are for convenient access to related information, and do not constitute endorsements of those web sites or the information provided on those sites. For proper legal counsel you must speak to an attorney in your state.
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