Category: Articles, Medical & Healthcare, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Safety The Universal Protocol TASA ID: 16893 Surgical errors happen every day, and lead to numerous types of medical malpractice cases. Most surgical errors are simple things that could have been prevented if all of the members of the operating room team were on the “same page”. Communication in a hectic room with multiple things going on at the same time can often be the root of surgical errors that lead to patient injury. That is why the Joint Commission for Accreditation on Healthcare Organizations (JACHO) implemented a multi-step practice called “the universal protocol” back in 2003 that is the standard for surgery today. The goal is to perform the right surgery on right site and on the right patient. This requires the surgical team to start implementing this standard from the pre-operative area, then onto surgery. Read more
Category: Articles, Life Care Plan, Medical & Healthcare, Resources for Attorneys Standard of Care vs. Technical Deficiency TASA ID: 864 When working for the defense as an expert witness, I have developed a strategy for dealing with wrongful death and personal injury issues. Most of my work relates to matters involving health and human service programs. In these cases, Standard of Care and the organization's operational flaws usually play a significant role. Read more
Category: Articles, Medical & Healthcare, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts Failure of Medicine for Centuries: From Flawed Science to Money Science TASA ID: 1793 A study published in 2000 concluded that at least 44,000 and perhaps as many as 98,000 lives were lost each year from preventable medical errors [1]. This startling number was disputed [2] and the debasing was revolved around preventability [3, 4]. A study published in 2003 reported a lower limit of 210,000 deaths per year associated with preventable harm in hospitals [5]. My studies have shown the actual deaths that could be attributed to medicine are about 30 million each year in the world because medicine has systematic errors in its foundation. Read more
Category: Articles, Business & Commerce, Medical & Healthcare, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Safety HAVE NEGLIGENCE AND COVID-19 CONSPIRED TO HARM YOUR CLIENT? TASA ID: 14071 Has your client’s workplace or medical provider stepped up to the plate and provided or employed safe, adequate and fully appropriate personal protective equipment or proper safeguards to meet the unprecedented challenge of COVID-19? Has your client contracted the virus due to lack of attention to these details? Read more
Category: Articles, Medical & Healthcare, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts Silver Lining TASA ID: 15272 Quorom, a 24-hospital system, currently faces bankruptcy in the wake of COVID19. In Washington State, 13 rural hospitals have less than 45 days of cash on hand. While some hospitals will recapitalize their debt structure to avoid Chapter 11, far more will be closing their doors permanently in the months ahead. The most at-risk will be rural hospitals, which are already operating with razor-thin margins and depend on elective surgeries to make up for their high rates of uninsured patients. With most operating rooms handling only emergent cases, the rural hospital is losing its biggest source of revenue. Federal funds may offer some relief, but it is impossible to save the many hospitals that are at risk, especially considering that 30 hospitals already went bankrupt last year pre-COVID. Read more
