Medical Malpractice

• Florida Bar Seeks Comments Re Amendment 3 Rule

  Bob Carroll | January 16, 2006 8:05 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Your thoughts concerning the wording of a new Rule being drafted by the Florida Bar can be made through January 17. The Florida Supreme Court has determined that the victims of medical malpractice have the legal right to waive the provisions of Amendment 3, the submarine effort of the health care providers and insurance companies to deny legal representation to claimants. The Florida Bar...

• Florida ER Care May Actually Get Worse Says New Study

  Bob Carroll | December 27, 2005 9:22 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  "Increased numbers of uninsured patients coming into Florida emergency rooms may worsen overcrowding, adversely affect quality of care and lead more emergency rooms to close their doors, a new University of South Florida study shows." From Tampa Bay Business Journal. If you thought the waiting time and the services were problems already....

• Avoid Being An Emergency Room Malpractice Victim Over The Holidays

  Bob Carroll | December 22, 2005 4:20 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Overeating is not the only hazard you will face in the next 10 days. If you happen to visit an emergency room you will really enter the danger zone. Five Holiday Tips To Keep You From Being an Emergency Room Malpractice Victim says "What happens in the emergency room when the hospital is understaffed because the doctors and staff are on vacation and they're short-staffed? Your care may...

• Florida Malpractice Law Versus 84 Year Old Man's Family - Not A Fair Fight

  Bob Carroll | December 10, 2005 4:53 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Does the medical profession in Florida get a free pass when it injuries or kills an 84 year old man? You bet it does. The story of Fred Brittain, deceased (possibly as a result of medical malpractice), and his daughter Victoria Brittain shows why. When Fred died in 2002 his family felt it was caused by medical errors. Twelve law firms were contacted regarding the potential claim and all...

• Cancer Pathology Testing Only 88.2% Accurate

  Bob Carroll | December 07, 2005 5:14 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Important decisions are made on the basis of cancer pathology tests. Apparently, 11.8% of those decisions would be wrong. A review of cancer diagnoses from pathology tests at four hospitals found that up to 11.8% were in error, according to a study in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Cancer. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said because of the variety of detection...

• Marijuana Use By Malpractice Victim Wrongly Made Focus Of Doctor's Defense

  Bob Carroll | October 24, 2005 11:39 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Why wiould the defense attorney in a medical malpractice trial spend any time talking about marijuana use by the patient/victim? Maybe because character assasination of claimants has been known to work. Maybe a Florida appellate court has caught on to the ploy.The character of the patient should rarely be a defense in a medical malpractice case because even a bad guy is entitled to good...

• Can Computers Reduce Prescription Errors?

  Bob Carroll | October 09, 2005 6:37 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Health Care Systems Reducing Prescription Errors. The article is promising. But there is a downside to the use of technology in prescriptions. It inroduces some risk of other errors in the processing of prescriptions. As long as humans are part of the prescribing and prescription-filling process there will be errors that go undetected. The headline sounds positive: Health Care Systems...

• Coumadin And Cardura - Prescription Error Causes Death

  Bob Carroll | October 05, 2005 10:25 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Two prescription drugs, both beginning with the same letter, Coumadin and Cardura, were confused by a pharmacy in Florida. As a result of the prescription error a tragic death occurred. Several breaches of internal pharmacy policies must have been tolerated or encouraged by management. Two prescription drugs, both beginning with the letter "C", Coumadin and Cardura, were confused by a pharmacy...

• A Schedule of Damages for Malpractice Cases?

  Bob Carroll | September 27, 2005 4:40 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Michigan lawyer, Aaron Larson, blogging on The Stopped Clock, shoots down a proposal to create a schedult of damages for malpractice cases.To his thoughts I would add my own: Why not focus on stopping the malpractice instead of reducing the compensation to its victims. If half as much effort were to be expended in improving the quality of patient care as is involved in creating "certainty and...

• Was He An M.D. Or Drug Dealer?

  Bob Carroll | January 31, 2006 5:28 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  A criminal case just concluded in Pensacola underscores the potential for the improper prescription of potent and addictive painkillers by Florida doctors. I have investigated the prescribing patterns of some Tampa Bay physicians and concluded that grossly negligent and reckless practices exist. In one civil action for medical malpractice I have uncovered a beautifully typed office record of...