Medical Malpractice Research Paper

Doctors, one side of the coin they are viewed as the ones that can cure the sick with their knowledge, the ones that are supposed to help them get better. The other side they are feared and are avoided at all cost by some. Doctors have this bad reputation about them because sometimes they don’t even tell their patients what is wrong with them. Or the patients themselves don’t even question the doctors because they went to school and have a prestigious piece of paper. In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, she describes benevolent deception, which doctors had no trouble of doing in the mid-century, as the doctors keeping their patients in the dark. Other times were not even giving their patients a proper diagnosis. The

Tort reform has influence not only on the court and victims, but also on clinicians and medical field. Many health providers and clinicians are in favor of the tort reform (Santiago, 2016). The tort reform make clinicians have no full responsibilities to compensate for the malpractice, and they will not need pay for the cost. However, this is not mean that it is unfair to patients. For big medical treatments, such as surgeries, patients’ families usually need to sign a contract for possible medical risks that might happen. This is also a protection to doctors.

Atul Gawande is an American surgeon, professor, notable author, and writer for the New Yorker. In his 2015 article “Overkill,” he describes many of the flaws the American healthcare system holds. Throughout the article, Gawande intertwines personal stories, patient stories, and expert testimonies to make his argument stronger. Gawande argues, “Millions of Americans get tests, drugs, and operations that won’t make them better, may cause harm, and costs billions.” Or in many cases, he redefines over testing and “low-value” care as providing “no-value” care. He provides factual evidence and personal anecdotes of events where the American health system has failed. However, most striking is his prolific use of stories interspersed between many

In the case of Donald (Dax) Cowart, one can determine that the conflict is between Beneficence and Autonomy. The doctors were morally right in choosing to treat Donald despite his autonomy by using the principle of beneficence.

It frustrates me what Dr. Anna Pou had to go through with the lawsuits of the Memorial Medical Center incident. As Healthcare professionals, being sued for making the rightful decision for the patient and the hospital is unjust. Healthcare professionals like Dr. Pou, have taken the Hippocratic oath, and one of the promises made within that oath is “first, do no harm”. Hospital’s should not be so quick to make such an important decision of pressing charges to their faculty; more trust should be placed in them. In addition, she made it clear her intentions were just to ‘‘help’’ patients ‘‘through their pain,’’ on national television. While her actions might not be seen as the best decision, she made one and did her best to make the rightful one under such poor circumstances that were out of her control.

Radiologists recently have been advanced because of radiology expanding practices in many sensitive medical cases. Recent charges against radiologists have brought new obligations and liabilities, making them vulnerable to higher degrees of legal cases against them. Negligence legal proceedings in radiology naturally appear as a result of failure to diagnosis or poor consultation and thus failure to react medically in a timely manner. A great percentage of radiologists are liable to face a claim every five years. Radiologists confront not high risks of malpractice suits if compare with other specialists. The most common medical lawsuits against radiologists are misdiagnosis of breast cancer on mammography and lung cancer.

“Medical malpractice claims and lawsuits deal with Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. Negligence is the predominant theory of liability concerning allegations of medical malpractice, making this type of litigation part of Tort Law. Since the 1970s, medical malpractice has been a controversial social issue. Physicians have complained about the large number of malpractice suits and have urged legal reforms to curb large damage awards, whereas tort attorneys have argued that negligence suits are an effective way of compensating victims of negligence and of policing the medical profession. A person who alleges negligent medical malpractice must

Some have argued that it is too easy for people to file malpractice suits against healthcare professionals in the United States. What are the advantages and disadvantages of malpractice suits?

It is very clear to most that Grey’s Anatomy is an inaccurate depiction of medicine and the healthcare industry. Though heavily dramatized and ‘doctored’, there have been moments of learning, especially with this ethical issue. In episode 18 of season 6 (Suicide is Painless), Dr. Altman, a cardiothoracic surgeon, is faced with a situation where her patient, Kim Allen, wishes to end her life through physician-assisted suicide. Kim is a newly married patient with stage IV large cell lung cancer that has spread to her lymph nodes and liver. Her only option remaining is palliative care and she has been given 6 months to live and will soon have to be intubated due to breathing difficulties. Kim says it is time, has requested dying with dignity twice and has been viewed as mentally fit. The viewer walks through the plethora of struggles and emotions that Dr. Altman is faced with as she succumbs to a decision, her husband as he accepts his wife’s decision, and Kim as she elects physician-assisted suicide. In this case, and many others worldwide, physician assisted suicide is morally permissible at all ages for anyone with a terminal illness with a prognosis of 6 months. This is supported by act based utilitarianism and the idea of maximizing pleasure and reducing pain and suffering on an individual circumstance. By allowing a terminal patient to die a less painful death, in control of the situation, and with dignity, the patient will have amplified

‘The number of medical malpractice lawsuits fell by nearly 2/3 between 2003 and 2011, and Texas has licensed nearly 30,000 more doctors since the passage of this bill.”

“Healthcare Reform 101,” written by Rick Panning (2014), is a wonderful article that describes, in an easy-to-understand language, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law March 23, 2010. The main goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was to provide affordable, quality healthcare to Americans while simultaneously reducing some of the country’s economic problems. Two areas will be covered throughout this paper. The first section will include a summary of the major points and highlights of Panning’s (2014) article, including an introduction to the ACA, goals of the signed legislation, provided coverage, and downfalls of the current healthcare system. The second part will be comprised of a professional

Today, many Americans struggle to obtain minimum, let alone full healthcare coverage. The cost of healthcare has sky rocketed over the years and has become less affordable for thousands of people across the U.S. The number of uninsured Americans is at an all-time high. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) makes perfect sense, economically, because it eases rising costs, has been more successful at previous attempts of reform, and provides a better healthcare system overall, compared to the initial medical care system we use today.

One Doctor in Connecticut has been vocal on his opinion of the ACA and has publicly spoken out on air and through articles. Jason D. Fodeman, M.D., is an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Connecticut and a Visiting Fellow at the Galen Institute. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed book How to Destroy a Village.

Under state law, a patient may pursue a civil claim against physicians or other health care providers, called medical liability or medical malpractice, if the health care provider causes injury or death to the patient through a negligent act or omission (Malloy, 2015). In North Carolina, The Nurse Practitioner has different risks and premiums. The recommendations are to obtain as much coverage as the provider can afford, but no less than one million (Krauss, 2004). Some employers will carry the liability insurance but they strongly recommend obtaining one 's own policy for additional coverage. For family practitioners with no obstetric practice: a 115-percent increase to $9,000 per

Tort of negligence is the failure to act as a reasonable person to exercise the standard of care required by the law and resulting in damage to the party to whom the duty was owed. To prove negligence, the claimant must show that the defendant causing the damage was not only the actual cause of damage. He also show that the proximate cause of the damage. Proximity is the legal relationship between the parties from which the law will attribute a duty of care. And to prove negligence the type of the damage that occurred must have been foreseeable. Foreseeability means whether a ‘reasonable person’ would have foreseen the damage in the situations. It is the leading test which is used to determine proximate cause. The important point is a duty of care may not be owed to a particular claimant, if a claimant was unforeseeable. Foreseeability and proximate cause will be discussed