MedMal Insider

In this case, a pediatric practice struggled to satisfy the family of a boy after two years of appropriate primary care. What did they learn about communicating with patients and their families over routine medical matters?

In this case, communication between the primary provider and a phone consultant needed more clarity. Changes in the patient’s status needed a stronger response if a tragic outcome had any chance of being averted.

In this closed Harvard malpractice case, a patient fell during a radiology study because her risk status wasn’t communicated from the unit effectively. Hospitalist Adam Schaffer, MD, MPH, analyzes what went wrong and suggests some effective practices to prevent severe injury in places you don’t expect, with eyes on the patient.

In this case, a 75-year-old female was admitted to the ICU with respiratory failure. A misplaced feeding tube led to her death. ICU intensivist Dr. Laura Myers discusses lessons from this case about supervision and assessing a provider's competence with a new procedure.

The defendant’s role in a successful defense against a claim of malpractice is critical, but it isn’t easy. Clinician have to be able to follow advice from lawyers, cope with their own emotions, which often include anger or fear, and project competence and likability to potential jurors. These things—none of which are taught in medical school—can be a challenge to a medical professional. Sometimes...

In any complex medical system, malpractice cases can arise from failures in the referral process. Typically these are situations in ambulatory care where the doctor recommends that a patient see a specialist, but it either doesn't happen or nobody acts on the result. A new tool from The Institute for Healthcare Improvement and CRICO helps guide doctors and practices to prevent these referral error...

When a speech and swallowing evaluation showed the patient to be at risk for aspiration, the resident documented a plan that the patient be given nothing by mouth. But the NPO order was not entered into the system, a technician attempted to feed him, and he aspirated. This was not communicated to the attending. After transfer to the ICU, he succumbed to additional morbidities, including aspiration...

A 26-year-old male presented to the emergency department with burning chest pain. After two more visits within four days for the same complaint, he died at home from acute coronary thrombosis. Did the clinicians’ frustration with the course of his condition lead them to blame the patient rather than reconsider their diagnosis?

A father called his son's pediatrician’s office on a winter week-end night and told the nurse practitioner that his nine-year-old had not felt well for three days. The nurse fixated on flu symptoms and told the father to push ginger ale. When the father checked on the boy 12 hours after the call, he had died from diabetic ketoacidosis and his diabetes mellitus was undiagnosed until autopsy.

The patient had a history of suicidality when her psychiatrist referred her to a sleep specialist. Three weeks after the second doctor increased her oxycodone dose to treat restless leg syndrome, the patient used the drug to kill herself.

In this case, an 8-year-old girl experienced a tenfold dosing error of clotting factor, requiring admission and observation due to increased risk of stroke. It could be said that the culture at this hospital both contributed to the error, and contributed to a good response by staff.

An 8-year old girl was treated over three years for a condition she never had. Multiple providers missed a test result that showed she had celiac disease, so it went untreated and she suffered. The resulting lawsuit resulted in a settlement against two of her doctors. This case study not only reviews the facts, but it also features suggestions from an expert reviewer on how to prevent similar mist...

A presumptive diagnosis during an office visit kept the doctor from broadening the differential to include a much more serious condition. Commentator Carla Ford, MD says, “These are the kinds of situations that our primary care providers and urgent care providers are faced with all the time.”

Nearly 3 in 10 medical malpractice cases have identifiable problems with communication, according to a report by CRICO, the malpractice insurer for the Harvard medical institutions. Proven solutions highlighted a national gathering of patient safety leaders in Boston.

Language barrier, distraction, and poor planning caused a delay in treating fetal distress. The baby was born with deficits and the settlement was >$1 million.

The crux of the case is that a detailed history and physical exam were not performed, and so a broad differential was not considered before the patient suffered a stroke.

In this case, we see issues that can arise in care that takes place across multiple institutions and providers, especially when the patient is self-referring. This patient was left with seriously-impaired kidney function, and he alleged a delay in diagnosis. Joining us is Dr. Carla Ford, who reviews medical malpractice claims for CRICO.

This review of a closed malpractice claim shows the risks when communication before, during, and after a surgical complication goes awry.

After a referral visit to a pulmonologist to follow up on a worrisome CT, none of the three parties—the PCP, the patient, and the pulmonologist—ever addressed the issue of the lung nodule again. The patient saw her primary care doctor several times for check-ups and minor issues over the next several years. The patient never returned to see the pulmonologist, and was not explicitly told by either...

During an initial physical for a new 38-year-old female patient, the PCP noted a normal breast exam, and recommendations for a screening mammogram and colonoscopy due to family history of colon cancer. A mammogram was never done, although the patient returned to this physician practice a dozen times over the next several years for episodic care. Then she presented with a self-identified lump, foll...

Despite multiple visits to her PCP, a 30-year-old woman without a spleen was never given prophylactic antibiotics or told the risks of a high fever. A mishandled telephone triage delayed her trip to the ER, and the resulting pneumococcal sepsis led to permanent disabilities and a $1 million-plus settlement.

Even though the patient identified a lump on her breast, it took more than a year to diagnose cancer. Family history-taking and proper imaging were lacking. CRICO interviews one of the authors of a Harvard breast care management algorithm, Michelle Specht, MD, to consider how following such a guideline could have helped the gynecologist and radiologist—and ultimately the patient.

As in many missed MI cases, the primary care physician did not order an EKG. Thomas Sequist, MD, of Atrius Health, describes where some of these cases typically go wrong, and how using a Framingham Risk Score can help with the evaluation process in the office practice.

Fetal heart rate tracings indicated earlier intervention after prolonged induction of labor. The obstetrician and nurse midwife were faulted for not working more closely together.

Medication error in the ER was preventable. Culture and communication problems compounded an error that required several surgeries and amputation.