South Florida Medical Malpractice Cases Difficult from Both Sides

Medical malpractice cases can drag on for years, exacting an emotional toll on both plaintiff and defendant. No matter the outcome, attorneys say, neither side really feels like the winner. About three-fourths of cases that go to trial end in the doctor’s favor. Still, lawsuits are costly and physicians blame their patients’ propensity to sue for changing how they practice. Total payouts from malpractice claims have fluctuated in the past three years, according to data from the state Office of Insurance Regulation. In 2006, insurers paid about $600 million. Many times, families file lawsuits simply because they want to know what happened, said Lindsey Chepke, researcher at Duke University and co-author of the book Medical Malpractice. Medical records become available in the process, providing valuable insight. Most cases, though, are dropped early because the death or bad outcome couldn’t be pinned on the doctor. Of those that go to trial, 27 percent to 29 percent nationwide result in a verdict against the doctors. Those numbers, Chepke argued, suggest the courts are weeding out frivolous lawsuits, contrary to doctors’ claims. In response to a flurry of medical malpractice cases, the Florida Legislature in 2003 capped “pain-and-suffering” damages at $150,000 for emergency room patients and $500,000 for all others. When patients die, plaintiffs can get $1 million to $1.5 million, depending on the case. Since then, one-third fewer cases have been filed, several insurance companies have returned to Florida and premiums have dropped. Chepke, though, says reforms often are a tug of war among trial lawyers, medical groups and insurers. They ignore patient safety, which should be the focus. Medical malpractice cases can wind through the legal system, sometimes gaining new life in appeals even after settlements with doctors involved. On average, the life span of a malpractice case is three to five years.

Excerpt taken from a Sun Sentinel article.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpmedmal0420pnapr20,0,294629.story

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

U.S. Identifies Tainted Heparin in 11 Countries

A contaminated blood thinner from China has been found in drug supplies in 11 countries, and federal officials said Monday they had discovered a clear link between the contaminant and severe reactions now associated with 81 deaths in the United States. But a Chinese official disputed the assertion that the contaminant found in the drug, heparin, caused any deaths and insisted that his country’s inspectors be allowed to inspect the American plant where the finished heparin vials were made. He said any future agreement to allow American inspections of Chinese firms should be reciprocal. “We don’t have a strong evidence to show that it is heparin or its contaminant that caused the problem,” said the official, Ning Chen, second secretary at the Chinese Embassy. Mr. Chen said that illnesses associated with contaminated heparin had occurred only in the United States, which he said suggested that the problem arose in this country. Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center, said that German regulators uncovered a cluster of illnesses among dialysis patients who took contaminated heparin. She said Chinese officials had conceded that heparin produced in their country contained a contaminant, though they say it was not connected to the illnesses.

Please click on the link below to read The New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/health/policy/22fda.html?_r=2&ref=health&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Patient Comfort Ratings Displayed: Medicare Web Site Users Can View How Others Felt About Hospital Stays

Would-be patients trying to pick a hospital can now check the opinions of other patients by using data from Medicare, the U.S. health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled. The information, posted Friday on Medicare’s Web Site, enables people to compare the views of patients at a local hospital with those of patients treated at other area hospitals or those across the U.S. Such transparency is supported by hospital groups, said Rich Rasmussen of the Florida Hospital Association, though he said consumers should not use the Medicare site — hospitalcompare.hhs.gov — as the only source of information on hospitals. He added that hospitals would like to see similar transparency for other health-care providers.

Please click on the link below to read the Orlando Sentinel article:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/consumer/orl-hospital2908mar29,0,3106950.story

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Physician Liability for Lost Patient Records Explored

In a letter to this column, a physician voiced concerns about what his liability exposure might be if his patient records were destroyed as a result of a catastrophic event such as fire, flood, or, in the case of electronic records, a major computer malfunction. Well, the short answer is that of all the things you need to worry about, this one shouldn’t keep you up at night. The loss of patients’ medical records would surely disrupt your practice and potentially cause significant problems for some patients. However, beyond the business and follow-up issues associated with trying to take care of patients without their medical records, it’s unlikely that you’d be held liable for the loss of these files. To make a legitimate claim, a patient would have to first establish that you or someone on your staff negligently caused the event that led to the records’ destruction—for example, if an employee snuck a smoke in the records room and accidentally started a fire. There’s no established protocol regarding steps that should be taken to protect paper records. And certainly you’re not expected to maintain duplicate copies of all medical records at some off-site location to protect against a catastrophic loss. However, if you have an EHR system, back up your medical records at least daily. Your failure to do so could result in some liability exposure if the records are lost, and a patient suffers an adverse event because they’re unavailable. Probably the greatest risk you face from losing patient records is the trouble that might be encountered in defending against a malpractice claim, or even a reimbursement challenge, without the records to show exactly what you did and why.

Please click on the link below to read the Medical Economics article:

http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/memag/Medical+Malpractice%3A+Documentation/Your-liability-for-lost-records/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/490667?contextCategoryId=43935

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

California: Addicted Doctors Still Permitted to Treat Patients

A woman who says she had to forgo cancer treatment because of botched surgery by a California doctor says she was never made aware the doctor was being treated for alcoholism and had been convicted for driving under the influence of alcohol. Becky Anderson received a breast reconstruction from Dr. Brian West, a California plastic surgeon, in September 2000. Becky, who was suffering from breast cancer, says she had to forgo cancer treatment while battling complications from West’s surgery. Now she is dying of cancer. She had no idea when she let West treat her that he had been convicted for driving under the influence in 1987 and had been arrested for a second DUI, for which he was later convicted, while on the way to treat her. She claims he lied about the DUI, blaming a missed appointment with her on a car accident. She sued the doctor for negligence and medical malpractice. He never admitted fault, but settled with her for $250,000. West is an alcoholic, according to a Medical Board of California decision, and a member of the state’s Physician Diversion Program. The program keeps the doctors’ identities private, so it allowed him to continue to treat patients, even operate on them, while he was secretly getting treatment for his addiction. In California, the state medical association says there are between 200 and 400 doctors in the diversion program on any given day. A study by the Federation of State Physician Health Programs found about one percent of all physicians practicing in the United States are in confidential treatment. That’s about 8,000 doctors whose patients may have no idea they are addicts.

Please click on the link below to read the CNN.com article:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/31/kaye.addicteddoctors/index.html

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Nursing Homes Push Arbitration, Reduce Lawsuits

Nursing homes, stung by some big jury verdicts in the late 1990s, have been pushing residents to waive their rights to sue and arbitrate disputes instead. Now the average cost per claim against nursing homes is falling, but some critics are suggesting the industry takes it too far in some cases, the WSJ reports. In one jury case, $83 million was awarded in the death of a Texas woman with infected bedsores. The judgment, later lowered to $56 million, was one of several that prompted some nursing homes to start having new residents sign contracts agreeing to take any future disputes to arbitration, rather than to court. Arbitrators are seen as less likely than juries to award large punitive damages. But the agreements are sometimes signed by residents who suffer from frequent confusion. Some patients “really are not in an appropriate state of mind to evaluate an agreement like an arbitration clause,” Eric Tuchmann, general counsel for the American Arbitration Association, tells the WSJ. The group, which is the largest provider of arbitration services, discourages agreements that require arbitration in nursing home cases. This week, two senators introduced a bill that would prohibit nursing homes from using contracts that require residents to agree, before any dispute arises, to waive their right to sue.

Please click on the link below to read the Wall Street Journal article:

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/04/11/nursing-homes-push-arbitration-reduce-lawsuits/?mod=WSJBlog

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Colorado Physicians, Trial Lawyers Tangle on Liability Measure

Colorado physicians have been engaged in an ongoing battle with that state’s trial lawyers regarding a bill that would dramatically increase the amount of money patients and their trial attorneys can collect in medical malpractice awards. In March, the Colorado Senate narrowly passed S.B. 164, a bill supported by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association that would raise the cap on noneconomic damages in civil suits by 50 percent to more than $450,000. The bill also removes damage awards for physical disfigurement and impairment from the state’s noneconomic damages cap entirely, thus opening the door for large jury awards.
According to the Colorado AFP, if the legislation is enacted, physicians, especially those in rural areas, may not be able to afford their malpractice insurance, and some may have to curtail or even eliminate services, which could lead to overall higher health care costs. The Colorado House Judiciary Committee currently is considering the bill, and Colorado physicians and their allies in the House are confident they can defeat the measure before the state’s legislative session ends later this spring.

Please click on the link below to read the American Academy of Family Physicians article:

http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/professional-issues/20080416colomalpractice.html

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Ohio: Obstetricians Leaving State Despite Medical Malpractice Award Cap

When Bobbie Cameron became pregnant with her third child, she reluctantly chose a new doctor to oversee her care. Her longtime physician had dropped out of the birthing business because of soaring malpractice insurance rates. Cameron’s daughter, Avery, was born in February 2007. The experience just wasn’t the same. “We had to go to someone we didn’t know, who didn’t know my history, who didn’t know how my last two births went,” said Cameron, 31, a full-time mom in nearby Plain City. Five years after a law trying to reduce the malpractice rates went into effect, Ohio has fewer doctors who deliver babies than at the height of protests about high costs. Ohio had 1,327 doctors listing obstetrics and gynecology as their primary specialty at the end of 2007, a 5 percent decrease from 2002, according to an AP analysis of State Medical Board numbers. The overall number of doctors in Ohio rose during the same time, from about 28,000 to about 30,000. Those figures represent all doctors and not just those in high-risk specialties. The Republican-sponsored 2003 law caps most jury awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases at $350,000 but allows up to $1 million in cases with multiple victims — such as injuries to a mother and baby during a delivery — and injuries considered catastrophic. Supporters of caps had argued that large jury verdicts and frivolous lawsuits were driving up insurance rates and forcing doctors with high-risk specialties such as obstetrics to leave the profession.

Please click on the link below to read the Canton Repository article:

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=407149&Category=13&subCategoryID=

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Philadelphia-Area Hospital Starts Mediation Effort to Resolve Medical Malpractice Claims

In an effort to reduce lawsuits related to medical malpractice and health care liability, a pilot mediation program involving both doctors and lawyers has been established at Abington Memorial Hospital. The program, three years in the making, is touted as a step in the right direction for patients and their families seeking answers to medical questions. Officials hope the consortium, believed to be the first of its kind in the area, will serve as a model to be used at other hospitals throughout Pennsylvania. In addition to Abington Memorial, the Montgomery County Medical Society and the Montgomery County Bar Association are also involved with the program. The idea of mediation was one of several tort reform measures promoted by the state Supreme Court in 2002 in response to rising malpractice insurance rates facing physicians in Pennsylvania. Doctors left to practice in states with lower malpractice rates and, as a result, some facilities, including Abington’s trauma center, closed briefly.

Please click on the link below to read The Intelligencer article:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-03282008-1510357.html

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Canada Likely to Label Plastic Ingredient ‘Toxic’

The Canadian government is said to be ready to declare as toxic a chemical widely used in plastics for baby bottles, beverage and food containers as well as linings in food cans. A person with knowledge of the government’s chemical review program spoke on the condition he not be named because of a confidentiality agreement. He said the staff work to list the compound, called bisphenol-a, or B.P.A., as a toxic chemical was complete and was recently endorsed by a panel of outside scientists. A public announcement by Health Canada may come as early as Wednesday but could be delayed until the end of May. Canada would be the first country to make a health finding against B.P.A., which has been shown to disrupt the hormonal systems of animals. The department’s decision was first reported in The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, a draft report from the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program endorsed a scientific panel’s finding that there was “some concern” about neural and behavioral changes in humans who consume B.P.A. B.P.A. is widely used to make polycarbonate plastics, which are rigid and transparent like glass but very unlikely to shatter. Polycarbonates have many uses that pose no risk, like the cases of some iPod models. Because animal tests have shown that even small amounts of the chemical may cause changes in the body, however, researchers have focused on food- and drink-related applications of B.P.A.

Please click on the link below to read the New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/business/worldbusiness/16plastic.html?_r=2&ref=health&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Illinois: Malpractice Insurer to Refund Money

Illinois doctors will get a refund collectively worth $11 million from the state’s largest medical malpractice insurer. The Illinois State Medical Insurance Exchange says claims are down. That means doctors will get credits when they renew their policies. Individual doctors will get around $500 to $1,000. Dr. Harold Jensen chairs the insurer’s board. He says a 2005 state law that capped non-economic damages paid to successful plaintiffs helped lower malpractice insurance costs. But Bruce Kohen, president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, credits another part of the 2005 reforms. State regulators now have the power to review insurance rates. Kohen says that’s what prompted the giveback of the excess premiums to doctors.

Please click on the link below to read the Belleville News Democrat article:

http://www.bnd.com/news/state/story/309012.html

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Health Care Businesses – AirportMD, Pharmacies – “Take Off” at Airports

Reluctant to deal with the hassles of airport security, sales executive Michael D’Souza generally packs the syringes he needs for his daily medication in a bag that he checks when he travels. The strategy backfired for the Toronto resident recently when he needed the medication while he was stuck during a four-hour delay at Newark Liberty. D’Souza found new needles when an airport customer service rep told him about a pharmacy that opened late last year in Terminal C. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pharmacy at an airport,” he says. “But I thought: What a good idea. People are traveling sick all the time.” Pharmacies and walk-in health clinics are opening at more airports in the USA, hoping to capture a sizable portion of travelers and airport employees who want access to basic primary health care and to fill their prescriptions at the last minute. Such facilities are common at large foreign airports, but domestic airports have mostly focused on services that cater to travelers’ immediate needs. Several entrepreneurs are betting that there’s pent-up demand for such services at airports in the USA.

Please click on the link below to read the ABC News article:

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/BusinessTravel/story?id=4608404&page=1

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Web Sites Can Make Shopping for the Right Hospital Easier

It’s not unusual for consumers to spend weeks of research before choosing a car, an appliance or a vacation package. But a hospital? “The time to choose a hospital is not when you’re having chest pain at the mall,” said Jerod Loeb, executive vice president for quality measurement and research for The Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest health-care accrediting body. That may not be the best example, anyway, since the ambulance that whisks you from the mall will likely take you to the nearest hospital rather than the one you’ve carefully researched and chosen. Your choice of hospitals also may be limited by your health-insurance plan or by where your doctor has privileges. But in many cases, consumers can decide where to have a surgical procedure such as a heart catheterization, a knee replacement or an appendectomy. Until recently, hospital-shopping was a near-impossible task, but hospitals have entered a new age of transparency, says Loeb and other health-care experts. There are literally dozens of Web sites offering ways to compare and contrast hospital care. Loeb said standardized measures on clinical conditions have been around only since 2002, and only in the past couple of years has the information been made widely available to consumers.

Please click on the link below to read the Orlando Sentinel article:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/consumer/orl-hospitals1508apr15,0,3377169.story

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Minnesota Physician Can Sue Doctors Critical of Courtroom Testimony

A recent Minnesota trial court ruling raises questions about whether medical specialty societies should serve as sentinels over expert witnesses in the courtroom. A Hennepin County District Court judge tossed out claims that the American Academy of Ophthalmology defamed Charles Yancey, MD, when its ethics committee examined his statements as a plaintiff expert in a medical malpractice case. The investigation followed a complaint made by two academy members. Ophthalmologists Jeffrey R. Weis, MD, and David R. Hardten, MD, were defendants in the lawsuit and accused Dr. Yancey of giving misleading testimony. The court said Dr. Yancey, as an AAO member, agreed to abide by the academy’s ethical rules and regulations, which include a peer review system for questionable medical testimony. The judge dismissed claims that the AAO and Drs. Weis and Hardten had conspired to intimidate Dr. Yancey from testifying in future cases. But the court allowed Dr. Yancey to sue the two doctors individually for allegedly besmirching his reputation when they filed their grievance with the AAO. The trial is expected to begin in August.

Please click on the link below to read the American Medical News article:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/04/21/prsb0421.htm

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Warning on Storage of Health Records

In an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, two leading researchers warn that the entry of big companies like Microsoft and Google into the field of personal health records could drastically alter the practice of clinical research and raise new challenges to the privacy of patient records. The authors, Dr. Kenneth D. Mandl and Dr. Isaac S. Kohane, are longtime proponents of the benefits of electronic patient records to improve care and help individuals make smarter health decisions. But their concern, stated in the article published Wednesday and in an interview, is that the medical profession and policy makers have not begun to grapple with the implications of companies like Microsoft and Google becoming the hosts for vast stores of patient information. The arrival of these new corporate entrants, the authors write, promises to bring “a seismic change” in the control and stewardship of patient information. Today, most patient records remain within the health system — in doctors’ offices, hospitals, clinics, health maintenance organizations and pharmacy networks. Federal regulations govern how personal information can be shared among health institutions and insurers, and the rules restrict how such information can be mined for medical research. One requirement is that researchers have no access to individual patients’ identities. Under the current system, individuals can request their own health records, but it is often a cumbersome process because information is scattered across several institutions. As part of a push toward greater individual control of health information, Microsoft and Google have recently begun offering Web-based personal health records. The journal article’s authors describe a new “personalized, health information economy” in which consumers tell physicians, hospitals and other providers what information to send into their personal records, stored by Microsoft or Google. It is the individual who decides with whom to share that information and under what terms.

Please click on the link below to read the New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/17record.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Number of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits in Pennsylvania Declined in 2007

The number of medical malpractice lawsuits in Pennsylvania declined again in 2007, according to statistics released. There were 1,617 medical malpractice lawsuits filed in 2007, according to the state Supreme Court. That’s down from 1,693 in 2006 and 2,903 in 2002, the year before legal changes intended to prevent frivolous lawsuits took effect. The legal changes require lawyers filing malpractice cases to obtain a certificate of merit from a medical professional, saying the medical care that prompted the lawsuits was outside acceptable standards. They also put an end to “venue shopping,” a practice by which lawyers who file malpractice cases would try to put them in front of juries in Philadelphia, where jurors are known for ruling against doctors and hospitals. In 2007, 153 medical malpractice cases were heard by juries, which ruled in favor of the health care provider about 83 percent of the time, the court said.

Please click on the link below to read the Penn Live article:

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/04/state_says_malpractice_cases_s.html

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Report: Contracts to Replace Malpractice Suits to Compensate Injured Patients

The think tank that developed the Health Savings Accounts is proposing that contracts replace lawsuits to compensate injured patients. These contracts would disregard fault and mandate full disclosure, while accounting for patient compliance and varying degrees of risk. “To protect against lawsuits, doctors purchase malpractice insurance, which carries very high premiums,” says Sean Tuffnell, a spokesman for the National Center for Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C.“Total cost of the medical tort system is estimated between $129 billion and $207 billion. Most of these costs are passed on to all patients. Voluntarily negotiated contracts would fulfill those goals while allowing hospitals, doctors, their insurance companies, and patients to completely opt out of the court system, the NCPA explains in a 40-page report. A typical contract would:

 

• Set the amount of compensation in advance that a provider would pay in case of an unexpected death. It would use the state’s workers’ compensation system to set rates for injuries, without as-sessing fault or neglect and without linking blame to the amount of payment.

 

• Reduce compensation amounts for high-risk patients and for high-risk procedures.

 

• Require providers to disclose such data as mortality rates for specific surgeries and require patients to disclose such information as their full menu of medications.

 

• Link full compensation to patient compliance with diet restrictions, medication schedules, and other provider directives.

 

“Instead of buying medical malpractice insurance, physicians would essentially be purchasing short-term life insurance on all patients, say, undergoing surgery,” said NCPA Policy Analyst Pam Villarreal, who co-authored the report. “Under this system, insurers would have a strong interest in monitoring how doctors practice medicine and would price their policies accordingly. Bad doctors would largely be priced out of the market.”

 

Please click on the link below to read the Renal and Urology News article:

http://www.renalandurologynews.com/Contracts-Would-Replace-Malpractice-Suits/article/108895/

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Confidential Patient Information and Data Stolen at University of Miami

The confidential information of 47,000 University of Miami patients was stolen in March when a case holding backup tapes the information was taken off a truck used by an off-site storage company, UM said. Anyone who has been a patient of a UM physician or visited a UM facility since Jan. 1, 1999 is likely included on the tapes, UM said in a news release. The data included names, addresses, Social Security numbers or health information. The university said it will notify the affected patients whose data may have included credit card or other financial information. Shortly after the incident, UM said it determined a thief would be unlikely to access the tapes because they were written in a complex and proprietary format. UM said it contacted computer security experts at Terremark Worldwide to independently determine the feasibility of accessing the tapes.

Please click on the link below to read the South Florida Business Journal article:

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/04/14/daily41.html?f=et81&ana=e_du

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Make Room for “Dr. Nurses” as Solution to Physician Shortage

More than 200 nursing schools have established or plan to launch doctorate of nursing practice programs to equip graduates with skills the schools say are equivalent to primary-care physicians. The two-year programs, including a one-year residency, create a “hybrid practitioner” with more skills, knowledge and training than a nurse practitioner with a master’s degree, says Mary Mundinger, dean of New York’s Columbia University School of Nursing. She says DNPs are being trained to have more focus than doctors on coordinating care among many specialists and health-care settings. To establish a national standard for doctors of nursing practice, the non-profit Council for the Advancement of Comprehensive Care plans to announce that the National Board of Medical Examiners has agreed to develop a voluntary DNP certification exam based on the same test physicians take to qualify for a medical license. The board will begin administering the exam this fall. By 2015, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing aims to make the doctoral degree the standard for all new advanced practice nurses, including nurse practitioners.

Please click on the link below to read the Wall Street Journal Online article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120710036831882059.html?mod=WSJBlog

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Family Doctors Take Second Job in “Spa Medicine” to Pay Bills

Dr. Sandra Goranson used to joke that as a family physician in inflation-fuelled Calgary, she should take on a second job to cover her climbing office expenses. Recently, Goranson took the leap and joined the growing number of family physicians in the city who have started a cosmetic medicine business — offering services such as Botox injections — to make ends meet in their regular practice. “For me, if I wanted to stay doing family practice, I needed another job,” she said. I really believe in (family medicine) and I’m trying to make it work, even though it’s financially very difficult.” Doctors‘ offices, like all city businesses, are facing growing expenses. Unlike most other companies, however, physicians can’t raise their prices for medically necessary procedures covered through the public health system. So, many local doctors are offering cosmetic procedures — treatments for which they can privately bill patients — to supplement their income, according to the Calgary and Area Physicians Association. “Lots of doctors are doing things like Botox,” said Dr. Linda Slocombe, president of the association. “I know of several who quit their practice and are just doing spa medicine.”

Please click on the link below to read the Calgary Herald article:

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=8f66a865-05b7-4c56-9c66-ffe98e2eb56f&p=1

For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.