| A 'Just Culture' Is The Right Culture For Improving Patient Safety | Human error occurs in the health care environment and sometimes those errors harm patients. In the December 2008 issue of Urologic Nursing, Celeste M. Mayer and Dale Cronin say that to improve patient safety, the health care industry must find ways to detect and learn from mistakes, holding the system accountable for errors, instead of focusing on the individual(s) responsible. |
| Understanding Medication Errors One Way To Help Improve Quality Of Care | Urologic nurses must possess a basic understanding of how to analyze and report medication errors. In the December 2008 issue of Urologic Nursing, Rodney W. Hicks, Shawn Coniff Becker and Dorothy Greene Jackson discuss tools available for evaluating and reporting medication errors. |
| PHR Criticizes Iran For Trying AIDS Doctors On Secret Charges | The Iranian government's December 31 trial of Dr. Arash Alaei and Dr. Kamiar Alaei -- Iranian brothers who are known worldwide for their work as HIV/AIDS physicians -- denied fundamental requirements of due process because, according to reports received by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), the prosecutor refused to disclose all the charges against the accused and denied their right to confront and defend themselves against their accusers. |
| Medical Errors, Apologies And Apology Laws | Editorial Apologizing for medical errors is both ethically and professionally responsible and also crucial for improving patient safety and quality of care, write Dr. Noni MacDonald and Dr. Amir Attaran and the CMJA editorial team. They point out that an apology can have significant healing effects for the patient, family and physician. |
| Court Orders California To Implement Program Providing Care To HIV-Positive People | A Superior Court judge in Los Angeles late last month ruled that the California Department of Health Care Services must provide medical care to low-income state residents living with HIV in compliance with a 2002 state law, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation announced, |
| Editorial, Opinion Piece Examine Use Of Defensive Medicine | USA Today on Dec. 29, 2008, published an editorial and an opinion piece addressing physicians' use of defensive medicine to prevent medical malpractice lawsuits. Summaries of the pieces appear below. |
| National Drug Company Pays $7 Million To State's Medicaid Program To Settle Improper Drug Pricing Allegations, USA | Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office has reached a settlement agreement with Teva Pharmaceutical USA, Inc. (Teva), a North Wales, PA, based pharmaceutical manufacturer to settle a False Claims Act case pending in United States District Court in Boston. Pursuant to the settlement, Teva has paid $7 million to the Massachusetts Medicaid Program. |
| Writing Chemotherapy Orders On The Day Of Administration And Improved Communication Could Reduce Medication Errors | Seven percent of adults and 19 percent of children taking chemotherapy drugs in outpatient clinics or at home were given the wrong dose or experienced other mistakes involving their medications, according to a new study led by Kathleen E. Walsh, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and published in the January 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. |
| Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office Recovers $4.65 Million For Massachusetts Medicaid Program In Cephalon Off-Label Marketing Investigation | Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office has reached an agreement with Cephalon, Inc. (Cephalon), based in Pennsylvania, to settle allegations of improper off-label marketing of three pharmaceutical products. Under the terms of the settlement, Cephalon has paid $4,659,461. |
| Iran Asked To Free AIDS Doctors Held For Six Months On Illegitimate Charges | On the sixth-month anniversary of Iran's detention of Dr. Arash Alaei and Dr. Kamiar Alaei -- Iranian brothers who are known worldwide as HIV/AIDS physicians--international NGOs, academic institutions, and medical leaders from across the globe are asking Iran to free them immediately. The doctors have been held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since late June 2008. |
| Federal Lawsuit Alleges Department Of Defense Improperly Denied Medical, Disability Benefits To Veterans | A class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., alleges that the Department of Defense illegally denied medical and disability benefits to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. |
| Californian Files Consumer Fraud Class Action Against Advanced Medical Optics For Falsely Advertising Contact Lens Solution | Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, and Moscone, Emblidge & Quadra announced that Southern California-based Advanced Medical Optics, Inc. ("AMO") was named as the defendant in a consumer fraud and false advertising class action lawsuit. The case, Maria Ruiz v. Advanced Medical Optics, et al., was filed today in California State Superior Court in Orange County. |
| Elsevier To Investigate Medical Journal Articles Allegedly Ghostwritten By Wyeth | Elsevier officials on Friday announced plans to investigate recent allegations by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that one of the medical journals published by the company included an article improperly ghostwritten by |
| Indiana Grand Jury To Investigate Video Secretly Filmed By Antiabortion Advocate At Planned Parenthood | A grand jury in Marion County, Ind., will investigate whether an undercover video filmed at an Indianapolis clinic operated by Planned Parenthood of Indiana contains evidence of any criminal violations, the county prosecutor's office announced last week, AP/Google.com reports. |
| Illinois Supreme Court Orders Circuit Court To Consider Lawsuit By Pharmacists Objecting To EC | The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a circuit court must consider a lawsuit brought by two Illinois pharmacists objecting to a rule that requires pharmacies to dispense emergency contraception, the AP/Google.com reports. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) in 2005 issued a rule prohibiting pharmacies from refusing to dispense EC. |
| Doctor-Patient Communication Is Key To Good Health And Patient Consent Forms Should Educate Not Intimidate | It's time patient consent forms came back full circle to a tool for patient education, rather than the waiver of liability they have become. The original purpose of the consent forms was for a surgeon or doctor to inform the patient of common or serious risks associated with the procedure to be performed. |
| Engenex Negative Pressure Wound Therapy System - KCI Files Patent Infringement Suit Against Convatec And Boehringer | Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI), announced today that, together with Wake Forest University Health Sciences, it has filed a patent infringement suit against Convatec Inc., Boehringer Wound Systems, LLC and Boehringer Technologies, L.P. in Federal District Court in the Middle District of North Carolina. KCI filed the lawsuit against Convatec and Boehringer for the commercialization of the Engenex negative pressure wound therapy system. |
| West Virginia Medicaid Program Sued For Reducing Benefits For 90% Of Children Enrolled | Mountain State Justice -- a public interest law firm based in Charleston, W.Va. -- is planning to file a lawsuit against the state's Medicaid office, alleging it has violated federal law by reducing benefits for children whose parents do not sign a "personal responsibility" statement that allows them to receive enhanced benefits, the |
| Federal Judge Rejects Request By Veterans Groups To Require VA To Process Disability Claims Within 90 Days | U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton in Washington, D.C., has ruled that the court does not have the authority to require the Department of Veterans Affairs to accelerate efforts to process disability claims, the AP/Washington Post reports. The |
| FTC Sues Ovation Over Alleged Monopoly On Prescription Drugs For Infants | The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis over allegations that Ovation Pharmaceuticals sought to form a monopoly on the two medications for patent ductus arteriosus, a life-threatening heart condition in infants, and increased the price of the treatments by 1,300%, |
| Grassley Requests Information About HRT Drug Prempro Journal Articles | As part of a broader congressional investigation into the possible influence of the pharmaceutical industry on physicians and the health care industry, Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) on Friday sent separate letters to Wyeth and the medical communication company DesignWrite about the hormone-replacement therapy drug Prempro, the |
| RNs Charge Jackson Health System, Service Union Broke State Law In Harassment Of Hospital Nurses | The nation's largest nurses union today charged that Jackson Health System (JHS) and the Service Employees International Union have violated state law that protects employee rights, and is calling on Miami-Dade County Commissioners to postpone a vote Tuesday morning approving a new agreement between the hospital system and SEIU. |
| New Book Focuses On Cultural Defense | A taxi driver refuses to pick up a blind woman with a companion dog. The driver is sued for discrimination, and explains that, as a practicing Muslim, he does not want a dog, which he considers unclean, in his vehicle. |
| Pennsylvania Hospitals Suing State For Malpractice Surplus Funds | The Hospital and HealthSystem Association of Pennsylvania on Thursday filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court alleging that the administration of Gov. Ed Rendell (D) has violated the state constitution by not providing funding for a program that helps subsidize medical malpractice insurance costs for doctors, the Philadelphia Inquirer's " |