| Judicial Reduction of Damage Awards |
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| Judicial Reduction of Damage AwardsMore... |
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| Liability for Administering Drugs |
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| When prescribing drugs to treat a patient, a physician is expected to use the same standard of care and skill that is normally possessed and exercised under the same circumstances by physicians in good standing in the same or similar locations. In most cases, a doctor is liable for injuries to a patient resulting from the administration of the wrong drug. Some courts have found that the manufacturers' inserts containing use recommendations are prima facie evidence of the standard of care to be followed by physicians in using the medication, but other courts have concluded that this information from manufacturers is admissible only as some evidence as to the standard of care, not rising to the level of prima facie evidence.More... |
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| Malpractice in Forceps Deliveries |
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| In recent years, the number of deliveries involving the use of forceps has decreased. Today, many of the deliveries that would have been performed utilizing forceps are completed by cesarean sections because there is a documented high risk of fetal morbidity and mortality with forceps deliveries. However, the choice usually depends upon the training, experience, and preference of the physician.More... |
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| The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act |
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| The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law enacted in 1986 to stop the practice of "patient dumping," or turning patients away from emergency rooms based on their lack of ability to pay. Under EMTALA, any hospital that has an emergency room and that receives federal funding must provide any individual coming to its premises with a medical screening examination to determine if an emergency condition or active pregnancy labor exists. If so, the hospital is required to stabilize the patient's condition prior to transferring the patient to another facility, subject to a few narrowly defined exemptions. The transfer must be appropriate and meet certain conditions. More... |
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| Obtaining Substance Abuse Records in Medical Malpractice Cases |
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| If you are a plaintiff in a medical malpractice action, you might be seeking information on the issue of whether or not the physician who treated you had a substance abuse problem that might have contributed to his or her claimed negligence. If you are a physician who is the object of a medical malpractice action, you might be looking for information on whether the patient's injury was the result of his or her own drug problem. Whatever, the reason, it is not uncommon for one or both parties to try to obtain substance abuse records.More... |
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