Law Med Blog - 2/36 - Law Meets Medicine...and more.

Featured Posts

Mountain State University Nursing School Loses State Accreditation

It has been like watching a train crash in slow motion. The outcome inevitable. The passengers: the nursing students…not sure how injured they would be once their world Read More »

Lawsuit: Sisters Have Hospital Kill Multi Millionaire Father For Inheritence

Victorino Noval, 78, entered a Kaiser hospital in Southern California on April 28, 2010, with a diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia. He was intubated, placed on a mechanical ventilator, Read More »

Full Circle: Winkler County Atty Tidwell Has License Suspended

Things have been coming full circle in the extraordinary case of the Winkler County Texas Nurse Whistleblower Case over the past year and that circle may just have Read More »

Pfizer (Akrimax) Recalls 1 Million Packets Of Birth Control Pills

Pfizer pharmaceuticals has recalled 1 million birth control pill packets because they “may not prevent pregnancy”, which is certainly an undesirable property in a birth control medication. From Read More »

Green Tea Protects Liver In Acetaminophen Overdose

This is a bit of a departure from the usual content found on the Law Med Blog. Ten years ago I worked for a year or two at Read More »

Breaking Healthcare News February 8, 2012

February 08, 2012 lawmed No comments

Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

Ministry Health buys out partner in Wis. system
Affinity Health System in Wisconsin’s Fox Valley has converted from a jointly sponsored three-hospital system into an entity controlled by a single Roman Catholic hospital operator with the goal of becoming an accountable care organization.
HHS aims to curb pre-term births
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation will award about $40 million in grants to test approaches that can help reduce the rising number of pre-term births in the U.S.
Brookings report: Barriers limit state health information exchanges
The current governance, financing and policy barriers limit state health information exchanges from reaching their full potential, the Brookings Institution said in a report.
Recondo Technology acquires Trilogi
Recondo Technology, the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based healthcare revenue-cycle software developer, announced the acquisition of Lakeland, Fla.-based Trilogi, a revenue-cycle management and recovery company.
Atlanta-area hospitals seek consolidation
A consolidation agreement may be

… (Continued…)

Prosecutor: Videotaped Deposition Of Dying Nevada Hepatitis C Victim Needed

February 08, 2012 lawmed No comments

In papers asking to take his videotaped deposition filed in court Monday, Clark County NV Chief District Attorney Mike Staudaher said the hepatitis C virus has left Rodolfo Meana, 76, terminally ill, and he could die at any moment.

Meana’s hepatitis C case is one of seven the Southern Nevada Health District investigation genetically linked to Dr. Dipak Desai’s Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada contamination case. Desai was recently found competent to stand trial after suffering two strokes. All seven patients who contracted the illness are named as victims of felony criminal neglect in a 28-count indictment against Desai, 62, and two of his nurse anesthetists, Keith Mathahs and Ronald Lakeman. That trial is scheduled to begin in March, but is likely to be delayed. If Meana is alive and able to testify when needed at trial, his live testimony will instead be used.

Meana has purchased a March 27 … (Continued…)

Breaking Healthcare News February 6, 2012

February 06, 2012 lawmed No comments

Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

Crowd-sourced contest developer InnoCentive buys OmniCompete
Waltham, Mass.-based InnoCentive, which works with companies to develop online tools for crowd-sourced problem-solving, has acquired OmniCompete, a U.K-based developer of online competitions.
HIMSS names three as clinician IT leaders
Nurses Carol Bickford and Kathleen Smith and Dr. Russell Leftwich were named winners of the Chicago-based Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s clinician information technology leadership awards.
HCA to pay special dividend of $1 billion
HCA, Nashville, announced it would be paying a special dividend to shareholders worth a total of about $1 billion, as it announced fourth-quarter earnings of $1.9 billion.
Longtime hospice advocate Labyak dies
Mary Labyak, a pioneer of the U.S. hospice movement, died Saturday from lymphoma, according to a spokesman for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
NIH launches consumer clinical-trials site
The National Institutes of Health has launched a new website aimed at educating the

… (Continued…)

Ark Court Rejects Tort Reform Provision On Expert Witnesses

February 06, 2012 lawmed No comments

In 2003 the Arkansas legislature enacted a tort reform law that included a provision that expert witnesses in medical malpractice liability lawsuits must practice in the same specialty as defendant doctors. The requirement that testifying experts must be in the same specialty as a defendant physician when they testify on his/her behalf or against, when that testimony goes to the standard of care in that specialty has been a long standing one in many states. The requirement is sensible to the point of being common sense, and a very important one. But, due to constitutional language specific to Arkansas, the legislature does not have the power pass such a law. That power lies within the courts of Arkansas alone as we shall discuss.

On January 19 the Arkansas supreme court ruled the requirement “violates the separation-of-powers doctrine, Amendment 80, and the inherent authority of the courts to protect the integrity … (Continued…)

Breaking Healthcare News February 4, 2012

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

Ascension, N.J. hospitals discuss new system
Ascension Health Care Network, the for-profit joint venture between the largest U.S. Catholic health system and a private equity firm, is in talks with two New Jersey hospitals about the possible development of a new Catholic system in the state.
AMA presses Sebelius to halt ICD-10
The American Medical Association is taking second aim in its call to federal officials to halt the planned and federally mandated 2013 rollout of the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision family of procedural and diagnostic codes.
MediSwipe plans to acquire social media network
MediSwipe, a Los Angeles-based provider of merchant payment services and financial products for the healthcare industry, signed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of ReachMeDaily.com, a social media network used by residents in nursing homes…
Canadian telecom giant acquires EHR vendor
Telecommunications giant Telus expanded its reach into Canada’s

… (Continued…)

Judge Rules Dr. Desai Competent For Trial In Nevada Hepatitis C Case

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Citing a report from two psychiatrists and a psychologist at a state mental facility in Sparks who found that Dipak Desai is “competent and obviously exaggerating his symptoms” from strokes in September 2007 and July 2008 to avoid trial, Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen declared him competent to stand trial. Desai received six months of treatment at the facility last year after being court ordered there after state psychiatry experts declared him incompetent.

“The only impediment to competency asserted by the defendant is self-reported memory loss, secondary to two strokes, regarding facts relevant to his criminal charges,” the judge said. “Memory loss itself, even if true, is not a bar to prosecution of an otherwise competent defendant.” Desai’s lawyer, Richard Wright, contends that Desai is incapacitated by his strokes and other physical and mental ailments, to the point he is legally incompetent for trial.

The ruling cleared the way … (Continued…)

Lawyers For Dr Riley Ask To Inspect Fetus In Abortion Murder Case

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Lawyers for Dr. Nicola Riley, charged with murder accused of killing a fetus during a late-term abortion at a Elkton Maryland clinic have motioned the Cecil County Circuit Court to allow them to inspect specimens of that fetus.

Riley and 55-year-old Dr. Steven Brigham of Voorhees, N.J., have been charged with murder in the death of a fetus, Brigham with 5 counts. While in and of itself late term abortion is legal in the state of Maryland, the charges stem from the fact that Brigham, licensed in New Jersey, was not licensed to practice in Md., and Riley knew this yet knowingly practiced in Md. along side him. Riley is licensed in Md.

Stuart O. Simms, one of Riley’s lawyers, filed the motion asking the judge to order the State Medical Examiner’s Office to allow a defense expert to inspect any specimens identified as Male Fetus Brewer.… (Continued…)

Full Circle: Winkler County Atty Tidwell Has License Suspended

February 04, 2012 lawmed No comments

Things have been coming full circle in the extraordinary case of the Winkler County Texas Nurse Whistleblower Case over the past year and that circle may just have closed. The last bit of justice seems to have been served with the suspension of former Winkler County Attorney Scott Tidwell’s license to practice law in the state of Texas.

It all began in 2009 when Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, two nurses working at Winkler County Memorial Hospital who were responsible for Quality Assurance, Risk Management and Medical Staff privileges advised hospital administrator Stan Wiley that one of their physicians, Dr. Rolando Arafiles, had violated the standard of care, hospital policies and made some serious medical errors. Wiley refused to take any action and told the two they were prohibited from reporting Arafiles to any outside agency without his approval, in violation of state law.

Concerned over the safety of their … (Continued…)

Breaking Healthcare News February 2, 2012

February 02, 2012 lawmed No comments

Today’s Healthcare Headlines:

Study finds rising number of HAI outbreaks tied to norovirus
An increasing number of healthcare-associated infection outbreaks are due to norovirus, an easily spreadable organism whose symptoms include vomiting and fever, according to a study in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Grassley queries FDA chief on retaliation allegations
A senior Senate Republican is trying to determine how far the Food and Drug Administration took its alleged monitoring and retaliation against employees who raised safety concerns about some medical devices.
Prime drops offer; N.J. board OKs plans for bankruptcy filing
Christ Hospital’s board of trustees approved plans for a bankruptcy filing “if necessary” after Prime Healthcare Services withdrew an offer to buy the struggling New Jersey hospital.
Group pushes health worker flu vaccinations
A national employer healthcare group joined several provider advocacy groups in urging hospitals to require their employees to obtain annual influenza vaccinations.
Reform shrinking

… (Continued…)

Breaking Healthcare News February 1, 2012

February 01, 2012 lawmed No comments

Today’s Headlines:

UMass Memorial to eliminate up to 900 positions
UMass Memorial Health Care, a five-hospital system based in Worcester, Mass., said it will eliminate hundreds of jobs and sell off some business units in order to avoid ending the current fiscal year with a loss.
House slated to vote on CLASS Act repeal
House members are scheduled to vote late Wednesday on repealing the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, the voluntary long-term-care program included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
HCA completes acquisition of heart hospital
HCA completed its acquisition of Galichia Heart Hospital, an 82-bed hospital in Wichita, Kan.
More resources needed for import oversight: Hamburg
The Food and Drug Administration needs more resources for oversight of products developed and manufactured overseas, FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said during a House hearing examining the Prescription Drug User Fee Act.
Lawmakers urged to spare hospitals

… (Continued…)

Ohio Anesthesiologist Convicted Of Murder Seeking New Trial [VIDEO]

February 01, 2012 lawmed No comments

Former anesthesiologist and convicted murderer Mark Wangler is back in an Ohio courtroom asking for a new trial.

His attorney argued before the Third District Court of Appeals the reasons they should overturn the aggravated murder conviction for the death of Wangler’s first wife Kathy. The arguments focused on scientific evidence allowed, and not allowed, during the March 2011 trial. Attorney Christopher McDowell criticized the method scientists used to test chemicals on duct work in the home, calling it junk science. McDowell said Judge Richard Warren shouldn’t have allowed jurors to hear the testimony at all. He also objected to a defense witness not being allowed to refute the evidence. The chemical evidence was key since Wangler was convicted of killing his wife by using carbon monoxide, a deadly asphyxiate gas.

McDowell also says officers collected evidence beyond the scope allowed by a search warrant including a diary. However, assistant … (Continued…)

Search

Subscribe

Meta

Pages

Categories

Archive

Favorites

Share

Featured Posts

FEATURED VIDEO

Featured Video

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Lawmed Top Posts