Lawyers who bring claims for persons hurt by defective medical devices and drugs have long known that both industries provide significant funds—to the tune of 1.2 billion dollars—to finance continuing legal education for doctors. We also know that pharmaceutical and medical device companies sponsor “educational programs” for doctors that highlight their products with paid “though leaders” —physicians hand-picked by industry—as presenters at these programs. But some doctors and medical schools are finally saying enough is enough—no more industry money. (more…)
No Clear Wins in Med Mal Reform
Locks Law Partner Steven P. Knowlton was recently published in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Patients in hospitals expect to be competently treated for their medical problems. They expect their broken bones to be mended, their surgeries to be successful, their infections and diseases cured. Parents expect that their children will be made well, and families expect their loved ones’ pain to be ameliorated. The last thing patients expect is for the hospital to make them sicker, or cause them to die. (more…)
Many of you have no doubt heard the repeated hue and cry of some who complain that doctors are being put out of business because of medical malpractice claims and the increasing malpractice insurance premiums they must pay. The press accounts of patients going without doctors in parts of the country where insurance premiums for doctors are alleged to be the highest are repeated almost daily. (more…)
Starting today, Medicare has announced that it will no longer pay to treat injuries that occur when a person is injured at the hands of a health care provider (read the N.Y. Times article). Medicare has compiled a list of “reasonably preventable” conditions for which it will no longer pay including:
- incompatible blood transfusions
- post surgical infections
- second operations to retrieve equipment accidentally left in the body from the first
- serious bed sores
- injuries from falls in the hospital
- urinary tract infections caused by catheters
For many decades, the Locks Law Firm has fought for the rights of people who were injured by medical negligence with conditions such as these. We will continue to use the justice system to aid those who are the victims of negligence and for whom Medicare will no longer provide.
