Medical Malpractice Flashcards

1
Q

describe medical malpractice

A
  • breach of any duty owed as a physician is malpractice
  • elements of respect for persons:
    • commitment (do not abandon patient)
    • autonomy (informed consent)
    • fidelity (promise keeping and confidentiality)
    • veracity (truth telling)
    • competence (standard of care)
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2
Q

list common reasons for malpractice claims

A
  • inpatient: surgical errors accounted for about 34% of medical malpractice claims
  • outpaitent: diagnostic errors made up about 46%
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3
Q

describe malpractice compensation

A
  • the average compensation for medical malpractice:
    • inpatient setting: $363,000
    • outpatient setting: $290,000
  • 93% of all medical malpractice cases are resolved before trial while 7% end in a jury verdict
    • of medical malpractice cases that make it to court trial, plaintiffs prevailed in 21% of verdicts
    • of medical malpractice cases that were settled without trial, settlements favored the plaintiff in 61% of cases
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4
Q

describe high risk vs. low risk in predicting medical malpractice

A
  • high risk:
    • increased age
    • surgical specialty
    • emergency department coverage
    • increased days away from practice
    • previous malpractice suit
  • low risk
    • scheduling enough time to talk to patients
    • answering phone calls directly
    • satisfactory practice arrangements
    • acknowledge one’s own emotional distress
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5
Q

describe behaviors that lead to a lower malpractice suit risk

A
  • spent 3+ minutes longer with each patient than those who had been sued
  • more likely to make “orienting” comments
    • “first I’ll examine you, and then we will talk the problem over”
    • “I will leave time for your questions”
  • more likely to engage in active listening
  • more likely to laugh and be funny during the visit
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6
Q

list the 4 reasons patients sue

A
  • concern with standards of care
    • patients and relative wanted to prevent similar incidents in the future
  • the need for an explanation
    • to know how the injury happened and why
  • compensation
    • for actual losses, pain and suffering, or to provide care in the future for an injured person
  • accountability
    • a belief that the staff or org. should have to account for their actions
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7
Q

describe the 4 elements of malpractice litigation

A
  • duty
  • breach of duty
  • causation
  • damages
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8
Q

describe duty (malpractice litigation)

A
  • patient must prove that the physician owed a legal duty of care (i.e. treatment relationship)
  • doctors are generally charged with a duty to abide by a certain level of care
  • the standard is the amount of variety of care that a reasonably competent, prudent physician–in good standing and of same or similar educational background and geographic location–would administer under the same or similar circumstances
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9
Q

describe breach of duty (malpractice litigation)

A
  • if the physician fails to abide by the standard of care, he breached his duty to a patient
  • failure to disclose information to patients is also a breach of duty
  • breaches of the standard of care usually require some type of sworn statement to be considered by a court or jury
  • virtually every medical malpractice case must have expert support
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10
Q

list the 3 sub-elements of breach of duty

A
  1. had disclosure been made, the patient would not have consented
  2. had disclosure been made, a reasonable person in the patient’s circumstances would not have consented
  3. the materialized risk must have been caused (etiologically) by the intervention
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11
Q

describe causation (malpractice litigation)

A
  • doctor’s breach of duty caused the patient harm
  • not enough that the doctor’s action increased the risk of harm; must be the most likely cause of the harm
    • 50+% chance that harm came from physician negligence = 100% damages
    • <49% chance that harm came from physician negligence = 0% damages
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12
Q

give the equation on assessing the doctor’s risk increase due to negligence

A

the increase in chance of death from baseline / the chance of death with negligence

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13
Q

describe damages (malpractice litigation)

A
  • physician’s breach of the standard of care actually resulted in some kind of harm: physical, psychological, financial or other
  • difficult in cases where the true damage can take a long time to manifest
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14
Q

describe Good Samaritan laws

A
  • protect volunteers from civil liability for acts or omissions that cause injury to another while providing assistance in an emergency
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15
Q

list the requirements for protection against liability (Good Samaritan laws)

A
  • outside medical setting (e.g. accident, natural disaster, choking in restaurant)
  • no pre-existing duty to provide care
  • no expectation of remuneration of any sort
  • recipient does not object
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