Medical Malpractice Flashcards
describe medical malpractice
- 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)
list common reasons for malpractice claims
- inpatient: surgical errors accounted for about 34% of medical malpractice claims
- outpaitent: diagnostic errors made up about 46%
describe malpractice compensation
- 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
describe high risk vs. low risk in predicting medical malpractice
- 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
describe behaviors that lead to a lower malpractice suit risk
- 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
list the 4 reasons patients sue
- 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
describe the 4 elements of malpractice litigation
- duty
- breach of duty
- causation
- damages
describe duty (malpractice litigation)
- 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
describe breach of duty (malpractice litigation)
- 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
list the 3 sub-elements of breach of duty
- had disclosure been made, the patient would not have consented
- had disclosure been made, a reasonable person in the patient’s circumstances would not have consented
- the materialized risk must have been caused (etiologically) by the intervention
describe causation (malpractice litigation)
- 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
give the equation on assessing the doctor’s risk increase due to negligence
the increase in chance of death from baseline / the chance of death with negligence
describe damages (malpractice litigation)
- 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
describe Good Samaritan laws
- protect volunteers from civil liability for acts or omissions that cause injury to another while providing assistance in an emergency
list the requirements for protection against liability (Good Samaritan laws)
- 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