Category Archives: Medical malpractice

Plaintiff Winner: Suicide in the Hospital

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Pat Iyer

Suicide in hospitals is more common than you think. The Joint Commission reports it is the second most commonly reported sentinel event with 816 events reported as of June 30, 2010. Most of these suicides occur in psychiatric hospitals, followed … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication skills, Damages, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Nursing malpractice, Patient safety, Tampering with evidence | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Plaintiff winner #1: Wrong patient/wrong site surgery

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Pat Iyer

Operate on the wrong patient or wrong side of the body? Unthinkable, you say? According to a new study, surgeons do this 40 times a week! A study of more than 27,370 adverse events self-reported by Colorado physicians was published … Continue reading →

Posted in CMS never events, Damages, Expert witness, Joint Commission, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Nursing malpractice, Patient safety | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Nurse as Patient Advocate by Pat Iyer

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Pat Iyer

A New Jersey plaintiff attorney lost a $19 million verdict when a state appeals court found multiple trial errors. Med League supplied one of the expert witnesses for this case. The case involved an alleged delay in ordering a cesarean … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication skills, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Patient safety | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Nurse Practitioners: Risks for Nursing Malpractice by Pat Iyer and Pat Goode

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Pat Iyer

New roles and responsibilities, expansion of practice areas and changes in insurance patterns have meant increasing professional liability risks for nurse practitioners, one of the four major types of advanced practice nurses. Others include nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and clinical … Continue reading →

Posted in Expert witness, Legal nurse consulting, Medical malpractice, Nursing malpractice | Tagged , | 2 Comments

When should nursing staff call a rapid response team? by Pat Iyer

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Pat Iyer

A sudden deterioration in a patient’s condition should stimulate activation of emergency efforts. The goal of a rapid response team (RRT) is to avert a cardiac arrest – to take action before the patient stops breathing. Here are some generally … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare Risk Management, Legal nurse consulting, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Nursing malpractice, Patient safety | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

What’s a medical error? Part 1 by Pat Iyer

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Pat Iyer

I was talking to my son and his girlfriend about medical errors and he asked me to define them. Here are some cases we have handled. * the hospitalized patient who was alert, oriented, and ambulatory until the nurse administered … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal nurse consulting, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Nursing malpractice | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Why don’t healthcare providers follow the rules? Part 2 by Pat Iyer

Posted on July 19, 2010 by Pat Iyer

Normalization of deviance occurs when a provider, such as a nurse, knowingly disregards a safety practice, like using two patient identifiers to verify patient identity. Repeated deviation from the safe practices tends to “normalize” the risky behavior in the nurse’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare Risk Management, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Nursing malpractice, Patient safety | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Why don’t healthcare providers follow the rules? Part 1 by Pat Iyer

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Pat Iyer

I’ve been updating a chapter on the roots of patient injury for the fourth edition of Nursing Malpractice. I’ve been thinking about the reasons people don’t follow policies and procedures. Back in the 1980s when I ran a nursing hospital’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare Risk Management, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Nursing malpractice, Patient safety | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pat Iyer’s 9 tips on detecting altered medical records Part 5

Posted on July 12, 2010 by Pat Iyer

Examine logs or communication books kept at the nursing station of some nursing homes. I found a note in a nursing home communication book that stated, “When you recopy the nurses’ notes, leave enough room for the night shift to … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare Risk Management, Legal nurse consulting, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Medical records, Nursing malpractice, Tampering with evidence, Trial lawyer skills | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pat Iyer’s 6 tips on detecting altered medical records part 4

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Pat Iyer

Look for the “too good to be true” pattern of documentation. For example, the patient was steadily losing weight but supposedly consuming 100 percent of his 2000 calories per day diet. Note entries that are self-serving and needlessly explanatory of … Continue reading →

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Posted in Healthcare Risk Management, Legal nurse consulting, Medical errors, Medical malpractice, Medical records, Nursing malpractice, Tampering with evidence, Trial lawyer skills | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment