Chain of Command: Issues in Communication and the Organization of Care - hcp.obgyn.net
Mr Giordano is a principal shareholder in the law firm of Keyes and Donnellan, P.C. in Springfield Massachusetts. Attorney Giordano is a graduate of St. Michael's College and the Loyola University School of Law. He has been a practicing litigator for over 23 years specializing in medical malpractice defense and healthcare law. He has tried cases in state and federal courts and before various administrative agencies. In addition, Mr. Giordano conducts quality improvement seminars and lectures on medical-legal considerations for accredited continuing medical education programs. He is the Legal Editor and contributor of legal analysis for Operative Obstetrics, Cambridge Publishing, 2008 and has also published in areas of in breast cancer litigation, legal issues regarding prenatal genetic testing, ERISA preemption for utilization review, and nursing related issues. He currently lives in western Massachusetts.
Dr O’Grady, is medical director at the Obstetrical Service (Family Life Center) at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, MA, and is professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. He is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dr O’Grady received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University in CA, graduated and served his residency at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT, and completed a fellowship at the King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles.
When an adverse outcome and missed diagnosis occur, problems in the organization of care and issues with communication between caregivers are frequently the true cause rather than an isolated error made by one practitioner. In recent years, seeking to capitalize on frustration with the health care delivery, plaintiff’s lawyers have sought to identify disagreements among providers in patient management and/or errors within the patient care management system. Allegations that nonphysician personnel should have recognized a problem with the care plan and accessed the “chain of command” in an effort to alter the clinical course are included in these types of claims.
Unfortunately, problems of communication are far from simple and are often compounded by failure to engage in critical thinking and the absence of flexibility in considering alternative explanations once an original assessment is reached. As the cases in this column explore, an interactive team wherein communication is encouraged is far more effective than an approach that is egocentric. Ultimately , every care provider needs to be concerned about his/her obligation for patient advocacy. In select instances there may be a need to resort to the command chain. However, even if the chain of command is initiated experience indicates that most often it will not prove to be a panacea.
Chain of Command: Issues in Communication and the Organization of Care - hcp.obgyn.net
Balloon case reveals expense, inequity of civil lawsuits - The Desert Sun
Hot-air balloonists celebrated when an east valley olive farm dropped its lawsuit against them Aug. 15 after nearly 2 1/2 years. But the damage had already been done.
A dozen balloonists or balloon companies went out of business, left the area or simply stopped flying locally. People lost their jobs and ran up big debts defending themselves. One balloonist said he ran up $177,000 in attorney's fees.
All of this occurred with JCM Farming Inc., the plaintiff in the lawsuit, never once having to show proof to a judge that its initial, central complaint was true: That the balloonists had flown too low over its property and caused a nuisance.
All of this occurred with JCM Farming Inc., the plaintiff in the lawsuit, never once having to show proof to a judge that its initial, central complaint was true: That the balloonists had flown too low over its property and caused a nuisance. “It made no sense all the way through,” said Cindy Wilkinson, who with her husband, Steve, and their Palm Desert company, Fantasy Balloon Flights, were defendants in JCM's lawsuit.
Balloon case reveals expense, inequity of civil lawsuits - The Desert Sun
Ex-Bucs suing NFL over injuries - Tbo.com
The suit claims the league knew in the 1920s of the potential harmful effect of concussions, but concealed it from coaches, trainers, players and the public.
Tight end Jimmie Giles is among several former Tampa Bay Buccaneers players suing the NFL and two equipment makers, claiming they were negligent in dealing with head injuries.
Helmet manufacturers Riddell and Easton are also defendants in the case, which follows two similar lawsuits filed within the past six weeks by different groups of former NFL players.
In July 2010, The Tampa Tribune published an investigative project called Broken Bucs, in which members of the 1979 Buccaneers were surveyed about the impact their NFL careers had on their health. In that report, Giles said he abruptly shut down his financial services company in 2007 after becoming disoriented on the job.
Ex-Bucs suing NFL over injuries - Tbo.com
Hospital in China fends off angry mob - Los Angeles Times
In the latest incident involving violence by families of deceased patients, a hospital staff in Nanchang fights back. Some say the protests are a ploy for money.
Friends and relatives of a patient who died on the operating table marched on Nanchang Hospital No. 1 brandishing pitchforks and clubs. About 100 staff members, among them young doctors, prepared for the onslaught by arming themselves with long sticks and cans of mace, while the security guards donned police vests and helmets.
Although nobody was seriously injured in Tuesday's melee, the incident brought attention to a wave of violence in Chinese public hospitals. In Nanchang, a provincial capital 300 miles southwest of Shanghai, a young doctor reportedly suffered a serious head injury in June after the family of a deceased patient led a protest that turned violent.
Last year, a doctor and nurse were stabbed to death in the eastern province of Shandong by the son of a man who had died 13 years earlier of liver cancer , while a pediatrician was badly injured jumping from a fifth-floor window to escape relatives of a baby who had died.
Hospital in China fends off angry mob - Los Angeles Times
Most Commented Stories - Alton Telegraph
Dear Annie: I have been married for 30 years and have three grown children. My husband served in the Navy and was away a lot of the time. Early in our marriage, he was gone for nine months, and during that time, he had an affair with a much younger girl. I found out about it and was heartbroken. But I forgave and forgot. Until recently.
It seems that after 25 years, this woman looked him up on the Internet, and they have been corresponding. Annie, I am devastated. All I can think about is what happened long ago and how sick I was then -- and now I am again. My husband sees nothing wrong with it, which drives me crazy. He lied and said he stopped contacting her, but I've seen texts, phone calls and e-mails.
I don't know what to do. Should I walk out? He says he loves only me, but how can I believe him when he continues doing this? -- Sick in Salem, Ore.
Dear Salem: Show your husband the evidence of his lies, and insist that he go with you for marriage counseling. He may not realize how serious a breach this is because it's in cyberspace, but it is a major betrayal for him to continue a correspondence with a woman he had an affair with -- no matter how long ago. Counseling, hopefully, will help him understand what is at stake.
Most Commented Stories - Alton Telegraph
California medical board fails to discipline 710 troubled doctors - Los Angeles Times
Of the California doctors who escaped state discipline, 35% had more than one disciplinary action from another entity, according to the Public Citizen report.
California's medical board failed to discipline 710 troubled doctors even as they were disciplined by hospitals, surgical centers and other healthcare organizations in the state, according to a report released Tuesday.
The report by Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Public Citizen was based on an analysis of doctors' records in the National Practitioner Data Bank from 1990 to 2009. The Department of Health & Human Services uses the data bank to track doctors' discipline, medical malpractice payments and other actions. The data released to Public Citizen did not name the doctors or their workplaces.
Of the doctors who escaped state discipline in California, 35% had racked up more than one disciplinary action from another entity, according to the report.
California medical board fails to discipline 710 troubled doctors - Los Angeles Times
Long Beach Attorney Earns Rare Specialty Certification - LBPOST.com
Long Beach attorney John P. Blumberg recently announced that he has been certified as a legal malpractice specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.
It is Blumberg's third specialist certification. He was previously certified as a civil trial lawyer by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and as a medical malpractice specialist by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys.
ADVERTISEMENT is comprised of five attorneys. The firm, which has been located downtown since 1954, specializes in counseling, trials and appeals of matters involving professional negligence, elder abuse, injury, real estate and business.
Long Beach Attorney Earns Rare Specialty Certification - LBPOST.com
Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney Jonathan Drexler Named “Rising Star” - Benzinga
Jonathan Drexler, a Senior Associate Attorney at the Law Offices of David Drexler, has been named a 2011 "Rising Star" in the field of general personal injury law by Super Lawyers Magazine.
The Law Offices of David Drexler, a Southern California-based law practice specializing in personal injury, medical and legal malpractice, sexual harassment and other catastrophic injury areas, has announced that Senior Associate Attorney Jonathan Drexler has been honored by Super Lawyers Magazine as a 2011 "Rising Star" in the field of general personal injury law.
Each year Super Lawyers Magazine recognizes young attorneys who have attained high peer recognition, have demonstrated a high level of achievement in their legal practice area and meet ethical standards.
Jonathan Drexler, who has been practicing law since 2005, has been working at the Drexler law firm since January of 2009. Jonathan has helped secure many large settlements and verdicts in the areas of personal injury, premises and product liability, assault & battery, and medical malpractice .
Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney Jonathan Drexler Named "Rising Star" - Benzinga
You and The Law: If I want a normal family life, should I marry a lawyer? - Hanford Sentinel
Dennis Beaver "Your articles on what law school can do to married couples were sent to me by my parents who live in the Central San Joaquin Valley. I am at university in Boston dating a third-year Harvard law student, and we have been talking about getting married," Kim wrote.
Dennis Beaver "Your articles on what law school can do to married couples were sent to me by my parents who live in the Central San Joaquin Valley. I am at university in Boston dating a third-year Harvard law student, and we have been talking about getting married," Kim wrote. "He is brilliant and has been offered a great-paying job with a Los Angeles law firm in their litigation department, so it would seem that his professional and financial future is secure.
Dennis Beaver "Your articles on what law school can do to married couples were sent to me by my parents who live in the Central San Joaquin Valley. I am at university in Boston dating a third-year Harvard law student, and we have been talking about getting married," Kim wrote. "He is brilliant and has been offered a great-paying job with a Los Angeles law firm in their litigation department, so it would seem that his professional and financial future is secure. "Your articles really made me think. I want a husband who will be there for the family, home for dinner, conversation with the kids, spending time with us all on weekends. I am not looking for a palace to live in, but a life much as I had growing up, where dad was not some phantom figure we saw once in a while.
We put our reader's question to Victoria Peterson of La Canada, Calif., who "faced some of these very same questions and decided that, even with what I knew would be significant demands on my husband's time, he was still the man I loved and wanted to marry," she told us.
You and The Law: If I want a normal family life, should I marry a lawyer? - Hanford Sentinel
OC parents sue doctor after sons overdose on prescription drugs - Los Angeles Times
Riley Russo and Ryan Winter, both 20, died after abusing the powerful narcotic Opana and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. The physician, Lisa Tseng, has now been linked to 10 overdose deaths.
Lisa Tseng, who operates a medical practice out of a strip mall near the 60 Freeway, is under investigation by federal drug authorities and may lose her medical license after being linked to 10 overdose deaths.
The parents of two young Orange County men who died of overdoses filed lawsuits Friday alleging that a Rowland Heights physician acted like a drug dealer in selling prescriptions to their sons.
The cases bring to 10 the number of drug deaths linked to the practice Lisa Tseng operates in a mini-mall near the 60 Freeway. A Times investigation last year identified eight former patients who died after overdosing on the types of drugs Tseng prescribed.
OC parents sue doctor after sons overdose on prescription drugs - Los Angeles Times