Medical Malpractice | InjuryBoard Virginia Beach

Any "crisis" that may have existed in the medical malpractice insurance industryis now reported to be officially over according to a recent study released by the non-profit group Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR). According to this report, rates ofmedical malpractice insurance coverage have seen a "wholesale collapse" across thecountry. In February, the New York-based Consumer Advocacy...

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It is whispered that the nurses that really "care" about their patients will only go so far to protect a negligent doctor or hospital from "whistleblowing" --when they know malpractice has occurred. Will a nurse "whistleblow" even when they worry that they could be fired or disciplined for notifying someone of the truth?Here's a true story that you won't believe: a 73 year old Reverend was in...

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Virginia continues to have a lower rate of serious disciplinary actions against its doctors than most states. According to the non-profit research group, Public Citizen, the rate of serious disciplinary actions against doctors in Virginia has fallen consistently over the last four years. The organization ranked Virginia 34th in the nation for 2005, down from 33rd in 2004, 27th...

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The thought of a surgeon taking a scalpel to the wrong limb or patient sends chills down the spine of anyone who has been admitted to the hospital. Eighty-four cases of what's known in the business as "wrong site surgery" were reported in the United States last year. But that's just the "tip of the iceberg" because many hospitals across the country aren't obligated to account for such blunders...

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Cases of nursing home abuse and neglect are quite common these days. The main reason is that many of these facilities are run with an eye towards the bottom line for the owners and not the benefit of the patients. Some corporations which own nursing home facilities will squeeze every last dime out of the facility in part by reducing staff. Another game that the nursing home industry has been...

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Virginia recently changed its laws related to medical malpractice cases. The new law requires that the lawyer certify that he has an expert witness in the appropriate specialty who will testify that the defendant violated the standard of care before serving the lawsuit. This law is actually a good thing. Now, there will be fewer lawsuits filed by lawyers who are not really experienced medical...

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Five years ago, the Institute of Medicine issued a startling report that acted as awake-up call to hospitals, health care providers, and patients: As many as 98,000people die each year in hospitals in the United States from infections, drug mix-ups,and other mistakes--mistakes that could have been prevented. Two of the authors of that report recently published a follow-up article in...

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The Bush Administration has taken yet another step to weaken the rights ofvictims of medically related mistakes. The latest effort to protect the drugmanufacturers in the United States is the issuance of a new rule by the Food and DrugAdministration pertaining to labeling requirements by drug manufacturers. The firstthing this new rule does is make it clear that the Food and Drug...

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Monday, April 3, 2006 was a dangerous day on the road. Every Monday following the conversion back to daylight savings time in the Spring is a heavy day for traffic accidents. The problem is that everyone is an hour short of sleep and in a rush. This results in a statistical increase in the number of car wrecks. I hope you made it through the day okay.Another dangerous time is to be in the...

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Virginia law has a special "food warranty" that is an obligation on any seller or distributor of foods or consumable or edible products. The warranty provided by such sellers is that the product or consumable is wholesome for human use. The violation of this warranty may impose strict legal liability on the company or person under Virginia law making the person or company responsible for...

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Medical malpractice lawsuits are attacked by doctors and major insurance companies, but the laws that permit these suits are critical to assuring that the delivery of medical care in the U.S. is improved. Simply stated: without the risk of economic penalty for poor care, U.S. medical services would be far worse today. In fact, recent studies have shown that medical malpractice claims have NOT...

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