Law Firm Resources & News

Most of our articles on this blog highlight problems with health care providers and health care system. Well, this time we are rooting for the doctors! A new policy announced by mega-health insurer, UnitedHealth Group, Inc., threatens to fine doctors who refer patients to out-of-network laboratories for medical tests. Most current health plans require members…

Yes…you read that correctly…hospital staff calling 911 on the telephone to save their patients! Sound too bad to be true? Unfortunately not! The New York Times reported that this actually happened recently in Texas, where a 44-year-old man named Steve Spivey developed breathing problems after spine surgery. No physician was working there when the staff…

A recent article in the New York Times examines the extensive problems that many elderly policyholders are having with long-term-care insurance providers who are not delivering on their promises. Policyholders who made their payments in good faith now find themselves facing claims denials and lengthy runarounds that delay processing of claims to the point that…

In Florida a jury found that a West Palm Beach nursing home failed to honor the living will and advance directives of a 92 year-old resident with Alzheimer’s disease who had stipulated that she did not want to be kept alive by artificial means. The jurors ruled that the home should pay $150,000 in damages.…

A one year stay in a New Jersey nursing home costs approximately $98,178, or $268.98 a day. Nationwide the average cost of a single year in a private nursing home is $74,806, which is about 15% more than what nursing home care cost in 2004. The source of this information is a study conducted by…

We have previously written about cases in which our law firm was involved where the wrong patient received another’s patient’s physician ordered blood transfusion. We have also talked about physicians’ ordering medication for a patient with a known allergy to the medication simply because the doctor either failed to check the patient’s chart for documented…

There is a wonderful essay in today’s New York Times, about the balance between a patient’s request, and doctor’s policy. What if the two are in conflict – who wins?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/health/03essa.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1175629105-k+zaPwO4G3Y1M1sUNwOAWgWe see it often in Nursing Homes. Families will request a test, or treatment, the physician says is not necessary. On the flip side, we have…

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network has issued a new guideline for the treatment of breast cancer. The guideline, issued in December of 2006, was developed by a panel of 25 multidisciplinary breast cancer experts from NCCN member institutions. The guideline has 3 parts: an algorithm that follows the step-by-step clinical decision-making process; a manuscript that…

We have previously written about medical negligence by pharmacists. It looks like these problems occur even more frequently than we anticipated. Be an informed patient! Watch the ABC News report on 20/20 here.

Planning on a visit to the Nursing Home this EASTER or PASSOVER? Taking your grandparent out on Mother’s Day in May or Father’s Day in June? This is a great opportunity to pay attention to their progress / health concerns or needs. How are they feeling? Getting better, or worse? What do you notice? Its…

On the same note as my prior post, Massachusetts attorney, Eric Parker, has written an article about the decision on confidentiality for settlement agreements. You can read his article here.