Medical Malpractice

neurosurgeon

The Making of a Surgeon Serial Killer

With all the hysteria leading up to the election and everything that has happened since, I am betting that some of you have stopped reading the newspaper and shut off the television. That is probably healthy. If you did, you missed some big legal news. A neurosurgeon was recently sentenced to life in prison in Dallas County. As many of

Read More »
ARS

Arizona’s Statutory Rules for Standard of Care Experts

Rule 702 provides for the admission of expert opinion testimony if the expert is qualified based upon experience education and training, to give the opinion and the opinion will help the jury resolve an issue in the case. ARS § 12-2604 adds requirements for expert witnesses offering testimony in claims against health care providers. The statute applies to standard of

Read More »
Medical Errors

The Prevalence of Preventable Medical Errors and Why You Should Care

We cannot ignore the truth. Spoiler alert: preventable medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. The leading cause of death in the United States is heart disease. It claims in excess of 611,000 lives each year and accounts for 25 percent of all deaths each year. There are billions of dollars devoted to research

Read More »
Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act – Changing The Practice Of Medicine

Medical standards of care are influenced by direct and indirect factors. This article addresses some changes initiated by both The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare) and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The standard of care requires health care providers to act with the knowledge and skill expected of others in the

Read More »
pill mill

Pill Mill Litigation 101

The first time I handled a pill mill case I was 20 pounds thinner, had big permed hair and wore polyester. Back in the day, people didn’t understand much about pill mills, so this type of litigation was a true novelty. However, at long last, the prescription drug epidemic is taking its rightful place in the news and now almost

Read More »
medical malpractice

Medical Malpractice – Another Point of View

This article describes some common misperceptions about medical malpractice cases, the lawyers that file them and the expert witnesses who participate in them. It is written from my perspective as an attorney for both the patients and health care providers. Representing patients in medical malpractice cases has never been the path to easy riches it is portrayed to be in

Read More »
Zofran

Morning Sickness Drug Zofran Linked to Birth Defects

Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran

Read More »
hospital

Whose Fault Is It When A Patient Falls In The Hospital?

A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,

Read More »
health care

Perpetuating Err

In the 27 years since switching from representing health care providers to injured patients I have reviewed over 20,000 adverse medical events. I have reviewed reports of injuries to nearly every major body part and organ; operations on the wrong foot, leg and organ; wrong-sided cranial and hernia procedures; premature deaths from delays in diagnosing and treating cancers and heart

Read More »
vaccination

Non-Vaccination: A Litigation Outbreak

This past year, the United States experienced a multistate measles outbreak raising the question: can parents be held liable for electing not to vaccinate their children? Vaccination is a widely debated issue in the United States with more and more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. Most vaccination series cannot be completed until a child is nearly 2 years

Read More »
neurosurgeon

The Making of a Surgeon Serial Killer

With all the hysteria leading up to the election and everything that has happened since, I am betting that some of you have stopped reading the newspaper and shut off the television. That is probably healthy. If you did, you missed some big legal news. A neurosurgeon was recently sentenced to life in prison in Dallas County. As many of

Read More »
ARS

Arizona’s Statutory Rules for Standard of Care Experts

Rule 702 provides for the admission of expert opinion testimony if the expert is qualified based upon experience education and training, to give the opinion and the opinion will help the jury resolve an issue in the case. ARS § 12-2604 adds requirements for expert witnesses offering testimony in claims against health care providers. The statute applies to standard of

Read More »
Medical Errors

The Prevalence of Preventable Medical Errors and Why You Should Care

We cannot ignore the truth. Spoiler alert: preventable medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. The leading cause of death in the United States is heart disease. It claims in excess of 611,000 lives each year and accounts for 25 percent of all deaths each year. There are billions of dollars devoted to research

Read More »
Affordable Care Act

The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act – Changing The Practice Of Medicine

Medical standards of care are influenced by direct and indirect factors. This article addresses some changes initiated by both The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare) and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). The standard of care requires health care providers to act with the knowledge and skill expected of others in the

Read More »
pill mill

Pill Mill Litigation 101

The first time I handled a pill mill case I was 20 pounds thinner, had big permed hair and wore polyester. Back in the day, people didn’t understand much about pill mills, so this type of litigation was a true novelty. However, at long last, the prescription drug epidemic is taking its rightful place in the news and now almost

Read More »
medical malpractice

Medical Malpractice – Another Point of View

This article describes some common misperceptions about medical malpractice cases, the lawyers that file them and the expert witnesses who participate in them. It is written from my perspective as an attorney for both the patients and health care providers. Representing patients in medical malpractice cases has never been the path to easy riches it is portrayed to be in

Read More »
Zofran

Morning Sickness Drug Zofran Linked to Birth Defects

Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran

Read More »
hospital

Whose Fault Is It When A Patient Falls In The Hospital?

A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,

Read More »
health care

Perpetuating Err

In the 27 years since switching from representing health care providers to injured patients I have reviewed over 20,000 adverse medical events. I have reviewed reports of injuries to nearly every major body part and organ; operations on the wrong foot, leg and organ; wrong-sided cranial and hernia procedures; premature deaths from delays in diagnosing and treating cancers and heart

Read More »
vaccination

Non-Vaccination: A Litigation Outbreak

This past year, the United States experienced a multistate measles outbreak raising the question: can parents be held liable for electing not to vaccinate their children? Vaccination is a widely debated issue in the United States with more and more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. Most vaccination series cannot be completed until a child is nearly 2 years

Read More »

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