Misdiagnosis of Cancer Cases Amount to 1 in 10 Settlements

By Miles Obradovich | Published: July 14, 2012

Settlement payouts to persons in the UK who suffered as a result of misdiagnosis almost doubled year over year from 2009-2010 to 2010-2011 according to a report in the Telegraph. The British newspaper obtained the information as a result of a freedom of information request. The amount of compensation paid rose from £56 million to [Read more]

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Medical Error Caused by Prevalent and Pervasive Surgeon Fatigue

By Miles Obradovich | Published: July 8, 2012

In a study conducted by the Massachusetts Hospital and reported in the Archives of Surgery researchers found that surgery residents were often suffering from fatigue. In fact the findings suggest that fatigue plays a significant role in medical error. Fatigue Level can be on par with Alcohol Impairment The researchers found that orthopedic surgical residents [Read more]

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Medical Malpractice Claims Studied for Litigation Rate

By Miles Obradovich | Published: May 21, 2012

A new study of medical malpractice claims in the United States published online May 14 in the Archives of Internal Medicine reveals similarities with the Canadian experience. According to the results of the claims that go to court most are ultimately decided in the physician’s favour. Another finding was that litigated medical malpractice claims often [Read more]

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Rate of Prescribing Errors in General Practice Revealed

By Miles Obradovich | Published: May 7, 2012

The General Medical Council of England has just released on May 2 2012 the results of an extensive report on research it commissioned to determine the prevalence and nature of monitoring and prescribing errors in a general physician’s practice. the research also explored potential opportunities to mitigate the future occurrence of prescribing errors. The study [Read more]

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Pathology Errors Continue at Windsor Hospitals

By Miles Obradovich | Published: May 6, 2012

On May 4 2012 Windsor Regional Hospital announced the occurrence of a sentinel event related to procedures in its pathology department. Windsor regional hospitals have a well documented history of pathology errors in the reading of test result reports leading to unnecessary surgery. After a well publicized incident of unnecessary surgery 3 years ago at [Read more]

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Misdiagnosed Patient

By Miles Obradovich | Published: May 5, 2012

According to The American Journal of Medicine 15 percent of all medical cases in developed countries result in a misdiagnosed patient. Literally millions of patients worldwide are being treated for the wrong conditions every year. This occurs even with the use of modern technology. Other studies have come to similar findings. The Mayo Clinic Proceedings [Read more]

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Consequences of Bariatric Surgery Malpractice

By Miles Obradovich | Published: May 1, 2012

The consequences of bariatric surgery malpractice have recently been reported on in a number of academic studies. There is no end to the lengths people will go to lose weight when motivated to do so. Proper diet and exercise are proven remedies but these methods while sound are not always successful. Alternatives consisting of magic [Read more]

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Measures of Hospital Safety are Incomplete

By Miles Obradovich | Published: April 26, 2012

In an early release article viewpoint the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) has criticized the usefulness of data collected by the the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). The CIHI has been operating since 1994. It is effectively a partnership of federal and provincial governments. Its mandate is to develop and maintain databases of comprehensive [Read more]

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Wrong Level Spine Surgery

By Miles Obradovich | Published: April 23, 2012

Wrong Level Spine Surgery Studied by the Harvard Medical School Wrong level spine surgery it turns out is a continuing problem in neurosurgery notwithstanding the introduction of surgical protocols and pre-operative imaging meant to reduce its incidence. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by authors in the Department of Neurosurgery at Brigham and [Read more]

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Medical Negligence Claims Shown to Improve Patient Safety

By Miles Obradovich | Published: April 22, 2012

Medical negligence claims are the subject of a vigorous debate in the United States. The debate has malpractice attorneys and patient rights groups on one side and doctors and well funded small c conservative lobby groups on the other. The two sides are engaged in a death grip over the question of whether medical malpractice [Read more]

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Nine Types of Pharmacist Negligence

By Miles Obradovich | Published: April 14, 2012

Pharmacy negligence cases require malpractice lawyers to prove that: the person suing the pharmacy was owed a duty of care by the pharmacist the pharmacist breached that duty by committing an act of negligence the person suffered harm as a result of the pharmacist’s error. Fortunately pharmacists do not often commit errors. They are professionals [Read more]

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Twelve Hospital Negligence Errors

By Miles Obradovich | Published: February 27, 2012

Hospital  Negligence Hospitals play a prominent part in our lives because of the care they provide in times of need. Very often they are landmarks in the communities in which we live. Their location provides a grounding and sense of orientation. When we arrive at a hospital for our own sake or that of a [Read more]

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A Survival Guide to Obstetrical Malpractice for 2012 at the Mount Sinai Hospital

By Miles Obradovich | Published: February 20, 2012

Avoiding Obstetrical Malpractice I recently attended a day seminar presented by the obstetricians at the Mount Sinai Hospital. This is an annual event that has become a mecca of sorts for physicians, obstetrical nurses and medical malpractice lawyers who this year packed the hospital’s auditorium. This blog post shares its title with the seminar which [Read more]

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Failure to Diagnose Cancer Cases Explained

By Miles Obradovich | Published: February 13, 2012

One of the most difficult situations we find ourselves in is when we are being consulted by someone who has contracted a terminal case of cancer that was not diagnosed at a time when medical treatment could have provided a cure. When the failure to diagnose occurred as a result of medical negligence or malpractice [Read more]

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Urgent Hospital Readmissions are Avoidable in Nearly One out of Five Cases

By Miles Obradovich | Published: August 25, 2011

The Canadian Medical Association Journal has published a study of the causes of urgent hospital readmissions. The study was undertaken as urgent, unplanned hospital readmissions are increasingly being used to gauge the quality of care. The study team, comprised mainly of physicians, reviewed all urgent readmissions that occurred within 6 months of discharge from 11 [Read more]

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Medical Malpractice Risk Perception at Odds with the Reality

By Miles Obradovich | Published: August 22, 2011

The New England Journal of Medicine has published a study of malpractice claims. The research was primarily funded by the RAND Institute and carried out by researchers from Harvard and USC. The researchers examined data of a large professional liability insurer over a 14 year period. The data was sufficiently broad that the researchers were [Read more]

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Teaching Medical Malpractice Advocacy at the University of Toronto

By Miles Obradovich | Published: August 12, 2011

Recently I had the privilege of speaking to the summer students in the LAWS program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, my alma mater, on advocacy and the role of a lawyer in the conduct of medical malpractice litigation. The students spent a whole week on the study of medical malpractice including the [Read more]

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Medical Device Approval Process Is Defective

By Miles Obradovich | Published: July 30, 2011

The Institute of Medicine released a study on Friday July 29 2011 concluding that the regulatory framework in the U.S. for the fast track approval and release of moderate risk medical devices into the market is itself flawed and fails to offer assurances of safety for patients.The IOM study committee made 3 important findings: 1. [Read more]

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Medical Errors Continue to Harm Patients According to a New Study

By Miles Obradovich | Published: November 30, 2010

Researchers have published in the New England Journal of Medicine the results of a study taken to determine whether efforts to reduce medical errors at national, regional, and local levels have translated into significant improvements in the overall safety of patients in hospitals. In December 1999, the Institute of Medicine reported that medical errors cause [Read more]

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Urological Medical Malpractice

By Miles Obradovich | Published: November 21, 2010

Medical malpractice in urology is of sufficient concern that it has been the subject of academic study.  In our role of malpractice lawyers we reviewed a grouping of studies the results of which provide insight into the cause and frequency of negligence in this medical specialty. What we found was illuminating. Urology is in the [Read more]

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