Appeals panel: Dad can press lawsuit vs NIU fraternity over son’s hazing death
An Illinois appeals court will allow a father whose son died after drinking too much alcohol during a fraternity’s initiation ritual, to resume his lawsuit against the Northern Illinois University fraternity, saying a Cook County judge erred in dismissing the …
PCBs & Chemical Safety: Chemical Safety Bill Could Help Protect Monsanto Against Legal Claims
Yesterday a jury in St. Louis, MO awarded $17.5 million in damages to three plaintiffs and assessed $29 million more in punitive damages against Monsanto and three other companies in a suit here alleging negligence in the production of PCBs. …
Forced Binding Arbitration & Access to Justice
Imagine you sign a contract for a cell phone. You agree to pay $50 per month. At the end of the month you get your bill and it’s $200 instead of the agreed upon amount. Now, imagine you’re one of …
Traumatic Brain Injuries on the Playground
Playgrounds aren’t always fun and games according to a new study. Researchers found that children are increasingly being diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries after a run-in with playground equipment. Researchers from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control looked …
Medical Malpractice: The 1% of Doctors
The New England Journal of Medicine has analyzed data that 1% of physicians account for approximately 32% of paid medical malpractice claims. The data – which was pulled from the National Practitioner Data Bank – shows that over a recent 10-year period, a small number of physicians with distinctive characteristics accounted for a disproportionately large number of paid malpractice claims.
A study of 70,000 malpractice claims against approximately 55,000 doctors from 2005 through 2014, the Journal analyzed data with the hope of understanding the distribution of malpractice claims among physicians.
Among all of the physicians with paid claims, 84% incurred only one malpractice claim during the study period, which accounted for 68% of all paid claims. Of the remaining physicians, 16% had at least two paid claims during the relevant time frame, accounting for 32% of the claims.The last 4% of doctors had at least three paid claims (if not more), accounting for 12% of the claims.
Physicians who had three paid medical malpractice claims have three times the risk of incurring another paid medical malpractice claim in the future. Practitioner speciality also plays a role: the risk of malpractice among neurosurgeons, for example, was four times as great as the risk among psychiatrists.
The Journal’s conclusion boils down to this startling fact: “A small number of physicians with distinctive characteristics accounted for a disproportionately large number of paid [medical] malpractice claims.”
Avoidable Medical Errors: The Third Leading Cause of Death in America
The Center for Justice & Democracy reports that according to the report, published in the Journal of Patient Safety, ‘between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death,’ the study says. Only heart disease and cancer cause more deaths in America than avoidable medical errors.
Source: Marshall Allen, “How Many Die From Medical Mistakes in U.S. Hospitals?” ProPublica, September 19, 2013, cited in CJ&D’s Briefing Book: Medical Malpractice – By The Numbers (p. 77)
Source: Spotlight: Avoidable Medical Errors Are the Third Leading Cause of Death in America | centerjd.org
Dark Money: The Rise of Super PACs
The writers at Money Morning have a great new video explaining how dark money influences elections. This real life campaign finance loophole sets the stage for my forthcoming novel DARK MONEY: the story of how money in politics can have …
Dark Money Synopsis
Dark Money is the forthcoming novel from John Risvold. Raymond Jefferson, CEO of Morley Tobacco, the world’s most powerful tobacco company, is in complete control. He pulls the strings in D.C. and holds all of the cards that make the most powerful politicians …
Government may soon begin putting an end to forced arbitration clauses
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is examining so-called arbitration clauses in terms and conditions for financial products. Last week, the head of the bureau, Richard Cordray, sent the strongest signal yet that the regulatory whip soon will come down on …