The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have quietly stopped reporting some serious medical conditions to the public.
Confidentiality provisions in medical malpractice settlement agreements are commonplace. Often this is for the benefit of the defendant, sometimes it benefits the plaintiff, and almost never does it benefit the public.
Every year, patients are misdiagnosed approximately 12 million times.
Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) systems are being implemented nationally, with unfortunate and serious problems that affect the safety of patients and ability of providers to provide safe care.
It has always been difficult for plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases to get good expert testimony, since often doctors prefer not to testify against other doctors. Things are getting worse for such plaintiffs, as specialist organizations, such as orthopedic and neurosurgical associations, are creating more burdens for their members to testify on behalf of injured patients.
Medication errors – often the result of poor communication between health care provider and patient – are common occurrences.
Discharging patients too early, often due to financial pressures, can result in "bouncebacks:" patients who end up returning to the hospital. Now there are counter pressures aimed at correcting this.
Among other things, curtailing our nation’s epidemic of patient harm will require "transparent accountability for harm."
