Miami Injury Lawyer Blawg

Are older doctor's more likely to commit malpractice? If so, there may be a rise in medical malpractice claims. To that end, one-third of the nation's physicians are over 65, and that proportion is expected to rise. As doctors in the baby boom generation reach 65, many are under increasing financial pressures that makes them reluctant to retire.

Many doctors, of course, retain their skills and sharpness of mind into their 70s and beyond. But physicians are hardly immune to dementia, Parkinson's disease, stroke and other ills of aging. Some experts warn that there are too few safeguards to protect patients against those who should no longer be practicing.

A 2005 study found that the rate of disciplinary action was 6.6 percent for doctors out of medical school 40 years, compared with 1.3 percent for those out only 10 years.

In 2006, a study found that in complicated operations, patients' mortality rates were higher when the surgeon was 60 or older, though there was no difference between younger and older doctors in routine operations.

As reported by The New York Times, a 78 year old vascular surgeon in California operated on a woman who then developed a pulmonary embolism. The surgeon did not respond to urgent calls from the nurses, and the woman died

Even after the hospital reported the doctor to the Medical Board of California, he continued to perform operations for four years until the board finally referred him for a competency assessment at the University of California, San Diego.

"We did a neuropsychological exam, and it was very abnormal," said Dr. William Norcross, director of the physician assessment program there, who did not identify the surgeon. "This surgeon had visual-spatial abnormalities, could not do fine motor movements, could not retain information, and his verbal I.Q. was much lower than you'd expect."

Yet "no one knew he had a cognitive deficit, and he did not think he had a problem," Dr. Norcross continued. The surgeon was asked to surrender his medical license.

Patient advocates note that commercial pilots, who are also responsible for the safety of others, must retire at age 65 and must undergo physical and mental exams every six months starting at 40. Yet "the profession of medicine has never really had an organized way to measure physician competency," said Diane Pinakiewicz, president of the nonprofit National Patient Safety Foundation. "We need to be systematically and comprehensively evaluating physicians on some sort of periodic basis."

Some experts are calling for regular cognitive and physical screening once doctors reach 65 or 70, and a small cadre of hospitals have instituted screening for older physicians. Some specialty boards already require physicians to renew their certification every 7 to 10 years and have toughened recertification requirements. But such policies have met resistance from rank-and-file doctors.

Continue reading "Does Risk of Committing Medical Malpractice Increase With Age?" »

Stafon Johnson, a former University of Southern California tailback filed a lawsuit against the university in Los Angeles County Superior Court Monday. The lawsuit alleges negligence on behalf of former assistant strength coach Jamie Yanchar and the school in relation to a September 2009 weightlifting accident that threatened Johnson's life and football career.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Yanchar was distracted and not paying attention to Johnson at the time of the incident and thus "failed to take notice that, as the bar was being lifted from the rack, Johnson was not then ready to take hold of and lift the bar." It also alleges that Yanchar, then in his 19th year at USC, was "negligently and carelessly inattentive" to properly placing the bar into Johnson's hands and instead paying attention toward one or more other members of the football team who were not then engaging in weightlifting activities.

As reported by ESPN, Johnson was injured during mandatory team weightlifting workouts at approximately 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. Initial reports from the incident implied that Johnson's hands slipped and lost control of a bar while bench-pressing 275 pounds, causing the bar to drop and land on his neck and throat, but Johnson's lawyer, Carl Douglas, said that was not accurate.

"What we say occurred is that the bar was basically knocked out of his hand, causing it to fall on Stafon's neck, almost causing him to die," Douglas said at a news conference Monday afternoon. "We think for that, those that are responsible should be held responsible for their actions."

Johnson underwent several surgeries and therapy for his injuries stemming from the accident.

"USC firmly believes it was not at fault in Stafon Johnson's unfortunate weightlifting accident," USC said in a statement released Monday afternoon. "We are sorry that Stafon was injured. USC and the entire Trojan Family have been exceptionally supportive of Stafon from the minute the accident occurred. We are disappointed to learn that Stafon has decided to file a lawsuit against USC."

"As you could imagine, there have been efforts in the past to resolve this matter quietly and informally," Douglas said. "Regrettably, they were not successful, so we were left with no other option but to file this lawsuit."

Continue reading "Stafon Johnson Sues USC" »

Our thought and prayers are with the family of Carla Swart.

As reported by VeloVews, Collegiate cycling lost its most prolific champion Wednesday when Carla Swart (HTC-HighRoad) was killed while training in her native South Africa. According to reports, Swart was struck by a truck while riding in the Free State Province and died soon after.

Swart, 23, won national collegiate titles for Lees-McRae College in all four disciplines: road, mountain cyclocross and track. She was poised to join Bob Stapleton's program and last month took part in the team's first training camp in Morgan Hill, California.

An outpouring of grief met the news on Twitter. Announcer Dave Towle was there for Swart's top collegiate moments and said, "Carla Swart was just an unreal athlete and such a sweet person. She dominated in sport and life with class, heart and grace."

When a stroke hits, every second counts. Oxygen stops flowing to the brain, and irreversible damage is done with every second that passes. When a vessel that supplies blood to the brain becomes blocked, doctors fight the blockage with clot-busting drugs, or try to clean it out with a corkscrew-like device that breaks up the clot.

Dr. Italo Linfante presented a paper on Monday that said using Sleeve-Like stents saved the lives of several patients who couldn't be successfully treated by other methods. When a person's heart arteries are clogged, it's relatively routine to open them with a probe, then leave a sleeve-like mesh stent to hold the artery open. It's a much newer technique to use stents to combat a stroke, which is caused by a blood clot blocking an artery in the brain.

Fred Tasker of The Miami Herald reported that In the Baptist study, Dr. Linfante chose 19 acute stroke patients who hadn't been helped by drugs or corkscrew devices and used a stent to combat the blockage. In his study, the stent opened the arteries of 18 of the 19 patients, who otherwise could have been disabled or died.

The stent is a metallic mesh sleeve mounted on a tube. When it is pushed into the clot, it pokes a hole in it. Then the mesh is expanded, pushing the rest of the clot against the walls of the artery. The restored blood flow dissolves the rest of the clot; the stent is sometimes then removed, or left in place to hold the artery open.

''Our findings suggest stents can work when clot busting drugs and clot removal devices do not, and are a safe and feasible option,'' he said.

Dr. Linfante is applying for approval from the Federal Drug Administration for human clinical trials of the device. Use in the general public is about five years away, he said.

Continue reading "Sleeve-Like Stent may Help Stroke Victims" »

An accident near downtown Miami occurred Saturday night when a black Ford SUV, going the wrong way on Southwest Fourth Street slammed into a Ford Bronco, which then slammed into a man, who was standing on the sidewalk.

The Bronco pinned the unnamed man against a wrought iron fence, severing both of the man's legs. The Miami Herald reported that the man, in his 30s, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in serious condition, and that, after the SUV collided with the Ford Bronco, neighbors came running out and a brawl erupted. It's unclear why the argument broke out.

Authorities are investigating what happened. Seven other people were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital with injuries suffered in the melee. In addition, two people were arrested for obstructing the paramedics, who were helping the injured.

Continue reading "Pedestrian's Legs Severed in Car Accident; Melee Ensues" »

A bicyclist riding northbound on Flamingo Road was struck and killed early Tuesday morning in a collision with a car.

The Sun Sentinel reported that the bicyclist, whose identity was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Continue reading "Bicyclist Killed on Flamingo Road In Sunrise, FL" »