Medical Malpractice Newsletters

Ophthalmologic Malpractice

Most malpractice claims arising from the treatment of the eyes result from four basic areas: failure to diagnose a foreign body in the eye; failure to diagnose a disease of the eye like glaucoma; failure to diagnose a medical condition that is outside of the eye but that causes symptoms in the eye; and poor results from cosmetic eye surgery.

Physician's Duty to Warn of Drug Risks

Physician's Duty to Warn of Drug Risks

Sexual Relationship between a Psychotherapist and a Patient

It is a known risk of therapy that a patient who is troubled, vulnerable, or suggestible may become overly attached to the therapist and may consent to sexual contact. This attachment to a therapist is so well known that it has been given a title. "Transference" describes a situation where a patient displaces feelings about another person and redirects them towards the therapist. Transference, while a normal and often important part of the therapeutic process, carries with it a great potential for abuse by the therapist.

Veterinarians

Although some courts have found that the concept of medical malpractice does not apply to veterinarians, many have concluded that the concepts of professional negligence apply based on the conduct of a veterinarian in the performance of his/her professional services. The practice of veterinary medicine, like the practices of medicine and law, require specialized education, knowledge, and skills, and veterinarians have a duty to use their skills in the same manner that would be ordinarily expected of other careful, skillful veterinarians either in the locality or in the more extended community.

Wrong Site Surgery

When a surgeon operates on the wrong limb, the patient often sustains a devastating injury. Wrong site surgery occurs not only on the wrong limb or organ but on the wrong patient. This error results from numerous breakdowns in the hospital's system, including poor preoperative planning, a lack of institutional controls, the failure of the surgeon to exercise due care, or poor communication between the surgeon and the patient.