Hospitals and Nursing Homes Make Drug Errors Almost 20% of the Time

Drugs are improperly administered in hospitals and nursing homes almost 20 percent of the time. That’s the astonishing result of a recent survey published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Given the number of medications prescribed in most hospitals and nursing homes, that averages out to about two errors per patient per day.

Most of the errors made little difference, but the study said seven percent of the errors were potentially harmful to patients.

The most common errors were skipping medications altogether and giving the medications at the wrong time.

The survey examined 36 hospitals and nursing homes in Colorado and Georgia.

It is one of the very first studies to examine how many mistakes are made in administering drugs. In the past, studies have focused on how often doctors incorrectly prescribe drugs and how often pharmacies make mistakes in filling prescriptions.

‘Stomach-Stapling’ Surgery Is Riskier Than Many Believe

Many overweight or obese people are having “gastric bypass” or “stomach-stapling” surgery as a radical method of losing weight. This surgery reduces the size of the stomach to a small pouch to limit food intake to a few tablespoons at a time.

The surgery can be an effective way to lose weight for people who are at great risk of illness due to being overweight. On the other hand, there are more risks to the surgery than many people believe –– including brain injury, nerve problems, and even death –– and some lawsuits are being brought over the procedure.

There were about 73,000 gastric

bypass operations last year, and the number is expected to increase.

It’s important that doctors conduct extensive screening beforehand to determine whether a patient is a good candidate for the surgery.

It’s also important to obtain counseling to make sure the patient can handle the lifestyle changes necessitated by the surgery, obtain the patient’s informed consent as to all the risks, and perform thorough post-operative care to make sure that any complications are noted and treated.

Any failure in these respects could lead to very serious problems.

HMOs Can Be Sued For Making Poor Treatment Decisions

It’s easier to sue an HMO for a bad treatment decision, as a result of a ruling by a federal appeals court in New Orleans.

In one case, a patient was discharged one day after a hysterectomy, even though her doctor recommended a longer stay. She suffered complications and had to go to the emergency room.

In another case, an HMO refused to pay for the arthritis drug Vioxx and insisted that the patient take a cheaper drug that was more likely to cause internal bleeding. The patient suffered bleeding ulcers and nearly had a heart attack.

The key in these cases was that the

HMO’s decisions were not about whether the patients were eligible for treatment, but about what kind of treatment was appropriate.

When an HMO simply makes a decision about whether its policy covers a particular illness, it’s harder to go to court because these decisions are subject to a federal law about insurance policies.

But when an HMO agrees that the patient is covered and then makes a decision about how to treat the patient, it’s much easier to sue for a mistake. These suits are similar to lawsuits brought against doctors for medical malpractice.

Workers’ Comp Covers More Than You Think

Worker With Home Office Gets Comp for Injury at Home

An employee with a home office could collect workers’ compensation for an injury that occurred at home.

The employee was a salesman who worked primarily from his home but was required to go to a central office once a week. On his way back from the central office, he stopped to get his mail at home, slipped on some ice and injured his hip.

His employer argued that he wasn’t entitled to comp because when he stopped to get his mail at home, he wasn’t “working.”

But the Montana Supreme Court determined that because of the work-at-home arrangement, the man actually had two job sites. And since he was traveling between the two sites when he was injured, he was “at work” at the time.

Workers’ Comp Covers Injury On Business Trip

Generally, an employee who is injured on a business trip can collect workers’ compensation. But sometimes it’s interesting how this rule is applied.

For instance, in one recent case an employee went on a business trip, and after his work was done for the day, he went out drinking. He was eventually

arrested for drunk driving and thrown in jail. After he posted bail, he drove back to his hotel and had a car accident. He applied for comp.

His employer argued that he wasn’t eligible for payments because he wasn’t working when he was injured.

But the Oregon Court of Appeals decided that while the employee might not have been furthering his employer’s business while he was in the slammer, by the time he was driving back to the hotel he was back “at work” and was therefore eligible for comp.

Workers’ Comp Covers Allergy

A hospital nurse with a latex allergy could collect workers’ comp where she suffered an anaphylactic reaction from using latex gloves, according to the South Dakota Supreme Court.

The nurse usually avoided latex gloves but she used them once during an emergency.

Ordinarily, you can’t get workers’ compensation for a disease or condition that you had prior to starting your job. However, the court said that you can get workers’ comp if your pre-existing condition is worsened or aggravated by something that occurred at work –– which is what happened here.

If You Win a Suit, Do You Have to Repay Medicare?

If you win a lawsuit for a personal injury, and you also received Medicare benefits for that injury, do you have to repay Medicare?

One federal appeals court has now said “No.”

The case involved a woman who had an unsuccessful hip replacement and required a second surgery and follow-up care. Medicare paid for the treatment. The woman then won a lawsuit against

the manufacturer of the hip implant.

Medicare claimed that the woman had to repay it for its expenses out of the money she got in the settlement. But a federal appeals court in Louisiana disagreed.

This is a highly complex issue, and while the woman won, it’s not clear that the same thing will happen in other cases.

College Pitcher Sues Maker of Aluminum Baseball Bats

The new high-performance aluminum baseball bats, which hit balls much harder and faster than other bats, may be dangerous to players.

In one recent case, a college pitcher was seriously injured when he was struck by a ball hit by an aluminum bat. He ended up suing the manufacturer of the bat.

In most cases, people can’t sue for

injuries caused by playing sports, because sports usually involve some risk of injury and people accept that risk when they agree to play. But in this case, the California Court of Appeal said that the risk created by an aluminum bat was so much greater than the risk created by an ordinary bat that a lawsuit should be allowed.