Healthcare Update 01-21-2013

Amount of medical malpractice in the military is “shockingly underreported”. To add insult to injury, the Supreme Court continues to deny injured patients the ability to sue the government for damages from medical malpractice in military hospitals under the Feres Doctrine. Oh, and do you think that you’ll be able to compare hospital “quality” between military hospitals and other hospitals using the federal government’s web site? Think again. No data available for military hospitals. Walter Reed Army Medical Center doesn’t exist in Washington DC when you’re trying to see the quality of care that is being provided. Makes you wonder what they’re trying to hide. Medicare planning to penalize 2,217 hospitals for excess readmissions. Since there are only 5,700 hospitals in the entire country, wouldn’t it just be easier and less costly to flip a coin and penalize hospitals based on that? Seems to work with Press Ganey. Hat tip to @MDAware Job security. Star of MTV’s new series “Buckwild” discusses how he is on first-name basis with his local emergency department due to his antics – which include the backhoe rollercoaster and rolling in a tire down a hill. German surgeons accused of leaving up to 16 foreign bodies in a patient’s abdomen after prostate surgery, including needles, compresses and surgical strips. Hospital denies accusations, stating that the “equipment wasn’t in use at the hospital.” The thing that caught my attention ...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs