Do No Harm

The first rule of medical ethics is to "do no harm" to the patient. Yet, upwards of 98,000 patients a year die in America from preventable medical errors, a number that appears to be on the rise. A recent Newsweek article examined how to reverse this trend. Successful hospital administrators have identified the problem as a pervasive cultural one of ignorance and arrogance, one that can be solved by (1) teaching doctors basic patient safety; (2) encouraging teamwork between doctors, pharmacists, and nurses; and (3) having zero tolerance for disrespectful, abusive behavior by doctors towards pharmacists, nurses, and technicians. Implementation can be as simple as giving doctors a checklist to follow for routine medical procedures and refusing to reimburse hospitals for preventable complications. Hospitals that have tried this approach have seen a reduction in the number of preventable complications and medical malpractice claims. Apparently, only by shifting from a doctor-centric culture to a patient-centric one will preventable errors become a thing of the past.

Health insurers refusing to insure children

According to a recent report of the LA Times, several major health insurers have elected to discontinue insuring children instead of complying with a federal mandate to cover children with preexisting conditions. "Insurers need to decide if they are in the business of providing care or denying coverage," according to one consumer advocate. It looks like they've already made their decision, and it doesn't favor sick children or anyone else who desparately needs timely benefits. For an industry that's supposed to give its customers the benefit of the doubt, this represents a step in the wrong direction.

Insurers stashing record surpluses, still hiking rates

By regulation in all 50 states, insurance companies must keep a certain amount of surplus funds (instead of distributing profits to stockholders). A recent report analyzing plans covering 1 in 3 Americans showed that in many states, insurers are keeping far more surplus funds than required by law, yet are still raising rates by as much as 18%. In many instances, the insurers could be using the surplus funds to minimize rate increases but are not doing so.

The report, from the Consumers Union (the publisher of Consumer Reports), urges state lawmakers and regulators to change insurance laws to either (1) set a maximum surplus amount or (2) permit regulators to take surplus amounts into account when approving or rejecting proposed rate increases.

At a time when most Americans are struggling to pay medical and other bills, insurers are substantially raising rates even though they already have tons of our money in the bank. Should companies who are supposed to be financing our health care be adding to our stress levels by jacking up our bills?

Nathan licensed to practice in nearby rocket docket

I’m now licensed to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (the “District”), which is known for having one of the fastest patent dockets in the country. This venue is also considered to be one of the more pro-patentee locations around, which means that many patent owners choose to bring suit in the District. With this license, I’m now just an hour away from one of America’s favorite patent litigation forums.

One of the reasons the District handles a large patent docket so efficiently are the Local Patent Rules. These Patent Rules set forth a timeline for specific tasks, unique to patent litigation, that must be performed before a patent case can be tried to a jury. Having tried patent cases without the benefit of a schedule that requires an opposing party to act, I know I’ll be asking other courts to adopt these rules in future patent cases not situated in the District.

Doctors aren't reporting dangerous doctors

Here's a link to an AP report on a recent study by a Harvard Medical School doctor which found that "a surprising 17 percent of the doctors surveyed had direct, personal knowledge of an impaired or incompetent physician in their workplaces," but that "[o]ne-third of those doctors had not reported the matter to authorities[.]"

Any person, including a doctor, that engages in dangerous behavior should be held accountable. If, as a profession, doctors won't police themselves in order to keep their patients safe, who are we going to rely upon to do so? The only other mechanism to hold doctors accountable is a medical malpractice lawsuit when a patient is actually harmed due to a doctor's dangerous behavior. It's strange that doctors will usually speak out against trial lawyers, but won't consistently speak out against the dangers lurking within their own profession.