I. Under Maryland law, can a physician who is defined as a mental health provider, be held liable to a third party for negligence for breaching their duty to warn the third party?
II. Can a claim against a heath care provider for medical malpractice, where the injury falls outside the scope of a medical injury, be subject to mandatory arbitration under The Maryland Health Medical Malpractice Claims Act?
BRIEF ANSWERS
I. Probably not, a physician cannot be held liable to third parties for failure to warn a third party if no special relationship between the physician and the third party has been established through Maryland statute or common law.
I. Probably not, injuries that are not the result of a health care provider’s rendering or failure to render health care are not considered medical injuries, and are not subject to mandatory arbitration under The Maryland Health Medical Malpractice Claims Act.
FACTS
A year after dating Steve Hodges, Shelly M. Turner permitted Hodges to spend the weekends at her house. Turner has two children, Tabitha and Sabrina, and Turner upheld a strict policy of not allowing her children to be at the home unsupervised with any significant others. Turner noticed that Hodges made frequent visits to his doctor, and when Turner questioned Hodges about the appointments, he mentioned the visits were for the purpose of preventive care to ensure he didn’t have any medical reoccurrences. Turner and Hodge’s relationship progressed to the point of discussions on marriage, having children, and moving in together. Hodges told Turner he was suffering from sexual dysfunction problems and was going to see his longtime family physician, Dr. Keith Winslow, to be prescribed Viagra.
Winslow prescribed Hodges Viagra on t...
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... Even though the prior history of the patient gives rises to evidence about the foreseeability of harm, the physician of that patient has no duty to warn a third party due to the lack of relationship between the physician and the third party. Overall, taking on Turner’s case against Dr. Winslow for breach of professional duty will probably be a tough case to prove.
II. Turner’s claim against Dr. Winslow is not considered a medical injury. The injuries that arose to Tabitha were not a result of the rendering or failure to render health care on Dr. Winslow’s behalf. Since the injuries are not considered medical injuries, the claim is not subject to mandatory arbitration according to Maryland’s Health Care Medical Malpractice Claims Act. The best option for Turner’s claim is to proceed straight to civil court and try to retain damages on negligence in the tort sense.
Facts: A minor and his mother filed suit for damages against Tri-County Orthopedic physicians for false diagnose and filling a child abuse reports. The Michigan Court of Appeals rule that child abuse reporting statue provides immunity to persons who file the child abuse was report in good faith even if the reports were a negligent diagnosis which was cause of the child bone fractures. The court also appealed that damage of shame and humiliation was not recoverable to Michigan statute. Immunity from liability did not extend for damages of malpractice which has been the result from the failure to diagnose the child disease.
In the case of Michael T. Vandall, M.D., Plaintiff and Appellant v. Trinity Hospitals, a corporation, and Margaret C. Nordell, M.D., the issue is about retaliatory discharge. It deals with problems with Trinity Hospital in North Dakota, Dr. Margaret Nordell and Dr. Michael Vandall, both physicians working in the OB-GYN department.
On July 11th, 1975 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin a doctor by the name of Lester V. Salinsky, performed a surgery on the plaintiff, James Johnson. The surgery was took place at Misericordia Community Hospital (Misericordia), defendant, by Dr. Salinsky. Dr. Salinsky was scheduled to remove a pin fragment from the plaintiff’s right hip. However, “during the course of this surgery, the plaintiff’s common femoral nerve and artery were damaged causing a permanent paralytic condition of his right thigh muscles with resultant atrophy and weakness and loss of function” (Johnson v. Misericordia Community Hospital, n.d.). The plaintiff filed suit against Dr. Salinksy and Misericorida on October 13th, 1976, fifteen months after his unsuccessful surgery, which
In the State of Hawaii, there exists a Medical Liability/Malpractice Joint and Several Liabilities Statute. This allows people to pursue a civil lawsuit against a physician(s) or other health care providers. It allows people to sue for damages in the event of an injury or death as a result of negligent behavior. In order to recover damages, a person must establish the following:
Mrs. Hylton is a 45 year old female who presented to the ED via LEO under IVC by her therapist, Melanie, from ADS. Per documentation Mrs. Hylton denies suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation to nursing staff and MCM before the evaluation. She also contracted for safety with MCM. Dr. Horton requested a mental health assessment on Mrs. Hylton. Before the assessment Ms. Melanie and her supervisor Melissa were contacted. Ms. Melissa reports Mrs. Hylton verbally contracted for safety, however left before ADS could type up terms of verbal agreement. Melissa reports afterwards she was not aware of Mrs. Hylton symptoms of psychosis when speaking with her until being informed by Melanie of findings after conversation with Mrs. Hylton. Melanie upon
Ohio Dep’t of Rehabilitation & Correction are the poor-quality patient care that Tomcik received and Tomcik’s health being at risk. Once engaged in a doctor-patient relationship, physicians are obligated to provide the best possible care for the patient by utilizing their skills and knowledge as expected from a competent physician under the same or similar conditions (“What Is a Doctor’s Duty of Care?” n.d.). However, in Tomcik’s situation, Dr. Evans did not deliver high-quality care, for he administered a perfunctory breast examination and thus did not follow standard protocols. There is evidence of indifference conveyed by Dr. Evans, and the lack of proper care towards Tomcik is an issue that can be scrutinized and judged appropriately. Additionally, Tomcik’s health was at risk due to the failure of a proper physical evaluation and the incredibly long delay in diagnosis and treatment. The negligence from Dr. Evans, along with the lack of medical attention sought out by Tomcik after she had first discovered the lump in her breast, may contribute to Tomcik’s life being in danger as well as the emotional anguish she may have felt during that time period. Overall, the incident of Tomcik’s expectations from the original physician and other employees at the institution not being met is an ethical issue that should be dealt with
Medical malpractice lawsuits are an extremely serious topic and have affected numerous patients, doctors, and hospitals across the country. Medical malpractice is defined as “improper, unskilled or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional” (Medical malpractice, n.d.). If a doctor acts negligent and causes harm to a patient, malpractice lawsuits arise. Negligence is the concept of the liability concerning claims of medical malpractice, making this type of litigation part of tort law. Tort law provides that one person may litigate negligence to recover damages for personal injury. Negligence laws are designed to deter careless behavior and also to compensate victims for any negligence.
It is unfortunate to say that medical malpractice is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Medical malpractice is defined as negligence committed by a medical professional. Malpractice lawsuits have existed in the United States for more than 150 years, most of which were never pursued in court. Medical malpractice is interfering with patients’ rights as well as demanding high costs. However, medical malpractice can be overcome by managing the costs involved, and by regulating, enforcing and advocating patient rights.
This short memo is being sent out to inform your office about the issues of homelessness and how homelessness is tied into our society. The topics that will be covered in the memo are, the definition of homelessness, how it affects society, the different causes of homelessness, and how it is going to affect society in the future if something is not done about it now. A homeless person is characterized as someone who does not have a stable or permanent residence and frequently sleeps in public or private monitored places. There are many causes of homelessness but the main ones are lack of affordable housing, addictions and long term mental issues. Homelessness is not just a burden upon a few people but on the society as a whole, incarcerations, hospitalization, medical expenses and emergency shelters are some of the expenditures society pays for from taxes. If this problem isn’t taken care of, there will be more people in poverty, more uneducated people and the gap between the rich and poor will grow tremendously. Homelessness is an issue that needs a long term solution.
Medical malpractice cases are difficult for the families who have lost their loved one or have suffered from severe injuries. No one truly wins in complicated court hearings that consist of a team of litigation attorneys for both the defendant and plaintiff(s). During the trial, evidence supporting malpractice allegations have to be presented so that the court can make a decision if the physician was negligent resulting in malpractice, or if the injury was unavoidable due to the circumstances. In these types of tort cases, the physician is usually a defendant on trial trying to prove that he or she is innocent of the medical error, delay of treatment or procedure that caused the injury. The perfect example of being at fault for medical malpractice as a result of delaying a procedure is the case of Waverly family versus John Hopkins Health System Corporation. The victims were not compensated enough for the loss of their child’s normal life. Pozgar (2012) explained….
The Lewis Blackman Case: Ethics, Law, and Implications for the Future Medical errors in decision making that result in harm or death are tragic and costly to the families affected. There are also negative impacts to the medical providers and the associated institutions (Wu, 2000). Patient safety is a cornerstone of higher-quality health care and nurses serve as a communication link in all settings which is critical in surveillance and coordination to reduce adverse outcomes (Mitchell, 2008). The Lewis Blackman Case 1 of 1 point accrued
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