This fall a proviso of the Affordable Care Act goes into effect known as the Sunshine Act, which requires all medical device and pharmaceutical companies to report publicly all payments made to doctors over the amount of $10. This is meant to curb big pharma and device manufacturers from giving doctors and other medical professionals shady kickbacks for using their products, or at least to make the public aware of such practices. Charlie Ornstein, a senior editor for ProPublica, told CBS News that the practice of big corporations providing “pay to play” for doctors who use their medications or devices is nothing new. It has been in place for decades. Ornstein told CBS News that the promotion part “has gotten a lot of attention in recent years because drug companies have paid … billions of dollars to settle lawsuits that have accused them of improper marketing and giving kickbacks to doctors.”

It is an illegal practice for corporations to give kickbacks to doctors for prescribing their products, but it is not illegal for corporations to give doctors money for promoting their drug. This makes for a very grey line between legitimate and illegitimate relationships between drug manufacturers and the medical professional world. Ornstein told CBS News that it all boils down to trust. If your doctor recommends a certain drug to you, you should be able to assume that he is recommending that particular drug because it is what your body needs.

Ornstein said that it would make sense that a doctor would first prescribe a generic or cheaper alternative, as the cost of drugs continues to skyrocket. Another good example of a doctor doing what is best for his patient would be to recommend a non-medication alternative “to reach your goals perhaps first.”

According to ProPublica, the issue of doctors having to settle issues of marketing fraud is widespread. Since 2008, at least 15 manufacturers of drugs or medical devices have had to pay $6.5 billion collectively to settle such accusations. Yet no individual doctor has faced the same penalties, “despite allegations of fraud or of conduct that put patients at risk.”

If you or someone you know suspects that your doctor has illegally received kickbacks for prescribing medication, the most important step is to speak with a legal professional. Contact a Westport medical malpractice attorney today.

Medical errors that result in death inside a hospital are oftentimes caused by the neglect of healthcare professionals. According to CNN, medical errors kill more than 250,000 people every year in the U.S., which by some estimates could be “the third leading cause of death.” Examples of these types of medical malpractice include treating the wrong patient, accidentally leaving surgical tools inside a patient’s body, misplacing patient records, and waiting too long in the emergency room.

However, one such disturbing trend of failure in American hospitals is the number of patients who die from sepsis every year. In fact, the CDC reports that between 28 and 50 percent of those who get sepsis end up dying from the illness.

According to the American Thoracic Society, nearly half of all deaths in U.S. hospitals are sepsis-related, with sepsis also accounting for close to 22 percent of all hospital charges. Vincent Liu, M.D., of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, notes how “improved care for sepsis patients of all severity levels and in all hospital settings could result in many future lives saved.”

Sepsis is not an infection or a disease, but an illness that arises from an infection. Once the infection enters the bloodstream, it can spread rapidly through the body, and often result in the loss of muscle function, limbs, or organ failure. Despite several medical advances meant to curb the rate of infection and spread of disease, sepsis continues to be an unexpectedly severe issue.

Several causes of sepsis include surgical site infections, catheter-related urinary tract infections, and infections of the lungs or skin. Those more susceptible to sepsis include the elderly, infants and children, those with weakened immune systems, and those suffering from a physical trauma or severe burn. Symptoms of sepsis include:

• Fever,
• Chills,
• Rapid breathing and heart rate,
• Rash,
• Confusion, and
• Disorientation.

Early detection and treatment of sepsis can prevent serious bodily failure and death. However, noted by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, it can be difficult to diagnose as many of the sepsis symptoms “mimic other conditions, making sepsis hard to diagnose in its early stages.”

If you suffered from sepsis while in a hospital, or had a loved one die as a result of sepsis while in the hospital, you may be eligible for compensation. Do not go through it alone. Contact an experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney to discuss your case today.

When people hear the term “black box” they generally think of the device that is used in airplane disasters which crash investigators retrieve in order to help determine what caused a plane to crash. A black box consists of a cockpit recorder and flight data recorder. However, one Toronto surgeon believes that operating rooms should also have their own black boxes.

Dr. Teodor Grantcharov, who works at St. Michael’s Hospital, has come up with a prototype black box and he has been utilizing it for all of his laparoscopic surgeries. In laparoscopic surgeries, doctors use small video cameras and surgical tools that are placed inside the body. They are considered “minimally invasive” compared to traditional surgeries. Dr. Grantcharov’s goal is to help minimize medical mistakes from occurring in laparoscopic surgeries. Several mistakes that may occur include perforations to the blood vessels, intestines or bowels.

The black box that Grancharov uses records all the conversations taking place in the operating room during surgery, as well as records the footage from the video camera. It also keeps track of decibel and temperature and records an entire view of the operating room.

Currently, when something goes wrong with a patient’s surgery, most hospitals have morbidity and mortality meetings which try to determine what happened based on the limited information they may available. But with the black box method, everything that occurred in the operating room can be viewed, much the same way professional athletes watch footage of games to see where certain plays worked and where they did not work.

Each one of Grancharov’s surgeries are watched by a peer review committee. He performs approximately six surgeries per week. “We define error as very, very minor deviation from the perfect course,” Grantcharov says. “People believe that surgeons are perfect and never make mistakes, and that’s not true, as long as there are humans there will always be mistakes. We have to be more transparent about our business.”

If you have had laparoscopic surgery that resulted in serious surgical errors or complications due to your doctor’s negligence, please contact an experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney to discuss any compensation you may be entitled to for pain and loss.