Hardesty, Tyde, Green & Ashton, P.A. blog

Monday, January 29, 2007

The Great Medical Malpractice Hoax

Insurance companies (and some politicians) for many years have been contending that access to healthcare is being threatened because increasing medical malpractice insurance rates caused by "frivolous lawsuits" are forcing doctors out of practice. A report from the Public Citizen, a non-profit consumers' organization which analyzed data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, completely debunks this myth. In fact, the amount of insurance payments between 2001 and 2005 in medical malpractice cases declined by over 15%. In Florida, the profits of the 15 largest med-mal insurers skyrocketed to $803 million in 2005 according to the Fla. Office of Insurance Regulation.

The entire Public Citizen report can be found at http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.efm?id=7497.

posted by Attorney Frank Ashton at 3:11 PM

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Risks of IV Phenergan

Receiving the antinausea drug Phenergan intravenously can have serious consequences if the drug infiltrates or extravasates into surrounding tissue. The manufacturer has warned that significant tissue or nerve damage can result. We have handled cases where the patient developed RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) or CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) as a result. Receiving the drug orally, through deep muscular injection, or in suppository form are generally safer alternatives.

posted by Attorney Frank Ashton at 12:14 PM