Is Your Doctor Lying to You?

What is the number one preventative way to avoid medical mistakes? Effective communication. This could mean communication between doctors and nurses, between all levels of staff members, and most importantly, medical providers and their patients. Communication is vital before, during, and after medical care has taken place.  

 

Unfortunately, lines of communication are often poor.  Even more disturbing are recent study results illustrating that medical providers often lie to their patients after a mistake was made out of fear of being sued. These lies often compound the situation rather than help those who made the mistake.  Researchers also fear that a large percentage of patients have not been given complete information about their conditions or their options. Without accurate information, patients and their families are less likely to make well-informed decisions concerning their own medical care. 

 

Many doctors feel that presenting facts in the best possible light will reduce stress and make patients feel more positive about their care and their outcomes. In reality, the majority of patients prefer straight forward, honest communication about their care or errors made by medical professionals. Patients who have been given factual information are less likely to be angry with their doctors, and less likely to call their attorneys and bring forth medical malpractice claims, even after mistakes have been made. 

 

When communication is poor, mistakes will be made between all parties involved in a patient's medical care. Miscommunication, distortion of the facts, or withholding of information that only makes a patient's condition worse could be considered negligence on the part of the medical staff.  

 

For more information about this Harvard Medical School Study, click here:  Many Doctors Tell White Lies

 

If you or someone you know needs assistance a medical malpractice issue, contact the Law Offices of Christopher L. Jackson, LLC. In Ohio, please call (513) 861-8000. In Kentucky, please call (859) 261-1111. For more information, please visit www.christopherjacksonlaw.com.

Highly Publicized Wrongful Death Trial Begins in Philadelphia

FOX News is reporting that video played at the opening of a wrongful death trial shows that one of two Hungarian tourists killed in a boat collision threw her life vest to a deckhand who jumped overboard just before the crash.

 

Attorney Robert Mongeluzzi said 16-year-old Dora Schwendtner threw her own life preserver to the deckhand moments before their sightseeing boat was run over by a tugboat-guided barge on Philadelphia’s Delaware River.

 

The families of Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem, are suing the tour company and the tugboat operator, saying unclear safety policies and ineffective training caused the collision.

 

Tug operator K-Sea Transportation and duck boat operator Ride the Ducks blamed each other Monday for causing the July 2010 crash.

 

Prem and Schwendtner, whose group was visiting the U.S. through a church exchange program, drowned when their amphibious tour boat capsized and sank after being struck by the barge on July 7, 2010.

 

Their families have filed wrongful death lawsuits against K-Sea Transportation of East Brunswick, N.J., which operated the tugboat guiding the barge upriver; Ride the Ducks of Norcross, Ga., which operated the tour boat; the city of Philadelphia, which owned the barge, and others. But before the wrongful death lawsuit may proceed, a judge must decide whether a limit should be set on the financial liability of the two boat owners. K-Sea and Ride the Ducks, citing an 1851 maritime law, want the judge to cap their financial liability based on the value of their own vessels involved in the crash: $1.65 million for the tug and $150,000 for the duck boat.

 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/07/fatal-tour-boat-crash-trial-to-begin-in-philadelphia/?test=latestnews#ixzz1uH2dfiAr