ED Legal Letter articles

Recent articles from ED Legal Letter

Special Report: Of Tourniquets and Arbitrations.
June 1, 2009... SPECIAL REPORT Of Tourniquets and Arbitrations By Jonathan D. Lawrence, MD, JD, FACEP, Emergency Physician, St. Mary Medical Center, Long Beach, CA; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Harbor/UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA. A recently arbitrated...

Personal communications can be discoverable.
June 1, 2009... Personal communications can be discoverable Even incident reports aren't always protected Your own personal notes about a patient's care. Incident reports if a patient is harmed. Information given verbally or in writing to the hospital's risk managers. Conversations or e-mails with...

Emergency Department Triage-- The New Hotbed of Litigation?
May 1, 2009... Emergency Department Triage-- The New Hotbed of Litigation? By Robert A. Bitterman, MD, JD, FACEP, Contributing Editor; President, Bitterman Health Law Consulting Group, Inc., Charlotte, NC; Vice President, Emergency Physicians Insurance Co., Inc., Auburn, CA. Historically, emergency...

How can expert witnesses make or break a lawsuit?
May 1, 2009... How can expert witnesses make or break a lawsuit? Involve experts early in the process The credibility of "dueling experts" testifying before a jury often determines the outcome of a lawsuit alleging malpractice by an emergency physician, but in fact, expert witnesses typically get...

Special Report: Legal Special Defenses: An ED Physician's Friend, and Sometimes Savior.
May 1, 2009... SPECIAL REPORT Legal Special Defenses: An ED Physician's Friend, and Sometimes Savior By Gregory P. Moore, MD, JD, Attending Physician, Emergency Medicine Residency, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, WA. We should all be aware of the four components of malpractice -- the...