New study on hospital safety

The findings of a new study suggest that efforts to decrease the number of medical mistakes in U.S. hospitals have generally failed, reports AboutLawsuits. According to the study, published in the most recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, patient safety has not improved since a landmark study ten years ago that put the number of patient deaths due to medical error at 98,000 annually in American hospitals. Alan Crede has more on the story here, including links to more sources.

Sept. 11 litigation finally settles

The September 11 suit concerning 10,000 emergency response and clean-up workers at the World Trade Center settled in June for $712M, with an important provision: At least 95% of the plaintiffs had to agree. And apparently that number has been reached. Go here for more details. Go here for the full story.

Yet another Johnson & Johnson recall!

About a week ago I reported on another J&J recall (for bottles of Benadryl). Today there are news on yet another recall, this time for Tylenol-cold. Pharmalot has the story here. AboutLawsuits has it here.

Man Falls To Death During Bears-Eagles Game in Chicago

The Chicago Bears' victory over the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday was marred by the death of a fan at Soldier Field — the second recent death at a major sporting event this month - reports Prof. Jonathan Turley today. He also comments on the other case - the death of a two year old boy who was able to climb over a glass barrier to plummet to his death at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Go here to read his comment on the possible torts implications of these events.

Would allowing "medical malpractice waivers" be a good idea?

Would it be a good idea to encourage patients to sign "medical malpractice waivers" to give up their rights to sue their doctor for any medical malpractice? In a chapter in his book "Nudge," Professor Cass Sunstein suggests that patients would benefit from such waivers because the cost of health care would be lower (because doctors wouldn't have to pay for medical malpractice insurance or order unnecessary tests to make sure their patients didn't sue them) and doctors could pass on the savings of avoiding those costs to their patients. Alan Crede has recently published a good response to this idea here. He also points out to an article by professors Tom Baker and Timothy Lytton in the Northwestern Law Review entitled, "Allowing Patients To Waive The Right To Sue For Medical Malpractice: A Response to Sunstein and Thaler." You can read the article here. Crede argues that the article is a devastating and complete knockdown of the chapter in "Nudge" in which Sunstein proposes medical malpractice liability waivers. Long time readers of this blog, and my students, may remember Baker as the author of a very good little book called the Medical Malpractice Myth (for an excerpt, go here). For a recent interview with him go here.

Study finds that hospital errors play role in 15,000 deaths a month

Go here for the full story. UPDATE 11/29: About Lawsuits have a similar story here.

The number of torts claims continues to decline

The PopTort is commenting on the most recent report from The National Center for State Courts on civil litigation in the United States. The report covers the year 2008 and according to the comment by The PopTort, it concludes that tort caseloads fell by 6 percent from 2007 to 2008 in 13 general jurisdiction courts reporting, whereas contract caseloads rose sharply, increasing by 27 percent in those courts over the same time period. Go here for more on the story. I have not had a chance to look at the report itself, but I will keep it handy so I can take a look at it the next time someone claims we need "tort reform" to deal with the massive numbers of "frivolous lawsuits" our court supposedly have to deal with all the time.

The FDA now says there is no problem with generics

About a month ago, Bloomberg News reported (here) that Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the Food & Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research has stated publicly she has ongoing concerns about the level of equivalence between generic drugs and name brand drugs on which the generics are based and about whether generics really meet quality standards. I posted a comment about this here. However, as part of a response to a state senator from New Jersey, the FDA is denying there is a problem. The senator had asked the FDA for its views on a proposed bill in the New Jersey legislature that would prevent pharmacists from switching anti-epilepsy pills over concerns that some patients have reacted poorly to generics that are deemed bioequivalent (read here). In its reply to the senator, the FDA wrote that it has many years of experience reviewing, approving and monitoring of generics and asserted that "we have not seen evidence that demonstrates a problem with therapeutic equivalence for this group of products [generic drugs].” However, it went on to say that the concerns “can not be dismissed lightly” and that out of respect and concern “that patients may lose confidence in their prescribed medications, we have sought to conduct further study.” Go to Pharmalot for the full story. In response to this, the Washington Legal Foundation again reacted with strong criticism of the FDA stating: "Either FDA felt it didn’t owe this state senator any information about impending studies, or nothing in fact is pending. In denying the existence of any problems with any generic drugs and stressing that there is no doubt at the agency, FDA seems to betray its extreme sensitivity to scrutiny of its generic drug approvals. FDA’s own senior leadership has called the Office of Generic Drugs on the carpet for public concern over generic quality, and the agency has been strongly challenged recently over its sudden alterations of bioequivalence criteria for generic versions of complex medicines including extended-release products and locally acting drugs. The bureaucratic hubris FDA exhibits on bioequivalence is irresponsible and unhealthy, given the dire potential consequences of breakthrough seizures if a generic [Anti Epileptic Drug] is ineffective, or if a copycat locally acting anti-bacterial medicine fails to stop an infection. FDA certainly doesn’t feel accountable for any of this to a state senator who represents epilepsy sufferers. Nor is the agency in any hurry to be accountable to Congress on concerns over epilepsy drugs – FDA is almost two months overdue with a report federal elected officials sought on generic AED bioequivalence standards . . ." Go here for the WLF's full comment. For more go to the FDA law blog.

Turkey torts

To commemorate Thanksgiving day, here is a link to this year's collection of "turkey torts" as compiled by Prof. Jonathan Turley.

Another Day, Another Johnson & Johnson Recall

Go here for the full story.