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Infections may spur next wave of malpractice suits
Quality Improvement Monitor, August 22, 2008
A jury award of more than $2.5 million to a hospital patient who developed a case of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that was so severe he lost his right leg, part of his left foot, and a kidney may be the beginning of a new wave of medical malpractice suits, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Until recently, hospitals – and the courts – considered infections an unavoidable condition. That will all change October 1, 2008 when CMS will stop payment for 10 hospital-acquired conditions, including some surgical site infections and catheter-associated urinary tract infections.
The government’s stand that some conditions can be reasonably prevented will provide fodder to malpractice lawyers, Keith Shiner, JD, a lawyer for Reed Smith of Washington, D.C., told HCPro. Attorneys could argue that CMS used evidence-based science to determine that some surgical site infections should never be acquired in the hospital; ergo the facility should be held liable for damages. (For the latest on hospital-acquired conditions, read the September issue of the Quality Improvement Report.)
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