Medical tort

AIM: The US Food and Drug Administration approved the 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV20) to prevent pneumococcal disease. In the context of routine PCV20 vaccination, we evaluated the cost-effectiveness and public health and economic impact of a PCV20 catch-up program and estimated the number of antibiotic prescriptions and antibiotic-resistant infections averted. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A population-based, multi-cohort, decision-analytic Markov model was developed using parameters consistent with previous PCV20 cost-effectiveness analyses...

INTRODUCTION: In the United States, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have Good Samaritan Laws (GSLs). Designed to encourage bystanders to aid at the scene of an emergency, GSLs generally limit the risk of civil tort liability if the care is rendered in good faith. Nation-wide, a leading cause of preventable death is uncontrolled external hemorrhage. Public bleeding control initiatives aim to train the public to recognize life-threatening external bleeding, perform life-sustaining interventions (including direct pressure, tourniquet application, and wound packing), and to promote access to bleeding control equipment to ensure a rapid response from bystanders...

INTRODUCTION: A 20-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV20) was recently recommended for use among US children. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of PCV20 among children aged 6 years with chronic medical conditions (CMC+) and children aged 6 years with immunocompromising conditions (IC) versus one and two doses of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), respectively. METHODS: A probabilistic model was employed to depict 10-year risk of clinical outcomes and economic costs of pneumococcal disease, reduction in life years from premature death, and expected impact of vaccination among one cohort of children with CMC+ and IC aged 6 years...

BACKGROUND: It has been established that the existing compensation mechanism is not the favoured platform for vaccine recipients with Adverse Effects Following Immunisation (AEFI). With the mass production of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, intensified by the mandatory National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme in Malaysia, an alternative resolution mechanism for compensation is long overdue. This qualitative study aims to propose a viable alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism for those who suffer AEFI from COVID-19 vaccination, particularly the economically disadvantaged, older people, and disabled individuals in Malaysia...

The Public Mental Health Framework argues that law and policy are important in preventing mental ill-health and promoting wellbeing. Therefore, the 2022 decision of the Australian High Court in Kozarov v Victoria (Kozarov), in which a lawyer from the Office of Public Prosecutions (OPP) who worked in the Specialist Sex Offences Unit successfully claimed damages for vicarious trauma, has significant implications for the legal profession and those who are employed in emotionally demanding work. This article provides commentary on the Kozarov decision, within the context of other Australian case law including subsequent cases...

The introduction of novel medical technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), into traditional clinical practice presents legal liability challenges that need to be squarely addressed by litigants and courts when something goes wrong. Some of the most promising applications for the use of AI in medicine will lead to vexed liability questions. As AI in health care is in its relative infancy, there is a paucity of case law globally upon which to draw. This article analyses medical malpractice where AI is involved, what problems arise when applying the tort of negligence - such as establishing the essential elements of breach of duty of care and causation - and how can these can be addressed...

This study investigates the legal challenges posed by telesurgery, an emergent healthcare modality facilitated by advancements in 5G and Artificial Intelligence. It highlights the urgent need for a comprehensive legal framework reconciling the complexities of healthcare delivery and technology integration. The paper examines the Chinese adjudication of negligence and the evidentiary hurdles in telesurgery, interrogating the application of the 'reasonable doctor' standard, the intricate causation-negligence nexus and the distribution of evidentiary burdens...

The emergence of generative large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence (AI) represents one of the most profound developments in healthcare in decades, with the potential to create revolutionary and seismic changes in the practice of medicine as we know it. However, significant concerns have arisen over questions of liability for bad outcomes associated with LLM AI-influenced medical decision making. Although the authors were not able to identify a case in the United States that has been adjudicated on medical malpractice in the context of LLM AI at this time, sufficient precedent exists to interpret how analogous situations might be applied to these cases when they inevitably come to trial in the future...

INTRODUCTION: High quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation and medical care in an emergency can save lives, especially when resources are limited, as when in flight on a commercial airplane. A medical student or resident may be the most qualified person to offer assistance during an in-flight cardiac arrest; however, he/she may not yet have experience acting as a sole provider on the ground. Moreover, physicians-in-training may feel an ethical obligation to help a fellow passenger in need, but later worry that their help is subject to questions of tort liability action...

Plasma biomarkers have emerged as promising tools for identifying amyloid beta (Aβ) pathology. Before implementation in routine clinical practice, confounding factors modifying their concentration beyond neurodegenerative diseases should be identified. We studied the association of a comprehensive list of demographics, comorbidities, medication and laboratory parameters with plasma p-tau181, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light chain (NfL) on a prospective memory clinic cohort and studied their impact on diagnostic accuracy for discriminating CSF/amyloid PET-defined Aβ status...

The diagnosis of anorexia nervosa is one of the easiest to make in that it is a positive diagnosis, not a differential diagnosis. It is defined by a few criteria which together become almost pathognomonic: excessive restriction of energy intake combined with an irrational fear of weight and an altered body image. Even if weight is at the heart of the medical team's concerns, it is important to question the pathology in its history, in order to put it in to context, and sometimes to understand the para-logic and its function in the patient's life history...

BACKGROUND: Litigation impacts physicians financially, reputationally, and professionally. Although thyroid surgery has favorable patient outcomes, litigation persists. We aimed to characterize malpractice claims after thyroidectomy and investigate which factors favor physicians. METHODS: We queried the Westlaw legal database using the terms "thyroidectomy" and "medical malpractice" to identify malpractice cases brought against surgeons from 1949 to 2022. We collected and analyzed demographic; clinical; surgical; and legal data, including year, cause for initiating litigation, verdict, state where the lawsuit was brought, and the state's tort reform status...

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OBJECTIVE: The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), a no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system. Since 1988, the total compensation paid exceeds $5 billion. While epilepsy is one of the leading reasons for filing a claim, there has been no review of the process and validity of the legal outcomes given current medical information. The objectives were to review the evolution of the VICP program in regard to vaccine-related epilepsy and assess the rationale behind decisions made by the court...

In the personal injury compensation system, the protection and relief of the injured people's rights to life, rights to health, and body rights are generally based on the results of disability assessment. Over the years, with the increased number of personal injury compensation cases, the practice of disability assessment have been greatly developed, and the development of disability assessment standards tends to be mature. However, the lack of basic theories for disability assessment has seriously affected the construction and unification of standards...

The inequity of medical negligence-based adversarial litigation in the USA, UK and Australia is a recognised target for reform. Plaintiff autonomy is weakened by a dispute resolution system that has evolved around lawyers, opposed experts and indemnity insurers; the need to prove breach and causation excludes compensation for other categories of medical injury; and patient access to the system is restricted by high entry costs. Two strategies towards reform are raised here. A short-term approach involves routine initial use of a single court-appointed medical expert for assessment of errors and liabilities, thus improving access while relegating fault-finding to a reserve role...

BACKGROUND: The current shortage of primary care doctors and nurses is causing difficulties in replacement, and this shortage is expected to increase. This situation is more pronounced in rural environments than in urban ones. Family and community care specialty training is a key component of both the transition to clinical practice and the retention of new professionals. The aim of this study is to explore the attitudes and perceptions of internal medicine residents and internal nurse residents trained in a rural teaching unit on factors associated with recruitment and retention, including the role of the specialty training programme...

Negligence actions are the most important and dynamic of all torts because they are the principal means of compensating victims of accidents, including medical errors. Unfortunately, victims of medical error in Nigeria have not historically been able to enjoy the relief available through negligence suits. This article explores the Nigerian legal and regulatory framework for addressing medical errors and offers suggestions that could help improve such medical error response.

Can individuals with a highly sensitive temperament recover in tort for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED)? In 2019, an article in the University of Memphis Law Review raised this question, referring to the "Highly Sensitive Person" (HSP) construct in psychology and asking whether the IIED tort's 'reasonable person' standard discriminates against highly sensitive plaintiffs. Following up on that discussion, the present article considers how the law of IIED has historically treated plaintiffs with diagnosed psychiatric vulnerabilities that are either known or unknown to the defendant...

AIM: To study the patients who were admitted to our hospital with surgically proven ovarian torsion and were operated for the same and to study for whom detorsion was done. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the medical records and surgical notes of 150 patients with surgically proven ovarian torsion over a 10-year period between January 2011 and January 2021 was carried out. Surgical notes included details like mode of the surgery (laparotomy or laparoscopy), type of surgery (oophorectomy, detorsion, detorsion with cystectomy), whether fixation was done or not, size of mass/ovary, laterality, appearance of the torted ovary, color of the ovary, and number of twists...