Allegations: Current Trends in Medical Malpractice, Part 1
In part 1 of this 2-part series, the authors review recent trends in medical malpractice, with a focus on alternative proposals to traditional tort law.
Be aware of inherent biases in medical decision-making, which helps to maintain mindfulness in the routine practice of emergency medicine (EM);
Make sure departmental policies and procedures are designed to identify and address all late resulting laboratory results, radiology reading discrepancies and culture results in a timely and uniform manner; and
Provide clear and concise at-home care instructions to patients—prior to discharge—and in a manner the patient can understand.
Part 2 will discuss each of these recommendations in detail and will consider recent trends in medical malpractice as they relate to EM, explore areas of risk, and discuss strategies to reduce medical malpractice risk in the ED.
