Medical Malpractice Coverups Are Illegal, Unethical and Happening All the Time….
February 11, 2008 6:57 pm Lawsuits, Medical MalpracticeJust read a great post by Eric Turkewitz, How Medical Malpractice Gets Covered Up, that discusses an anonymous blog post by an obstetrical nurse who is baring the truth about how malpractice is actively covered up and how medical providers are pressured to cover one another’s butts by not accurately charting what is REALLY going on in a patient’s care. Here’s a clip from the post:
Ever wonder how malpractice gets covered up or why it doesn’t appear in the medical records? Well, an anonymous obstetrical nurse from Pennsylvania opened that little door for us today.
Writing at the blog At Your Cervix (perhaps one of the most creative medical blog names around), she writes how she was reprimanded for documenting in the medical chart the name of a covering doctor that had reviewed the external fetal monitor strip. You read that right: Folks were actually mad at her for being accurate with her notes and writing down in the chart who had reviewed important information regarding the patient.
When I first started handling medical malpractice cases, I was naive enough to believe that no one would ever intentionally alter medical records. Sad to say it occurs quite frequently.
A recent post from my friend, Jim Carroll, a medical malpractice attorney from Athens, PA, highlighted a recent case of altered records from Wilkes-Barre, PA:
A doctor accused of failing to tell a patient she had cancer is now being accused of altering medical records in the case to try to cover up his error. Court papers say Dr. Feroz A. Sheikh altered the records of Margaret Radginski after she filed suit against him late last year. The doctor is accused of altering his records to show that he told his patient that she had cancer a year before the date that he truly told her that she had cancer.
Bad, bad, bad. Why can’t people just play by the rules and not cheat? Well, unfortunately, the answer is that the stakes are so high, both from an economic and career perspective, that medical providers feel the need to cheat to cover their butts at the expense of the truth and their own patients. Sad but true…
Think this is an exaggeration? How about a recent Harvard study that found that 46% of doctors were aware a serious medical error that they did NOT report that error to authorities.
Hmmmm, and people wonder why we talk about the Medical Conspiracy of Silence….
Thanks for reading,
Jim Reed
jreed@zifflaw.com
March 21st, 2008 at 10:00 am
my son suffered broken bones,stroke,bulbar palsy,deprived of oxygen 5 hours after birth by local hospital silence has been deafening. We found out when he was 7 yrs old that he suffered a stroke at birth, it was not documented in the medical records. We were told that we couldn’t prove anything because it had been so long ago, but infact we have proven it and nobody wants to listen to us.
Medical records have been falsified and a doctor the threatened us not to go legal.
Local attorneys won’t give us the time of day.
Can you help with this obvious cover-up?
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:20 am
Sam:
I am very sorry to hear about your son’s medical difficulties. Having handled many birth trauma cases, I know all too well how devastating these cases can be.
In what state was your son born? The reason I ask is that I am only admitted to practice law in N.Y. and Pennsylvania. However, even if I am not admitted in your state, I may be able to find another attorney to help you.
Also, if you could provide more details regarding the malpractice in your son’s case that would be most helpful. I tried to visit your website address listed below but received a message that the account was no longer active.
Thanks, Jim
_________________________________________
James B. Reed, Esq.
Personal Injury & Malpractice Attorney
Ziff, Weiermiller, Hayden & Mustico, LLP
303 William St., Elmira, NY 14902
Tel. (607) 733-8866 Fax. (607) 732-6062
Toll Free 1-800-943-3529
mailto:jreed@zifflaw.com http://www.zifflaw.com
July 18th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
A family member of mine works for a hematologist who is being investigated by the FBI. The doctor has pocketed insurance money that should have been returned due to patients having multiple insurance carriers that all paid in full for a bill. Now the doctor has everyone in the office going through old charts and making up face sheets for every patient and for every chart because all the charts have to be turned over to the government by a certain date. Many charts goes further back than when the employee making the sheet even started working in the office. How should my family member go about reporting this? What can I/she do to stop this without losing her job? (state- Virginia)
July 21st, 2008 at 5:45 am
Ms. Harrington:
Although I am not admitted to practice law in Virginia, I suspect Virginia, like PA and N.Y. where I am admitted, has a Department of Health where citizen complaints about medical misconduct can be filed. I just did a quick search and found this site for filing a Complaint: http://www.dhp.virginia.gov/En.....laints.htm
Best of luck to you.
Jim Reed
N.Y. and PA Injury and Malpractice Lawyer