The NY Times had a great article today discussing Medicare “Never Events”. These are events that should NEVER occur in a proper medical setting. In other words, if the medical providers are doing what they are supposed to be doing, these events should NEVER, EVER occur. And if they do occur, Medicare is saying that they will no longer pay Dr’s or hospitals for medical bills associated with these “Never” conditions. In other words, if the Dr’s or hospitals screw up and hurt someone, Medicare is saying the Dr’s or hospitals don’t get paid.
Hallelulah! Now that makes sense– instead of the medical providers getting paid more when they screw up, now they get paid nothing when they screw up. I certainly embrace this as a step in the right direction as it will create a huge financial incentive for the medical profession to implement procedures to ensure that “never events”, never occur.
So, what is a Never Event? Here’s the list from the NY Times:
Medicare Never Events
Looking over the list of events that should NEVER occur, I am not surprised to see many of the types of events for which I have handled medical malpractice cases over the last 20 years–
– hospital falls because proper safety precautions were not taken,
– pulmonary embolish after surgery,
–surgical instruments left inside the patient,
–nasty bed sores because a patient wasn’t properly attended to or treated,
–infections, etc.
Although I am not surprised to see these things on the Never list, it makes me wonder why the Dr’s, Hospitals, their insurance companies and defense lawyers, fought me tooth and nail for year after year attempting to claim each and every one of these things could happen even though no one screwed up. Hmmm, I wonder….. I always thought that was a crock of bull and now it’s nice to have Medicare agree and stiff them on their bills.
Thanks for reading,
Jim Reed
NY Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Elmira, NY
jreed@zifflaw.com
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Wow. I understand how you guys can salivate over this data, but alot of what is said is false. First by looking at the list above, there are really only a few “never” events that can be and should be totally preventable: foreign body after surgery, air embolism, and blood incompatability. The other ones listed are complications that can happen even with the most rigurous preventive measures. Doctors are not making it big or getting rich by keeping patients in the hospital longer because of complications. Thas is absurd. Infections happen, blood clots happen. THis is part of being critically ill. When proper precautions are taken and these events still happen there is nothing you can do. This is absurd legislation.
Please do me a favor. Go to medical school, and then go to residency. Then, I want you to please tell me how we can prevent DVT’s from ever happening! If it were possible to prevent in every case, believe me I would do it but so far it seems that anyone bedridden for extended periods is at heightened risk of DVTs regardless of aggressive measures (some of which carry their own not-so-pretty complications). But maybe you possess some brilliance that has evaded centuries of medical research, so please enlighten us!
I mean, a seemingly healthy person can get a DVT from sitting in an airplane for an overseas flight. So is this the airplane’s fault? Should they be held liable?
Vijay:
No need to be hostile. I am not the one who defined the “Never Events”– that would be Medicare….not me… so no need to attack me.
With that said, as i understand it, Medicare is trying to get at those cases where patients have been confined to bed in a hospital and have not received appropriate preventative care to avoid a DVT. Unlike your airplane example, in a hospital, patients are supposed to be surrounded by trained medical professionals to properly care for them. These professionals are expected to properly treat the patient to avoid complications like a DVT by having the patient move around, administering meds or other interventions.
Jim Reed
NY Injury and Malpractice Lawyer
jreed@zifflaw.com
I apologize for the tone of my previous post. It was not my intention to sound hostile.
What I was trying to get at was this: having every patient on heparin and compression stockings with PT consults will benefit the vast majority of patients, but what about the few patients where anticoagulation is contraindicated? If these patients are anticoagulated as DVT prophylaxis but then develop a bleeding complication that we expected them to develop, then certainly the doctors would be held liable for that mistake; on the flip side, if they are not anticoagulated as a result of this contraindication, and then go on to develop a DVT, then this would fall under the Never Ever laws. Basically, there is a risk of medical error no matter what choice is made!
I would like to extend a public apology to Mr. Reed and anyone else reading my earlier postings on this website. They were unnecessarily aggressive and I do not currently endorse their content. At the time of this writing, I am not qualified enough to speak with any authority on this topic and ask that readers disregard my comments entirely. Thank you.
-vj