Healthcare Update Satellite — 8-21-2013

Look for more updates on my other blog at DrWhitecoat.com Judge orders Colorado family to pay $340,000 in legal fees after losing the medical malpractice suit it brought against a hospital. The family plans to declare bankruptcy. The family’s attorney, Stacy Warden, alleges that the hospital lacked compassion for “going after a family with a severely disabled child.” If attorneys file frivolous cases, perhaps the attorneys should be on the hook, not the families … West Virginia couple is suing a physician for failing to diagnose an epidural abscess that later rendered the patient with permanent paralysis, in addition to other physical pain and suffering. The details of the case aren’t provided, so the comments below are not necessarily related to this case. However, just consider … Spinal epidural abscesses present as either neck or back pain in 70-100% of cases. Fever and neurologic deficits accompany the pain in only 10-15% of initial presentations. CT or MRI of the spine is the only way to diagnose this disease process and early diagnosis is important to a good outcome. But the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Choosing Wisely campaign state that CT or MRI for acute low back pain is “often a waste of money” and probably not needed unless there is “a history of cancer, unexplained weight loss, fever, recent infection, loss of bowel or bladder control, abnormal reflexes, or loss of muscle power or feeling in the legs.” Remember … these sympt...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Tags: Healthcare Update Source Type: blogs