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Who We Are
We are a medical-legal review and referral firm
based in Los Angeles with experts and clients nationwide. We offer medical and
biomedical experts in virtually all specialties and sub-specialties. We also can
provide paramedical experts such as dentists, EMTs, podiatrists or registered
nurses.
Our experts will serve as
consultants and expert witnesses
for nearly every legal proceeding requiring
medical or similar expertise. Our clients include attorneys, both plaintiff and
defense, insurance companies and HMOs, government agencies and private
individuals in every state and several foreign countries.
We specialize in referrals of
experts in hard to find specialties or with highly specialized clinical or
research experience. We represent panel experts that are contracted with us and
independents who deal directly with our clients.
We also offer a preliminary review at a reduced price for those
lawyers and individuals that are
uncertain about the merits of their case. Medical reviewers are all
board-certified and many experts do
both expert consultation and medical review.
For fees and additional information, please click on the
memorandum for attorneys in the
left-sided column.
Contact
Us
Contact us by telephone (local or
toll-free), fax, e-mail or regular mail. We will respond quickly. We offer a
free of charge discussion of your case and expert requirements with our
executive director. He has been an expert witness for more than 25 years and is
uniquely qualified to assist you in evaluating your case.
MedicoLegal Consultants
Toll-Free: 1-888-661-3593
11041 Santa Monica Blvd. #719
Tel: (310) 444-7960
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Fax: (310) 444-7912
E-mail: experts@mlegal.com
Medical-Legal
News & Comment*
Important articles and reports
affecting the medical-legal community and the public at large.
Malpractice Links
●
The Urgent Need for U.S. Malpractice Reform
Another discussion of what's wrong with the
current U.S. medical malpractice
system and why it needs overhaul. According to the authors, led by Dr. James
Dove
and published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, some
70% of
malpractice cases are without merit or negligence and lay juries are not
equipped to analyze complex medical decisions. Thus the cost of defensive
medicine continues to rise.
●
Your Malpractice Risk When Your Hospitalized Patient Has a "Never
Event."
A guide to possible legal questions and
answers when a so-called "never event"
occurs in your hospitalized
patient: such things as falls, post-surgical
infections,
erroneous surgery and many other topics are included.
The difference between
the governments refusal to pay for these and actual substandard care is
discussed
in this Medscape article.
●
Is Your Malpractice Defense Lawyer Working Against You?
This
interesting article suggests that your defense lawyer in a malpractice case may
have divided loyalties
and be subject to pressure from your malpractice carrier.
●
Must You Still Practice Defensive Medicine to Avert a Malpractice Lawsuit?
All the pros and cons of
defensive medicine: is it to avoid malpractice, protect the patient or
pad the bill?
●
Professional Liability Risk
This compendium of the elements of
medical malpractice and risk management
is required reading for physicians, attorneys and patients contemplating legal action.
●
Ten Ways Lawyers Kill Their Own Experts
Here are ten ways in which lawyers
work against their own experts and how to avoid them.
●
The Perils of Being an Expert Witness
Pitfalls and liability exposure
for being an expert witness in medical malpractice cases, licensing
board proceedings and professional
organization membership.
●
Malpractice Dangers in Patient Complaints
Listen to the patient; he is
telling you what's wrong with him...and you!
●
An Anti-Lawsuit Tactic That's Gaining Ground
How to avoid a lawsuit? Try
binding arbitration. Still there are some pitfalls and care is required.
●
Five New York City Hospitals Embark on Pilot Program to Cut Malpractice Costs
A new agreement "to reduce medical malpractice
insurance premiums and related costs by divulging
medical mistakes promptly, by
making settlement offers swiftly, and by utilizing specialized "health courts"
to resolve disputes and
negotiate settlements before litigation is commenced."
Legal Sites
●
Attorney
Attorney.org
offers the latest news and information in the legal world.
●
Laws
Laws.com
covers state and federal laws, while also featuring recent legal news.
●
Legal Directory
NewLawyer.com provides users with free
legal advice by connecting them with
attorneys through phone to phone consultations.
Noteworthy Articles 2010

Texas Physician Charged by the Medical Board in Whistleblower Case
Medscape Medical News 07-15-10
The Texas Medical Board has charged a family
physician at the center of a
case
involving 2 nurses who notified the Texas Medical Board of Dr. Rolando Arafiles'
poor medical judgment, non-therapeutic prescribing, failure to maintain adequate
records
overbilling, witness intimidation, and other violations. The nurses were
acquitted of a
criminal charge of misuse of
information but they were fired from their hospital jobs.
Diagnostic Adverse Events Mostly Caused by Human Error
Medscape Medical News 07-01-10
Diagnostic adverse events (DAEs) account for 0.4% of all hospital
admissions and 6.4%
of all adverse events according to a study in Netherlands hospitals.
Of these DAEs,
human error was responsible in 96.3%. Patient and organizational errors
contributed in
many cases. Compared with other
types of adverse events, the consequences of DAEs were more severe,
with a mortality rate of 29.1%
vs. 7.4%.
June
Medical Ethics Lapses Cited in Interrogations
The New York Times 06-06-10
Did physicians that participated in CIA terrorist interrogations
violate medical
ethics? The claim of the Massachusetts-based Physicians for Human Rights is
that prisoners were used a
research subjects without informed consent, a violation of the Nuremberg
Code and the American Common
Rule which ban such practice. The CIA vigorously denies these charges.
May
High Court Rulings on Pleading Standards Trip Up Dentists' Class Action
The National Law Journal 05-18-10
The ghost of two prior U.S. Supreme Court
decisions has come to haunt a RICO
class action suit by
the American Dental Association accusing Cigna Corp. and MetLife, Inc. for alleged
failure to pay the
providers. In Bell Atlantic v. Twombly and Ashcroft
v. Iqbalt he high court required plaintiffs to present
claims that reasonably
supported an inference of liability. These rulings have been a great
boon to the
defense bar. A three judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the
dentists' case
finding that it did not meet the higher pleading standards required by the two supreme
court rulings.
Medical Liability: A World of Difference
amednews.com 05-03-10
Medical liability claims in the U.S. make up 10
percent of all tort cases, with half of the expenses for
such cases going to pay
off legal costs. Some authorities believe that the fate of medical liability cases
resting with juries and not judges plays a significant role in how doctors approach their jobs, according
to
American Medical News. The U.S. is the only major country in the
world where physicians are personally
financially liable for mistakes," said Richard Jackson, chairman and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, which
conducted a web-based survey in March 2009. "This is a systemic problem that needs to be addressed at
state
and national levels."
April
Who's to Blame When Flawed Health Products are Sold?
The New York Times 04-20-10
"Who should be held accountable when a company
sells a flawed product that can injure or
kill patients?
Is it the company or the people who run it?" Two Minnesota
cardiologists have
raised this important
question when one of their patients died due to a
malfunction of an implantable heart
defibrillator
manufactured by Guidant (now a division of Boston Scientific).
Short circuits and failure of the
device have
resulted in at least six deaths. The legal question that arises from
the cases is whether the company
should just pay a fine of nearly $3 million or whether individual officers of
the company should be held
accountable.
*See
Medicolegal News for additional links. Some of the links require
registration or may be removed.
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© Copyright 2010 by MedicoLegal Consultants. All rights reserved. This page
was updated July 23, 2010.