Welcome to The Patient Advocate®

This blog contains a discussion of a variety of topics related to medical malpractice. It is intended to be an open dialogue on issues of interest to legal & medical professionals, and anyone interested in or affected by medical malpractice or the health care industry. If you are looking for information related to misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of cervical cancer, please visit our website at www.MeyersMedMal.com, or the category on cervical cancer here on our blog.

Echocardiogram Bait and Switch

June 3, 2010

ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS in a recent New York Times article describes outrageous behavior by the clinical director and medical director of Harlem medical center. Under the direction of these former hospital officers (they have since been fired and demoted,  respectively) the cardiology department of the Medical Center permitted 4,000 echocardiograms performed on patients suffering from suspected [...]

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Medical Malpractice – A Bogie?

April 30, 2010

Doctors knowingly fail to cooperate to make medicine safe because they would then be required to practice safe medicine, and be held accountable if they fail. In the recent issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology,[1] Drs. Strunk and Queenan in their advocacy for an administrative compensation plan to replace the tort system in providing compensation for [...]

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Medicine Is An Art, Not A Science. Or Is It?

March 9, 2010

The March 8th New York Times publishes a remarkably insightful opinion piece by Atul Gawande.  Gawande reminds us of a lesson learned long ago in a completely different professional context. In 1935 the U.S. Army Air Corps held a flight competition for airplane manufacturers competing for the privilege of building the next generation long-range bomber.  [...]

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OCCULT FINDINGS NOT INCIDENTALOMAS

February 9, 2010

Online Journal watch is a publication which surveys medical newly published medical literature and comments on various relevant medical issues. One of the January’s postings reported upon a study of patients being evaluated by  cardiac CT scan.  The study addressed, among other things, the value of utilizing information made available by reason of the study [...]

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Why Can't Doctor's Say They Are Sorry?

February 2, 2010

Natasha Singer, in her  recent New York’s Times opinion piece suggests that saying you’re sorry is difficult in the health care industry. Indeed, her article addresses the pharmaceutical industry as well.  It is interesting that this issue requires any discussion. We all learned as children the importance of apology in making right a harm resulting [...]

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See No Evil-Speak No Evil

January 4, 2010

January 1, 2010 Journal Watch summarizes a remarkable article entitled “Investigation of incidental findings on cardiac CT.”  The article was based on a study conducted at a Canadian institution where the investigators evaluated the incidence, clinical importance, and costs of these incidental findings. It’s first important to note that these researchers used the word incidental [...]

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Cervical Cancer Screening Unnecessary for "Low Risk Women" – Another Myth Bites the Dust

December 2, 2009

For a comprehensive review of literature dispelling the myth that there is a big difference between high risk and low risk patients and screening for cervical cancer please read NUNS, VIRGINS, AND SPINSTERS’. RIGONI-STERN AND CERVICAL CANCER REVISITED, MALCOLM GRIFFITHS. Put simply,  over a long period of time a concept often explained and often repeated, [...]

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The Pap Smear – Not Too Many – Too Few

November 20, 2009

According to the American Cancer Society’s most recent estimate for 2009, 11,270 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed and 4,070 women will die from the disease. Prior to 1955 cervical cancer was one of the most common causes of cancer death for American women. As a result of the development of the [...]

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U.S. Preventative Services Task Force on Routine Screening With Mammograms for Breast Cancer

November 20, 2009

November 16, 2009 the Washington Post reports new screening guideline issued by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force now recommending against women receiving routine screening with mammograms for breast cancer prior to age 50. Petitti, Chairman of the Task Force, asserts that the new recommendation will result in “just” 0.7 deaths for every thousand women [...]

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Gardasil, a Good Idea?

October 30, 2009

Gardasil is a HPV vaccine produced by Merck.  HPV, Human Papilloma Virus, has clearly been demonstrated to increase the risk of a woman developing cervical cancer so it would seem to be a good idea to provide young woman, even as teenagers, with a vaccine that would guard against the virus and prevent the development [...]

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