One of the difficult things about having a career in medicine is that reputation is paramount. It is quite precious and is easily shattered. There are not many industries where interpersonal interaction is more important. From interactions between a provider and his patients, nurses, ancillary staff, and other providers, the professional reputation of a doctor is made. Sometimes it is fair, sometimes it is not. It’s an industry where subjective opinions of others dictates the volume and quality of referrals a doctor can get. Read more →

Recently a very popular colleague of mine was hospitalized. He happened to be hospitalized at the facility where he works and thus you can imagine he was inundated with visitors and friends wanting to wish him well. Unfortunately, the terms of his hospitalization were emergent and thus he did not have a choice in where he went for treatment. His frequent visitors coming into the room began to hamper his recover and his family was forced to try and enforce privacy rules and HIPAA. Read more →

Sometimes we forget that doctors are just like everyday people. They have families, they are members of parent/teacher organizations (PTOs), they help their children with school projects and homework, and they, in many cases, are still repaying school loans. You name it, and yes, the doctor has probably experienced it. So too is the case with sickness. Doctors do get ill, and are seen in the local office, emergency room, and hospitals.

One of the first decisions the doctor-patient must make is whether to reveal that he or she is a physician to the healthcare personnel. This decision is not taken lightly, because the doctor, by admitting he/she is a physician, might inadvertently alter the potential physician-patient relationship. Read more →

Our series on Medicine and Law is starting to wind down. We’ve covered lots of topics including contract and consent, malpractice, causation, informed consent, and abandonment. Now we will talk about third-party liability.

Third party liability means exactly what it says — that a different party other than the physician or the patient hold liability for an outcome. The most common form of third party liability in the medical profession is when a patient is denied coverage by the insurance company for a recommended procedure. I’m sure many of you have seen the Matt Damon movie where he plays a lawyer and represents a patient with cancer whose insurance company repeatedly denied a bone marrow transplant. That movie summarizes the main issues with third party liability. Read more →

It is that time of the year again when medical students start appearing on the wards. If you are a third year student you are now likely starting your clinical rotations. If you are a fourth year student you are probably embarking on away rotations to the specialty of your choice. Every physician has fond memories of being a medical student — the torture from residents and attendings, the constant pimping, the feeling of being a useless fly on the wall, the awkwardness of trying to fit in. Read more →

Continuing on in our series we will now talk about abandonment and terminating the physician-patient relationship. We’ve previously talked about the contract and consent. Then we moved on to medical malpractice and causation. Finally we discussed informed consent. Now we move on to abandonment.

Abandonment is the concept whereby a physician terminates the physician-patient relationship without reasonable notice at a time when the patient still has need of medical attention. This typically is prevented by giving the patient adequate time to find a replacement physician, planning for adequate post-procedure follow up, and giving the patient adequate instruction for care when the patient is not in the presence of the physician. Read more →