Articles related to LEGAL MATTERS

The recent United States Supreme Court ruling raises the bar for evidence that must be shown by the government in order to successfully prosecute doctors who prescribe excessive dosages of painkillers — a huge win for prescribers.

Nearly one-fourth of doctors say they have been subjected to verbal, physical, or sexual harassment at work, with patients and visitors being the most frequent agitators. Organizations must take action to safeguard physicians’ wellbeing since mistreatment has negative effects on patients’ health.

A fascinating case with “Ms. D,” a licensed registered nurse who, as as part of her job, was assigned to work with “Dr. K,” a pediatric neurologist. One of the patients they cared for was a middle-school aged child who suffered from seizures. Learn more details of the case and what happened after Ms. D found out the divorced parents had two different neurologists prescribing two different medications.

Defamation lawsuits were brought into the limelight with the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard lawsuit, and physicians can learn a lot from the questions brought into the case, and most importantly, that even if you win the courtroom case, as Depp did, it can represent a loss in your real life.

The No Surprises Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2022, serves patients by legally protecting them from unexpected bills after receiving “emergency care, non-emergency care from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, and air ambulance services from out-of-network providers.” But there are some doctors, like this acute-care surgeon, who believes the act is unconstitutional and is taking the federal government to court.

The story of “Dr. H,” an up-and-coming physician who was charged with 14 counts of murder in June 2019 after prescribing patients extremely high doses of fentanyl. The prosecution said Dr. H had intended to hasten or cause the deaths of the 14 patients, and it did not matter whether they were severely ill or close to dying. The defense argued the physician was merely relieving the patients’ suffering and that they died from their underlying diseases or being removed from ventilators. Who did the jury agree with?