Illinois on the Ledge Again

By Gisela Plazas | December 4, 2008

Three years ago, Illinois became the 36th state to have limits on medical damage awards. This has been a very good thing for the people of Illinois, who were losing physicians in droves, because they could save $100,000 a year in malpractice insurance simply by moving to one of the surrounding states that had caps …

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The Annual Insurance Check-up

By Gisela Plazas | December 3, 2008

This is the time of year when all physicians, managers, and administrators should be sitting down to plan for 2009 expenses. The second or third line item of most healthcare practice balance sheets is INSURANCE. This is one area that should be carefully and personally reviewed with your insurance broker each year. Those practices with …

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Top Five Things to Look For In a Malpractice Insurance Policy

By Gisela Plazas | December 2, 2008

While there are many factors that go into choosing the right dental or medical malpractice insurance policy, here is a Top Five list of things we feel are essential considerations in making the choice: 1. Insurance policies aren’t all equal, nor are they the same. There can be vast differences between the policies offered by dental …

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Illinois Patient Sues Over Disclosure

By Gisela Plazas | November 29, 2008

A woman in Illinois has filed suit against her physician, claiming that she was not properly informed and could not, therefore, give true consent, even though she signed the consent forms. Her condition involved a leaky heart valve. The surgery performed included installing a device, which the patient had consented to. The patient experienced inflammation …

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Iowa Supreme Court Ruling Extends Statute of Limitations

By Gisela Plazas | November 28, 2008

The move is being heralded as a good thing, an opportunity for patients to give their physicians the benefit of the doubt, rather than second-guessing everything. In a legal sense, this is true. Whether patients really care about the statute of limitations in the case of a misdiagnosis is another thing altogether. In the case, …

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Hooray for Tort Reforms!

By Gisela Plazas | November 27, 2008

Nevada is amongst about a dozen states which voted in new Tort Reform. This is to say, they’ve made laws that refine and define, and limit how much may be awarded, and who must pay, in the case of a malpractice judgement. The Nevada changes are good news for everyone. The physicians and their Professional …

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The Doctors Company© Provides Automatic Drug Trial Coverage

By Gisela Plazas | November 26, 2008

The Doctors Company, a leading national medical malpractice insurer has made the process of obtaining coverage for drug trials easier for their policyholders. Existing Doctors Company policyholders participating in clinical trials that are approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) will now benefit from automatic liability coverage. Beginning January 1, 2009 in California, Colorado, Florida, …

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Considering a Medi-Spa? Consider a Consultant

By Gisela Plazas | November 25, 2008

If you’re a physician who is considering offering cosmetic services in a stand-alone medi-spa environment, there are a number of details that need to be considered and attended to. Of course, there’s all of the usual aspects. Location, environment, mood and asthetics, facilities, staff, and the like are all factors. You’ll want to consider the …

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Midwife and Home Birth or Hospitals and C-sections?

By Gisela Plazas | November 21, 2008

Midwife? In modern tiemes? You betcha! An increasing number of women are preferring home births with midwife services over hospital stays and expenses. Some mothers, having had one child in the hospital, feel the expenses are unnecessary, while others feel more confident with a specialist like a midwife. Some women, having delivered in a hospital …

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How to Minimize Your Medical Malpractice Risk

By Gisela Plazas | November 20, 2008

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. With inflation, it’s worth several pounds of cure. This article addresses simple steps that you can take, make a matter of policy, to protect yourself against unwarranted allegations of malpractice. In real estate, it’s Location, Location, Location. Within the Medical profession, it’s Document, Document, Document. …

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