www.policymed.com
even if they are on the hook of anything beyond malpractice coverage, i doubt the plantiff will ever collect anything close to $111 mil
I read the actual details and it isn't as clear cut as you are making it out to be. I don't wish to derail the core topic, but this needs to be said. The NP referred a patient for admission, discussed this with a hospitalist who denied the admission, and the patient died. Its misleading to suggest there was no physician-patient relationship. While I do not absolve the NP of blame, neither do I absolve the hospitalist.Minnesota Supreme Court Expands Medical Malpractice Liability Outside of Physician-Patient Relationship
The Minnesota Supreme Court issued an opinion in Warren v. Dinter. At issue was whether a physician-patient relationship is a necessary element to sustain a medical malpractice claim. The Court held a physician could be held liable for malpractice, e
Definitely isn't avoid like the plague.
More like the primary care provider called you to accept a patient directly for admission with a report of questionable accuracy. Phone calls like that aren't billable and waste time. I get called about dumb **** all the time from random people in different smaller hospitals on patients I can never see and I always tell them to transfer if they are concerned but I shouldn't be held liable for medical malpractice if they call me and ask if a stable PE needs lytics when that is all the detail they give me when in reality the person is in shock with a normal blood pressure.
There is more nuance to it than that and you are digging in simply to make your point. That's fine, but it takes the conversation nowhere.
There really isn't more nuance to it. Unless you have had to take phone calls from some of these clueless outside providers then you don't understand how nonsensical it is to expect that to somehow constitute a physical patient relationship. Making that the new standard degrades care universally because it means patient can essentially only be taken care of at regional hospitals where every subspecialty is ready to drop a note even if it's a 15 second issue that could have easily been resolved on the phone.
In that case the MN Supreme Court said that a physician-patient relationship isn't a prerequisite for medical negligence. Rather, if there was a foreseeability of harm in the physician's actions then a suit wouldn't get thrown out.
It is beyond bull**** to blame your own mismanagement on someone else who was trying to help. Like if I call an neurosurgeon when I work in a satellite hospital for a patient the er wants to admit but is comatose with a subdural and the neurosurgeon says it is nonoperative just check it in a few days because he is busy operating and has been working like an animal for 20+ hours but I know this person is sick. It may be the case that nothing more needs to be done but I need that formally written down which means I reject that admission.
But seriously, admissions get declined frequently enough. I have been on both ends. If you really think the patient is sick and you can’t handle it and you know there is someone out there who can help, you call the transfer center or send the patient to the ER even in an ambulance. Not tell them to go home. That speaks of lack of knowledge and “Dr So and So notified” RN documentation to cover your ass. If this was a Physcian in the clinic they would have gone after he/she for negligence and asked he or she why the issue was not pushed further. But because it was an NP they go after the deeper more educated pockets and the NP can put their hands up and say, “I tried, I notified the doctor and documented it.” Total BS.
