BY MARTHA STODDARD WORLD-HERALD BUREAU http://www.omaha.com Doctors should be able to apologize when things go wrong without fear that they will be handing ammunition to malpractice lawyers, the Legislature decided Tuesday. State senators voted 29-5 to give first-round approval to Legislative Bill 373, a measure that would make a health care provider’s expression of apology, […]

Charles Toutant New Jersey Law Journal http://www.law.com Popular belief, at least in medical communities, holds that juries in medical malpractice cases tend to side with plaintiffs, even where the case against a doctor is a weak one. But jurors actually tend to believe doctors more than they do plaintiffs, says a law professor who examined […]

Janet Firshein http://www.eurekalert.org (Boston MA) – Despite the potential for conflict of interest, virtually all practicing physicians in the U.S. have some form of relationship with pharmaceutical manufacturers but the nature and extent of those relationships vary, depending on the kind of practice, medical specialty, patient mix, and professional activities, reports a study in the […]

By DEBBIE GILBERT The Times GAINESVILLE A new study finds that if doctors in Hall County were considered as a single group, they would be among the area’s largest employers. “At any given time between the years 2001 and 2025, there would be an average of 2,357 jobs,” said Tom Tanner, a research analyst with […]

http://www.content4reprint.com Most if not all insurance companies have been using expert systems, software that is supposed to mimic highly trained humans , to evaluate car accident and truck accident injury claims. Some insurance companies use it as a tool and for some guidance, but some insurance carriers stick to the response provided by the computer […]

By AMY LAWSON Norwich Bulletin http://www.norwichbulletin.com The walls of Dr. Jennifer Bellino’s office are somewhat bare. Except for a few children’s drawings tacked up on a corkboard, a desk and a computer, most people probably wouldn’t even know it’s an office. But the stark white walls aren’t disconcerting to Bellino’s patients, mostly because they never […]

Guest Opinion: Rick Diamond http://www.news-press.com “You are talking about socialized medicine,” said one of my close friends when I mentioned that today’s column was about the absolute necessity in the United States for universal health care. The fact is that the biggest threat to this country over the next 15 years is not terrorism or […]

By Tracie Darnell, Jaclyn Keenan and Brigid Sweeney Medill News Service Front While the income of most physicians is shrinking under insurance pressures, one medical specialty — largely free from reimbursement hassles — is enjoying a gusher of riches. Plastic surgery, once perceived as the frivolous domain of society matrons and Hollywood divas, has become […]

http://www.thnt.com/ There are no rewards for stating the obvious; still, Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Fred M. Jacobs deserves credit for refusing to pull punches in his appearance before the Assembly Budget Committee last week, calling the state’s health-care system what it is: “broken.” Jacobs said the state has reached a point where […]