Courts in two recent cases affirmed denials of unemployment benefits to healthcare workers, finding that their terminations resulted from employment misconduct. Both workers lost their jobs because of medication errors. In Steffey v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, a Pennsylvania court ruled that a nurse intentionally failed to follow protocols…
A pharmacy resisted a subpoena from Illinois regulators seeking information on medication errors, citing a federal law that encourages pharmacies to track medication errors, but protects the confidentiality of those records. The trial court agreed with the pharmacy’s position in Department of Financial and Professional Regulation v. Walgreen Company, 970…
In a lawsuit alleging a fatal medication error against a physician, a nurse, and the hospital that employed them, the Appellate Division of New York, Third Department reversed the trial court’s dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims for punitive damages. The court ruled in Marsh v. Arnot Ogden Medical Center, 91…
After a nurse’s medication error allegedly caused a man’s death, his executor claimed compensation under the Accidental Death Benefit (ADB) clause of his life insurance policy. The insurance company refused, arguing that the man’s death was not “accidental,” as defined by the policy. The executor sued, claiming in Estate of…
A woman must pursue her lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company in the Southern District of Ohio rather than the District of Columbia, according to a ruling in Sheffer v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. The plaintiff and her husband brought suit alleging claims including strict liability and failure to warn of potentially…
A woman who lost one of her eyes after eye surgery got a new trial after her case went before the Iowa Court of Appeals. After a trial in Whitley v. C.R. Pharmacy Service, Inc., a jury originally returned a verdict in favor of the defendant pharmacy. The plaintiff appealed,…
A significant percentage of Americans have “health literacy” ranked as “basic” or “below basic,” according to a study conducted by the federal government. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) defines “health literacy” as the ability to read, comprehend, and make use of everyday written medical or other health information.…
The arrest of a radiologic technician in New Hampshire on charges that he allegedly infected at least thirty-one hospital patients with hepatitis C, has led to concerns about similar outbreaks in at least seven other states where he worked in recent years, including Maryland. The technician also has a history…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently warned doctors and consumers about a risk associated with a relatively new drug, Ampyra, used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS). Patients who are just beginning to take the drug showed an elevated risk of seizures, and patients with kidney impairments were particularly…
Several groups of doctors and health care officials are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to modify its guidelines for opioid painkiller prescriptions. The proposed changes would include restrictions on “off-label” uses, meaning uses not explicitly approved by the FDA, and limits on the amount of time…