Malpractice charges work way slowly through legal system, if at all

As hospitals and doctors try to implement new ways of preventing lawsuits, scrutiny of the system continues around the country.

The Philadelphia Inquirer: When Medical Apologies Are Fodder For Suits
[Should] doctors' explanations and apologies - be confidential? Or should lawyers be able to query doctors about it on the witness stand? ... These meetings represent one of the most significant trends in medicine today. Regulators are increasingly encouraging hospitals and doctors nationwide to hold such talks with families, trying to change the age-old culture of secrecy in medicine. But should those admissions be fair game at trial? (Vitez, 11/6).

Health News Florida: 90% Of 'Serious' Cases Dropped
Florida's medical boards have taken no action against more than 90 percent of the doctors who lost hospital privileges over the past 20 years, new data show. Most of the time, state health officials learned about the hospitals' disciplinary actions and investigated, but the medical boards' screening panels decided not to pursue charges (Gentry, 11/4).

The Wall Street Journal: Doctor Is Indicted In Medicare Case
A New York-area family-practice doctor who was featured in a Wall Street Journal article about Medicare abuses last year was indicted by a federal grand jury this week for allegedly submitting more than $13 million of false claims to the program (Carreyrou, 11/5). 

WBUR's CommonHealth blog: Surgery Under Scrutiny: What Went Wrong With Vaginal Mesh
Some doctors are accusing the gynecological surgery industry of compromising patient safety for profits. Highly trained pelvic surgeons suggest that their less-specialized gynecologist colleagues are partly to blame. At the same time, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed (Zimmerman, 11/4).