Physician refuses to wait on hold
A radiologist’s impatience creates a fatal failure to communicate. Is the referring NP also to blame?
All articles by Ann W. Latner, JD
Missed tick bite leads to tragedy
Attributing the symptoms to a virus, a PA decides not to prescribe antibiotics—with disastrous results.
Symptoms, diagnosis don’t match
Mr. R, age 54, was a diabetic, moderately overweight construction worker. One day he tripped at a job site, falling heavily on his right hip. Despite the pain, he finished his shift, then he went home, took an ibuprofen tablet, and went to bed. When he awoke in agony at…
Speeding through history
Mr. B, a 34-year-old physician assistant, was having another frenetic day in the gastroenterology clinic, and he was not happy. When he had taken the job a year ago, he had hoped it would…
Test results send youth into a tailspin
With two positive ELISAs, an NP sees no need to ask for help in evaluating analyses to diagnose HIV.
A patient’s belligerence rattles PA
Would a severed nerve have been recognized had the patient been less confrontational in the ED?
Nosy nurse runs afoul of HIPAA rules
Breaching the privacy of a patient’s records could land her in jail and jeopardize the entire clinic.
“Sometimes tragedies just happen”
When a 16-year-old dies after an auto accident, his distraught parents look for someone to blame.
Routine lulls doctor into sloppiness
After missing early signs of colon cancer, did heneglect to recommend a colonoscopy as well? Dr. D, 62, was a general practitioner in a quiet Midwestern suburb. He enjoyed his reputation as a kindly, old-fashioned family doctor just as his father and grandfather had before him. But after 25 years, he was ready to wind…
PA stumbles over vague instructions
An injured hiker charges that deciding when to start antibiotics should never have been his call to make. Should a patient be expected to determine whether a wound is infected? Mr. C, a 38-year-old physician assistant, learned the answer the hard way when that question led to his involvement in a malpractice lawsuit. Mr. C…
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