Pennsylvania Law Monitor

“Telemedicine” or “Telehealth” are the terms most often used when referring to clinical diagnosis and monitoring that is delivered by technology. Telemedicine encompasses healthcare provided via real time two-way video conferencing; file sharing, including transmission of health history, x-rays, films, or photos; remote patient monitoring; and consumer mobile health apps on… Continue reading →

In the 1980s, journalists used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain data on individual cardiac surgeons’ surgical outcomes from the New York State Department of Health. A recent JAMA article discusses that type of data and takes the position that despite its limitations, the data should be publicly reported…. Continue reading →

After the sudden deaths of five people following the placement of inflated silicone balloons in their stomachs to treat obesity, the Food and Drug Administration sent a letter to health care providers on August 10, 2017, warning of potential risks associated with the intragastric balloons. All five reported deaths happened within… Continue reading →

A recent New Jersey case addressed a statute of limitations issue pertaining to claims arising from a physician’s disclosure of a patient’s HIV-positive status to a third party without his consent. Plaintiff was a patient of the defendant physician, a board-certified nephrologist. He was being treated for acute kidney failure…. Continue reading →

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 83.6 percent of adults and 93 percent of children had contact with a health care professional in 2015. Hospital visits numbered 125.7 million while physician office visits numbered 922.6 million. While the vast majority of medical procedures go smoothly, errors… Continue reading →

Generally, after an examination for a medical problem, a doctor will sit down with a patient and explain what the issue is and offer treatment advice and alternatives. Often, the patient goes home afterward and then and can’t remember exactly what the doctor said. Was it ice, then heat –… Continue reading →

Heart surgery patients failed to prove that they were injured after Intuitive Surgical Inc.’s da Vinci surgical robot left metal fragments in their brains, said the Eleventh Circuit in upholding a District Court decision dismissing their case. The plaintiffs alleged that MRIs showed that metal fragments discharged from the robot’s… Continue reading →