Hospitals around the country have fostered a more data-dependent approach to the treatment of patients, and this has meant handing iPADs, smart phones, laptops and other electronic devices to doctors, nurses and technicians.  Such access to information at one’s fingertips is believed to enhance patient safety, by reducing errors, and increasing access to patient data.  However, many hospitals haven't bothered to set down strict rules for the use of electronic devices on the job.  As a result, Hawaii medical malpractice lawyers are coming across a number of shocking cases involving the use of cell phones and other devices by healthcare personnel for personal reasons, from around the country.

The federal administration has been pushing for the expansion of the use of electronic health records in hospitals and health facilities.  However, there's still much that we do not know about the safety risks from the increased use of electronic health records.

According to the Institute of Medicine, there is a real risk of glitches in electronic records that may be serious enough to cause harm to patients.  For instance, data leaks and human error in the use of computers may cause health providers to make mistakes that can be seriously harmful to patients.  For instance, an error in the system may cause a health care provider to administer the wrong dosage of medicine, which could even prove fatal.

While most medication errors have little to no effect on patients, prescribing the incorrect medication to a patient can cause serious damage.  In certain cases, instructing a patient to take improper medication can cause severe injury or even death.

Medication errors are committed by health care professional and can include prescribing, packaging, product labeling, compounding, dispensing, distributing, administering, educating, and monitoring medication use.

HONOLULU - A Maui High School science teacher and his wife are suing Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and other heath care entities, alleging doctors misdiagnosed his rare form of cancer and later refused to cover the costs of treatment elsewhere that saved his life.

 Medical malpractice during the birth of a child can cause a condition known as cerebral palsy.  According to a variety of doctors on emedicinehealth.com, cerebral palsy is a group of disorders affecting body movement, balance, and posture.  It is a sort of “brain paralysis”.

Cerebral Palsy is unlike other injuries because signs of the condition do not necessarily start to manifest until some time after the birth.  Parents often take children home and only start to notice problems after time passes.  The condition usually develops at age two or three.

The most famous case being tried today is the manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.  Dr. Murray is on trial for the murder of the world’s most famous pop star, Michael Jackson.

The media, the public, and the medical world are all fixated on the trial as we wait to see what the jury will do.  The prosecution has rested its case, but not before laying down some harmful evidence that makes Dr. Murray look like he was grossly negligent.

 Negligence is essentially used to describe someone who has acted carelessly.  Specifically, it describes someone who has done something that a reasonably prudent person would not do, or someone who has not done something that a reasonably prudent person would do. 

The court determines whether someone is negligent based on the reasonable person standard.  If a person fails to act in a way that the reasonable person would, he or she may be found negligent.

The kinds of pharmaceutical fraud that Hawaii Qui Tam lawyers come across  can include off-label marketing of drugs, awarding kickbacks, overpricing of drugs, submission of false or misleading data to the Food and Drug Administration before approval of a drug, and violations of current Good Manufacturing Practices of the Food and Drug Administration.  Over the past 15 years, more than $12 billion have been recovered from pharmaceutical companies, mostly through Qui Tam lawsuits filed by whistleblowers.  Most of these lawsuits were filed by whistleblowers, including current and former employees.

It is reported to be the largest study into the infection risks in hospital emergency rooms in the country.  The study published in the November Issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, provides Hawaii medical malpractice lawyers some of the predictors of poor hand hygiene compliance in emergency rooms.

The study analyzed more than 5,800 emergency room patient encounters.  Overall, the study found that proper hand washing practices were used 90% of the time.  However, there were reasons to be concerned too.

Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession, has named Mark S. Davis as the “Honolulu Best Lawyers Personal Injury Litigation - Plaintiffs Lawyer of the Year” for 2012. The publication has also named Michael Livingston as one of The Best Lawyers in America in the area of medical malpractice.