News in brief - July 12, 2004

Kentucky court says no to pharmaceutical lawsuit - Charity care at issue in 18 lawsuits - Illinois medical school put on probation - $8 billion endowment to enrich medical campus - 4 physicians get Pride in Profession awards - JCAHO wrong-site surgery prevention protocol implemented

Kentucky court says no to pharmaceutical lawsuit

When pharmaceutical manufacturers tell physicians about their products' possible side effects, patients can't sue drug makers if complications arise, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 opinion in June.

Robert I. Larkin and his wife, Barbara A. Larkin, sued Pfizer Inc. and G.D. Searle & Co. after he suffered from toxic epidermal necrolysis and Stevens-Johnson syndrome. His physician believed either the Daypro or Zithromax, or both, that he prescribed for Larkin caused the problems. Larkin sued the companies, claiming that they didn't warn consumers about potential risks. He did not sue his physician.

The court said the companies warned physicians about the side effects and that Kentucky's informed consent laws "anticipate that doctors will inform their patients of any risks or dangers inherent in proposed treatment." But a patient may be able to sue a manufacturer if it didn't warn physicians about risks.

"Manufacturers still have a duty to warn," the court said. "The rule only identifies the party to be warned, i.e., the health care provider who prescribes the drugs. If the manufacturer fails to adequately warn the prescribing health care provider, the manufacturer is directly liable to the patient for damages resulting from that failure."

Charity care at issue in 18 lawsuits

Uninsured patients in June filed 18 proposed class-action lawsuits against nonprofit hospitals in 10 states, claiming that the hospitals don't provide the charitable medical care they agreed to provide in return for tax exemptions. More lawsuits are expected in the weeks to come.

The patients claim that the hospitals end up with hundreds of millions of dollars annually as a result of the tax breaks, and they are asking the court to make the hospitals fulfill their agreements with the federal, state and local county governments to provide charity care.

Hospitals named in the lawsuits deny the allegations.

"Our legal system continues to be clogged by the filing of baseless and misdirected lawsuits against hospitals, diverting focus away from the real issue -- how we should work together to extend affordable health care coverage to all Americans," South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Assn. Linda S. Quick said in a statement.

Lawsuits have been filed against nonprofit hospitals in federal courts in Arizona, Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

Illinois medical school put on probation

The Chicago Medical School in North Chicago, Ill., has been put on probation by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the organization which accredits U.S. medical schools.

The LCME cited the school for needing to reduce its dependency on student tuition, which is among the highest in the nation at $37,000 a year. The LCME also said the school needs to stabilize its medical staff, improve the curriculum and build stronger relationships with hospitals for clinical education.

The decision makes the school the only one in the United States currently on probation. The school has up to two years to correct these problems.

School officials said the LCME report also commended them for changes already under way. A three-year strategic plan issued in 2003 froze tuition for five years and began construction of new educational facilities. Several leadership positions have been filled, including the president and CEO and the dean of the medical school.

$8 billion endowment to enrich medical campus

The Weill Cornell Medical College-Qatar, a branch of the New York-based medical school, will be among the beneficiaries of a $900 million hospital and an $8 billion endowment to run the all-digital medical and research center.

The gift is from the Qatar Foundation, which also helped establish Cornell's medical campus in Qatar. The 350-bed hospital will serve as the primary teaching hospital for Cornell-Qatar medical students, who are expected to begin training at the facility when it is finished in 2008.

The hospital will focus on women's health issues, as well as neonatal and infectious childhood diseases.

4 physicians get Pride in Profession awards

A former Massachusetts Medical Society president and the founder of a volunteer medical clinic are among the 2004 Pride in the Profession Awards winners chosen by the AMA Foundation. The four award recipients are Leonard J. Morse, MD; Bruce E. Gould, MD; Quynh Kieu, MD; and Jack B. McConnell, MD.

Dr. Morse is a Worcester, Mass., internist and past president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He is immediate past chair of the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs.

Dr. McConnell is a pediatrician and nationally renowned scientist. He founded the Volunteers In Medicine clinic, which provides free medical care to uninsured citizens of Hilton Head, S.C., and has been a model for about 30 similar clinics nationwide.

Dr. Gould is an associate dean at the University of Connecticut Health Center who has created innovative programs to provide medical assistance to migrant farm workers. He has been instrumental in raising funds and advocating for migrant workers.

Dr. Kieu is a pediatrician who created "Project Vietnam" in 1997 to help provide U.S. medical assistance and training to the underserved in her native country. Her advocacy and activism helped persuade the Vietnamese government to institute a national policy of childhood immunization that is expected to help save thousands of lives.

JCAHO wrong-site surgery prevention protocol implemented

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's universal protocol for preventing wrong-site surgeries went into effect July 1.

Now all JCAHO accredited hospitals must follow the protocol, which includes a preoperative verification process to ensure that the patient's and surgical team's expectations regarding the procedure and surgical site are the same, an unambiguous mark of the surgical site has been made, and a "time-out" is taken immediately prior to the start of the operation to make a final verification of the patient, surgical site and procedure.

JCAHO received more than 3,000 online survey responses in the process of developing the protocol.