Avoiding lawsuits: An ounce of prevention

Attorneys offer an insider's view of omissions that could propel a physician into a liability lawsuit.

By Beth Wilson, AMNews correspondent. Sept. 26, 2005.

Lee Goldsmith, MD, a one-time doctor turned plaintiff attorney, issues both good news and a warning to physicians regarding medical liability.

Fewer malpractice cases are being filed against doctors who commit diagnostic errors.

But, physicians are being sued for more preventable practices -- failing to follow policy, failing to read lab results, or in some instances, failing to adequately communicate, says Dr. Goldsmith and other attorneys who conduct seminars at colleges and to medical groups to educate physicians on behind-the-scenes issues of malpractice lawsuits.

"So many physicians get a false impression of what's going on in the legal community today," said Dr. Goldsmith, a partner at Goldsmith Richman & Harz, which operates offices in New Jersey and New York. "They think if they breathe wrong they're going to get sued."

Not so, he said. "Instead of acts of commission, they're acts of omission. Physicians are in a rush. There are too many cases they're trying to handle, and things fall through the cracks."

Many cases are "absolutely avoidable," said Dr. Goldsmith, who has discussed lawsuit prevention at St. Joseph's Hospital in Paterson N.J., and New York University Medical Center, among others.

For example, Dr. Goldsmith is involved with three cases against one institution in which three premature infants were not seen by an ophthalmologist within the standard four to six weeks after birth. The babies are now blind.

In another case, Dr. Goldsmith represented a breast cancer survivor who went in for regular chest x-rays. Although one test indicated a possible resurgence of cancer, the report was filed without the patient being notified, he said.