News in brief - Oct. 16, 2006

Judge lowers award dollars in peer review case, lets findings stand - Exhibit examines pain and treatment - Study: Let there be light in hospitals - Doctors don't always give enough information about new prescriptions - Family physicians pick new leaders

Judge lowers award dollars in peer review case, lets findings stand

A Texas federal judge in September reduced a multimillion-dollar jury award to a physician but upheld the unlawful peer review ruling against a hospital and three cardiologists.

U.S. District Court Judge Jorge A. Solis in the Northern District of Texas knocked down the overall damage award against Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and the peer review committee doctors from $366 million to $22.54 million in his ruling in favor of Dallas cardiologist Lawrence R. Poliner, MD. Solis found that jurors had awarded multiple damages for the same claims and determined that the jury's original verdict of more than $200 million for punitive and mental anguish damages was "excessive."

The court denied Presbyterian's request for a new trial, finding that Dr. Poliner's previously "unblemished" career was "decimated" after his privileges were unfairly suspended.

Michael P. Lynn, one of Dr. Poliner's attorneys, said they expected the reduced award but that it was "critical" that the court upheld the jury verdict "to vindicate Dr. Poliner, and through him the other doctors who have been abused by baseless peer reviews."

The 2004 jury verdict captured the attention of the medical community, with some doctors, fearing it would chill peer review participation.

Thomas S. Leatherbury, a lawyer for Presbyterian and the defendant doctors, did not return calls for comment. But a spokesman for Texas Health Resources, Presbyterian's parent company, said the hospital planned to appeal the ruling.

Exhibit examines pain and treatment

A new exhibit, "The Universal Condition: Enduring and Alleviating Pain," is open at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago and will remain on view for a few years. The exhibit educates visitors about pain and medicine's quest to relieve it.

"The Universal Condition" chronicles pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic attempts to control pain from the ancient use of psychoactive plants to contemporary laser therapy to breakthroughs such as inhalation anesthesia. The perception of pain is examined, and case studies provide an in-depth look at some common pain syndromes, explaining their causes and treatments.

Prehistoric trephined skulls, 19th-century anesthesia inhalers and packaging for pain medicines containing opium, cannabis and belladonna are among artifacts from the museum's collection featured in the exhibit. More information is available online (www.imss.org).

Study: Let there be light in hospitals

A new report says hospitals should let in more natural light and use the right kind of artificial illumination to help doctors and other health professionals perform at higher levels and improve patients' well being.

"Light allows staff to better perform visual tasks," said study author Anjali Joseph, PhD, research director at the Concord, Calif.-based Center for Health Design. "It also controls circadian systems, affects mood and perception and enables critical chemical reactions in the body."

Studies have linked better lighting with improved performance of complex visual tasks, according to the report. For patients, light is linked to faster recovery times, less pain and improved mood.

The report is available at the CHD Web site (www.healthdesign.org/research/reports/light.php).

Doctors don't always give enough information about new prescriptions

Doctors frequently neglect to tell patients important information about newly prescribed medications, according to a Sept. 25 Archives of Internal Medicine study.

"Even though doctors prescribing new medications should tell patients the name of the drug, why the patient is getting it, how to take it and potential adverse effects, we're just not seeing this happen consistently," said Derjung M. Tarn, MD, PhD, the study's lead author and assistant clinical professor of family medicine at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

Researchers drew their conclusion based on audiotapes of 185 outpatient encounters with 16 family physicians, 18 internists and 11 cardiologists in Sacramento, Calif. According to the study, doctors explained that the purpose of a new drug the vast majority of the time and told patients the drug's name three times out of four. But physicians failed to talk about potential side effects two-thirds of the time, and only instructed patients about dosage, frequency and timing a little more than half the time.

Failing to reliably give patients the details about new drugs can lead to patient administration errors and noncompliance, the study said.

Family physicians pick new leaders

Wichita, Kan., family physician Rick Kellerman, MD, was installed last month as president of the American Academy of Family Physicians at the organization's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Dr. Kellerman, who served three years as a member of the AAFP board of directors, also is professor and chair of the Dept. of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita.

AAFP members chose Selmer, Tenn., family physician James King, MD, to be AAFP president-elect. He is in private practice and served three years as a member of the AAFP board.

Larry S. Fields, MD, a family physician in Ashland, Ky., took over the role of AAFP board chair. He previously served one-year terms as president and president-elect. Dr. Fields is senior partner at the Family Medicine Center in Ashland. Thomas Weida, MD, a family physician in Hershey, Pa., was re-elected speaker of the congress of delegates, the AAFP's governing body.