"Health & Medical News"

A recent Minnesota trial court ruling raises questions about whether medical specialty societies should serve as sentinels over expert witnesses in the courtroom.

A Hennepin County District Court judge tossed out claims that the American Academy of Ophthalmology defamed Charles Yancey, MD, when its ethics committee examined his statements as a plaintiff expert in a medical liability case. The investigation followed a complaint made by two academy members. Ophthalmologists Jeffrey R. Weis, MD, and David R. Hardten, MD, were defendants in the lawsuit and accused Dr. Yancey of giving misleading testimony.

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One physician’s faxed order to discontinue hydrocodone, marketed as Anexsia, was misread by the pharmacist as an order to discontinue Arixtra, an anticoagulant. Another doctor intended to electronically order clonidine, an antihypertensive, but accidentally ordered the sedative clonazepam because both appeared as “CLON” on the computer screen.

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Rocked by the local death of a former student and a car accident involving another fatality that police believe was alcohol-related, Minnesota State University Mankato officials are developing a plan to combat underage and high-risk drinking, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on Nov. 28.? 

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Physicians fear that a recent Minnesota Supreme Court decision could compromise statutory peer review protections and taint physicians in medical liability cases that are tied to negligent credentialing claims.

For the first time, the high court recognized that patients can sue hospitals for allegedly granting privileges to doctors with questionable credentials. The unanimous decision adds Minnesota to a list of at least 25 other states that recognize negligent credentialing claims.

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