Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder Blog

Contaminated endoscopes are suspected of causing a deadly outbreak of the superbug CRE (carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae) at UCLA hospital in California, where at least 7 patients have been infected and 2 have died.

Several other hospitals around the country have reported incidents of infection following ERCP procedures over the past couple of years.

Jeff Rossen, in his Today Show segment The Rossen Reports, reported that a recent government study shows that at least 100,000 doctors (or 1 in 10 doctors currently working) are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. And according the non-profit group Consume Watchdog, 18 percent of doctors have an addiction problem at some point during their career. Some of these doctors have managed to perform their duties while upholding their Hippocratic Oath to "do no harm." Unfortunately for some patients and their families, this has not been the case with some of the other doctors.

The NFL has reached a $765 million settlement over concussion-related brain injuries among its 18,000 retired players, agreeing to compensate victims and pay for medical monitoring. Although the NFL has admitted no liability, the settlement is a tacit admission that the league handled concussed players improperly for many years, leading to permanent injuries and deaths.

At Koskoff, we know that the important safety issue of concussion-related brain injury goes well beyond the NFL. There are 3.8 million concussions in the United States per year during competitive sports and recreational activities, many of them in children. While concussions occur in all sports, the highest incidence is in football, hockey, rugby, soccer and basketball. The NFL settlement is yet another reminder that sports-related concussions need to be taken seriously by parents, coaches and school officials.

The source listed at the end of this post provides another example of medical billing abuse by health care providers, medical billing services, and health insurance companies. Under Connecticut law, it is illegal for any "health care provider to request payment" from a person who has health insurance, other than a copayment or deductible, for medical services covered under a managed care plan. (See Connecticut General Statutes Section 20-7f.) Unfortunately, this statute is largely ignored by medical providers and their billing services, to the detriment of patients. This practice is often called "balance billing" in the medical billing industry.