A Nevada urologist was properly convicted for conspiracy under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for the reuse of plastic needle guides during prostate biopsy procedures, an appellate court has ruled.
Hospitals and surgery centers operate with a number of individuals taking responsibility for a variety of tasks. A surgeon’s reliance on others, however, for the pre-surgery review of medications can expose a patient to catastrophic injury.
Though wrong-sided surgeries have been exhaustively addressed through institutionalized precautions, they still happen. In one case, a surgeon’s stated trust in the patient apparently set in motion an ill-fated course.
While last month’s case showed the balancing test that courts will perform in deciding when to allow government access to a patient’s medical records, a different standard applies to psychotherapy records.
In the ongoing tension between the regulatory oversight of medicine and patient privacy, two new appellate cases tackle the question of when the government’s interest on behalf of the public takes precedent.