Dialysis Centers have malpractice cases and allegations of negligence:
Kidney Dialysis Errors - Malpractice
According to some statistics …obtained on the American Society of Nephrology, over 20 million adults over the age of 20 have chronic kidney disease. Now, there are close to 500,000 people being treated for End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Each year, kidney disease kills more than 14 people out of every 100,000, making it America’s ninth leading cause of death. Several hundred thousand Americans undergo dialysis treatments each year and over 100,000 have a kidney transplant. Almost every large shopping center seems to have a Dialysis Treatment facility close by. As common as this is becoming in our society, treatment for renal failure carries its own risks.
Patients must educate themselves to these risks in order to protect themselves and help to minimize them. Each year, just as with surgeries and other outpatient procedures, exams, diagnoses, people die or are injured unnecessarily due to medical errors committed during their treatment for kidney disease.
In 2000, Medicare determined that 512 dialysis facilities in the U.S. had 20 percent or more of their patients receiving inadequate dialysis treatments, and nearly 1,700 facilities had 20 percent or more of their patients receiving inadequate care for anemia.
The common allegations for Dialysis medical malpractice are similar to other claims:
medication errors, vascular access-related events, dialyzer errors, excess blood loss and prolonged bleeding, dialysis machine leaks, malfunctioning alarms, improper responses to machine alarms, failing to clear dialysis machines of cleaning solutions, negligent cleaning and filtering of water system at the dialysis clinic, dialysate error (improper use of acid concentrate, failing to monitor blood pressure and other vital signs and causing bloodstream infections because of contamination of lines or machinery.
If you are operating a dialysis center, it is important to educate yourself to the practices and procedures followed at your clinic in order to secure good and safe treatment. If you have an experienced insurance agent (or agency team) working for you, you should have access to the best policy, with the important access to risk managers and an underwriting team that understands the risk.
Dialysis Center Liability Insurance:
Just a couple of quick notes about Dialysis Center Liability Insurance. We have access to at least five specialty insurance Carriers, we’d love the opportunity to work with the market to obtain information and rates to help you place this coverage.
A bit of summary information about our programs: The best way to develop the premium for the Dialysis Center is to report to us your last year’s revenue.
Coverage Information for Dialysis Centers
We provide the solution to the critical exposures you face:
- Professional liability/general liability coverage on an occurrence or claims-made basis
- Lab Policy is available,
- Physician Coverage can be included:
- Coverage is available in multiple states for centers practicing interstate.
- Incident sensitive trigger
- Defense outside limits
- Consent to settle is with the first named insured
- Unlimited reporting endorsement available with reinstatement of limits
- Prior acts coverage offered
- $1mm/$3mm primary limits offered with follow form excess up to $5mm/$5mm
- First dollar coverage available as well as various deductible options
- Medical Director coverage included
Information on Dialysis Risk Management is available in many places: The Doctors’ Company, The ECRI Institute and, of course, the ASN (American Society of Nephrology:
- Some things to consider when managing risk of liability:
- From the ASN Website:
- Effects of Cholecalciferol on Functional, Biochemical, Vascular, and Quality of Life Outcomes in Hemodialysis Patients
Summary
Background and objectives Observational studies suggest that calciferol supplementation may improve laboratory and patient-level outcomes of hemodialysis patients with reduced 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels. This randomized controlled trial examined effects of cholecalciferol supplementation in patients on hemodialysis.
Design, setting, participants, & measurements:
Sixty patients with 25(OH)D levels ≤24 ng/ml (≤60 nmol/L) were randomized to receive 50,000 IU oral cholecalciferol or placebo, once weekly for 8 weeks and then monthly for 4 months. At baseline (autumn 2011) and 6 months, testing evaluated muscle strength, functional capacity, laboratory parameters, pulse wave velocity (PWV), and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life-36 survey.
Results Patients were well matched by treatment allocation. Median age was 62 years (range, 20–86), 52% were women, 55% had a history of diabetes, and mean serum 25(OH)D was 17±5 ng/ml (43±13 nmol/L). Patients were assessed over 6 months by repeated-measures ANOVA. Patients allocated to cholecalciferol had significantly higher values of 25(OH)D (P<0.001), 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (P=0.04), and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-5b) (P=0.04) and a greater reduction in phosphorus values (P=0.03) than placebo-treated patients Values of serum calcium, intact parathyroid hormone, and episodes of hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia did not differ significantly between the groups. No significant differences were detected in muscle strength, functional capacity, PWV, or HRQOL.
Conclusions In this randomized controlled trial, patients supplemented with cholecalciferol had higher 25(OH)D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase-5b levels, without increased calcium or phosphorus values. However, no effects were detected in muscle strength, functional capacity, PWV, or HRQOL.
Conclusions in The Doctors’ Insurance Agency are simply that we must partner with your Dialysis Center to find you the proper Professional, General, Business and Umbrella Liability Insurance available.