Liability Issues
Wil Haines
Description
Collection
Title:
Liability Issues
Creator:
Wil Haines
Date:
3/2/2018
Text:
Hello colleagues and guests,
Hopefully, some of you have gone on to retain law degrees. I wish that I
had done so years ago. Just wondering what the group thinks about
liability as it pertains to O&P. Case: Patient arrives at the office in
a wheelchair with a competitors trans-tibial prostheses in his arms.
We're still three years away from the five year rule. Distal end of limb
was open with multiple open sores, supposedly caused by wearing the
prosthesis. Solution seems to be a TSB socket and elimination of a pin
suspension. So far, test unit is working. Patient was referred to us by
a physician with notes that the patient refused to return to previous
provider after several failed attempts to rectify the problem.
Now, the question. Since the foot and other components look like they
will function as intended, how does the group, in general, deal with
issues of this kind. After being sued in a wrongful death case for
$20,000,000.00 over a wheel chair incident many years ago, I'm a bit
reluctant to consider attaching my components to another providers
devices. After hearing the plaintiff attorney state that we should have
known better in the wheel chair case (which by the way worked out fine
for us thankfully), it seems that we would be held liable for any
failures of the system, regardless of where the system failed. In this
case, all that was needed were new liners, a new socket, etc. The pylon,
foot, and other associated parts could be reused, but at our liability
expense if a failure occurred inasmuch that we modified a competitors
original system.
It is my understanding that CMS requires us to use the patient's
components that are still within the 5 year replacement period unless a
valid justification, excluding legal liability, can be made for not
reusing those components. Legal liability should be a valid
justification. In my opinion, this is a flawed CMS policy if that it
truly the case. Are there any workarounds or opinions of substance out
there? Thanks.
Wil Haines, CPO
To help lighten your day, I'll include an ornery story. What else is
there today in this screwed up O&P world?
There was a traveling salesman who routinely used the back roads to get
from place to place. One day he had an personal emergency out in the
middle of nowhere. He finally stopped at a farmer's house but nobody was
home. So he took it upon himself to walk into their pumpkin patch and
relieve himself of his misery. After cutting a hole in the pumpkin and
doing his sitting, he carefully placed the lid back on the pumpkin and
went on down the road. A few days later, he decide to stop and apologize
to the farmer for what he had done. He knocked and the farmer met him at
the door. After explaining the situation and apologizing, without saying
a word the farmer quietly picked up his phone and dialed a number. When
his wife Sy answered on the other end at the women's sewing circle
meeting, he said Sy it is I and it is poop in the pumpkin pie.
At times it seems like O&P is being been fed a lot of bad pumpkin pie
under the guise of good pumpkin pie.
Finally. Paul, if this doesn't meet the smell test, no pun intended,
it's okay to send it back to me.
********************
To unsubscribe, send a message to: <Email Address Redacted> with
the words UNSUB OANDP-L in the body of the
message.
If you have a problem unsubscribing,or have other
questions, send e-mail to the moderator
Paul E. Prusakowski,CPO at <Email Address Redacted>
OANDP-L is a forum for the discussion of topics
related to Orthotics and Prosthetics.
Public commercial postings are forbidden. Responses to inquiries
should not be sent to the entire oandp-l list. Professional credentials
or affiliations should be used in all communications.
Hopefully, some of you have gone on to retain law degrees. I wish that I
had done so years ago. Just wondering what the group thinks about
liability as it pertains to O&P. Case: Patient arrives at the office in
a wheelchair with a competitors trans-tibial prostheses in his arms.
We're still three years away from the five year rule. Distal end of limb
was open with multiple open sores, supposedly caused by wearing the
prosthesis. Solution seems to be a TSB socket and elimination of a pin
suspension. So far, test unit is working. Patient was referred to us by
a physician with notes that the patient refused to return to previous
provider after several failed attempts to rectify the problem.
Now, the question. Since the foot and other components look like they
will function as intended, how does the group, in general, deal with
issues of this kind. After being sued in a wrongful death case for
$20,000,000.00 over a wheel chair incident many years ago, I'm a bit
reluctant to consider attaching my components to another providers
devices. After hearing the plaintiff attorney state that we should have
known better in the wheel chair case (which by the way worked out fine
for us thankfully), it seems that we would be held liable for any
failures of the system, regardless of where the system failed. In this
case, all that was needed were new liners, a new socket, etc. The pylon,
foot, and other associated parts could be reused, but at our liability
expense if a failure occurred inasmuch that we modified a competitors
original system.
It is my understanding that CMS requires us to use the patient's
components that are still within the 5 year replacement period unless a
valid justification, excluding legal liability, can be made for not
reusing those components. Legal liability should be a valid
justification. In my opinion, this is a flawed CMS policy if that it
truly the case. Are there any workarounds or opinions of substance out
there? Thanks.
Wil Haines, CPO
To help lighten your day, I'll include an ornery story. What else is
there today in this screwed up O&P world?
There was a traveling salesman who routinely used the back roads to get
from place to place. One day he had an personal emergency out in the
middle of nowhere. He finally stopped at a farmer's house but nobody was
home. So he took it upon himself to walk into their pumpkin patch and
relieve himself of his misery. After cutting a hole in the pumpkin and
doing his sitting, he carefully placed the lid back on the pumpkin and
went on down the road. A few days later, he decide to stop and apologize
to the farmer for what he had done. He knocked and the farmer met him at
the door. After explaining the situation and apologizing, without saying
a word the farmer quietly picked up his phone and dialed a number. When
his wife Sy answered on the other end at the women's sewing circle
meeting, he said Sy it is I and it is poop in the pumpkin pie.
At times it seems like O&P is being been fed a lot of bad pumpkin pie
under the guise of good pumpkin pie.
Finally. Paul, if this doesn't meet the smell test, no pun intended,
it's okay to send it back to me.
********************
To unsubscribe, send a message to: <Email Address Redacted> with
the words UNSUB OANDP-L in the body of the
message.
If you have a problem unsubscribing,or have other
questions, send e-mail to the moderator
Paul E. Prusakowski,CPO at <Email Address Redacted>
OANDP-L is a forum for the discussion of topics
related to Orthotics and Prosthetics.
Public commercial postings are forbidden. Responses to inquiries
should not be sent to the entire oandp-l list. Professional credentials
or affiliations should be used in all communications.
Citation
Wil Haines, “Liability Issues,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/208747.
