Recently in Medical Malpractice in Boston:

New data from one of the larger studies of prostate cancer screening are showing that the commonly used PSA blood test may not save lives, reports The New York Times.

The verdict that healthy men shouldn't get the prostate-specific antigen test, or PSA blood test, came down from the United States Preventive Services Task Force. Its conclusions was based on five clinical trials, which showed that while PSA screening did detect more cancers, it didn't save more lives as compared with a group of men that received routine medical care.

Take the scariest and most painful dental procedure known to man and imagine all the ways a dentist might make it even worse. For some Medicaid patients in Fall River, this was precisely their situation when dentist Michael Clair allegedly used sections of paper clips instead of stainless steel posts to do their root canals, reports the Associated Press.

As a result of this mind-boggling act, the dentist is being charged criminally. He pled guilty to defrauding Medicaid, assault and battery, illegally prescribing prescription drugs, and witness intimidation. It turns out that his attempt to do paper clip root canals was an attempt to save money.

Wrong body parts getting operated on; getting the wrong medication; getting seriously disbaled -- according to a hospital safety report released by Mass. regulators the year 2010 was just as bad as 2009, reports the Boston Globe. According to the Globe:

In all, 510 patients suffered from a so-called serious reportable event in 2009 compared with 512 in 2010, according to the numbers released by the state Department of Public Health.

The data is for Mass. hospital mistakes is state-wide and not released for individual hospitals.

A 39-year old Framingham housekeeper died a day after she received breast implants at Destination Beauty Medspa. Results of an autopsy are pending for Adriana Paula Da Silva Toledo that can show whether the woman suffered a breast implants death.

According to MetroWest Daily News, Toledo went to Destination Beauty Medspa over the weekend for her surgery. Toledo was reportedly groggy following the surgery and fell in her bathroom the next day. She was taken to MetroWest Medical Center and was pronounced dead due to a clot in her heart, said doctors. An autopsy may determine whether that clot was related to the breast implants.

The lawyer of former Children's Hospital pediatrician Melvin D. Levine, 71, said that his client passed away over the weekend, according to the Boston Herald. Levine's mysterious death was announced one day after a lawsuit filed last week in Suffolk Superior Court accused the former doctor of medical malpractice and sexual abuse of patients who were children.

Edward Mahoney, Levine's attorney, said "this entire episode" was "a tragedy," but did not provide any further comment on the circumstances relating to his client's death. However, Mahoney asserted that Levine's "care and treatment of all children was appropriate in all respects, and he steadfastly denied the allegations against him."

Attorney Carmen Durso filed a class action lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court against Doctor Melvin D. Levine, a former Boston pediatrician, and the Children’s Hospital. The suit accused the doctor of committing medical malpractice and sexual abuse after he allegedly mistreated children who were patients, reported The Boston Globe.

Durso also claimed the hospital was negligent in not properly supervising Levine in over 40 cases during the last 20 years. The lawsuit stated Children’s knew, or should have known “in the exercise of reasonable care,” that “Levine was not a fit person to be placed in charge of the treatment of minor male pediatric patients, or to be allowed to provide unsupervised care.”

Rebecca Riley's parents sued Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, their daughter's psychiatrist at Tufts Medical Center, for medical malpractice after Riley overdosed at the age of 4 on some psychiatric drugs prescribed by Kifuji. According to the Boston Globe, the lawyers for Rebecca's estate recently announced that Kifuji decided to settle the lawsuit for $2.5 million.

The settlement did not include any admission of wrongdoing on behalf of Kifuji, although the Riley family's Boston personal injury lawyer Andrew Meyer said the doctor's decision to settle could suggest some recognition of responsibility on Kifuji's part. Tufts, however, said officials chose to settle the case to help spare Rebecca's siblings from additional distress.

Millbury couple Laura and Joseph Ginisi filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Worcester's St. Joseph Vincent Hospital seeking money damages, according to The Associated Press. The couple claimed the hospital misdiagnosed several of the strokes Joseph Ginisi had in 2004. Laura Ginisi also alleged that the delay in her husband's treatment for cancer at hospital led to Joseph becoming unable to walk and legally blind.

Medical malpractice cases involve negligence on behalf of a professional health care provider, like a hospital or doctor. The patient must have suffered harm or injury from the health care provider's failure to perform a standard of care met by those with similar training or experience. An MA personal injury lawyer can further explain the elements and process behind a medical malpractice claim.

Rapin Osathanondh, 67, was criminally charged for the death of 22-year-old Laura Hope Smith after performing an abortion on the Sandwich resident three years ago. He also settled a civil suit in Barnstable Superior Court and agreed to pay $2 million to Tom and Eileen Smith, the victim's parents.

An MA personal injury lawyer could see how delicate and complicated a case like this can be. Laura Smith's mother stated "Laura got justice, but it's a tragedy all the way around."

At the time of Smith's abortion, Rapin Osathanondh was a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health. He was one of the researchers who found a revolutionary method for inducing early labor in women whose fetuses had died. He practiced at the Women's Health Center in Hyannis which is now closed down. Laura Smith underwent the abortion there in September of 2007.

It seems that if doctors say "I'm sorry", admit their mistake, and offer some compensation, it can help prevent a patient from filing a medical malpractice lawsuit with their Boston personal injury lawyer. BusinessWeek reports that new research based on a program launched in 2001 by the University of Michigan Health System shows that there was a reduction in the number of lawsuits, faster resolution of disputes and lowered legal costs when patients were told about the medical error and given an apology along with an offer for fair compensation.

It seems to run counter to traditional ideas that if doctors admit fault, that they welcome lawsuits. Study author Allen Kachalia, medical director of quality and safety at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said: "Lots of people say that if we do the right thing and disclose errors, malpractice claims and liability will ruin it. What our findings show is it can be done, and in fact, liability costs and claims actually got better."