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An Orange County doctor has been disciplined by the Virginia Board of Medicine Date published: 1/27/2010
BY JIM HALL An Orange County doctor has been reprimanded by the Virginia Board of Medicine for failing to properly diagnose and treat a patient with heart problems. The medical board said that Dr. Amy Cooley "failed to appreciate" that her patient's symptoms were "risk factors for an acute cardiac event." Immediately after the man left Cooley's office, he was in a single-car auto accident and died. The medical board disciplined Cooley at a hearing in Richmond Jan. 7. The board ordered her to take 12 hours of continuing education classes in emergency and urgent care. Cooley this week declined to comment about the board's actions. She works at Orange Family Physicians on James Madison Highway in Orange. The disciplinary action stems from a visit by one of Cooley's patients on Feb. 11, 2009. According to board documents, the 52-year-old man, identified in the board's order as "Patient A," came to Cooley after having heartburn for three weeks. He described his pain as "pressure-like," according to Cooley's office note. The man had a history of high blood pressure, used tobacco and alcohol and did not take his medicine regularly. His blood pressure in her office was 200/100. According to the board's findings, Cooley failed to take and record a complete medical history of the man, did not repeat the blood-pressure test and did not do an electrocardiogram or perform lab tests to rule out heart problems as the cause of his distress. Cooley told the medical board that she counseled the man about his diet. She prescribed a blood-pressure medicine and one for gastroesophageal reflux. She also told the man to return for a follow-up visit in two weeks. "Immediately after leaving Dr. Cooley's office, Patient A was involved in a fatal single-car motor vehicle accident," according to the board's order. The man's death certificate, dated March 5, 2009, listed blunt head trauma as the cause of his death. The death certificate also said that his heart condition was a "significant condition" contributing to his death. No postmortem exam was done. Cooley graduated from the West Virginia University School of Medicine, according to her profile on the Board of Medicine's Web site. She did her internship, residency and fellowship work in family medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She also was an instructor at the Charlottesville school in 2006-07. She obtained her medical license in 2006. Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
And you think you got problems NOW with doctors overordering tests & consults??!!! Wait 'til they have to pay the plaintiff's costs if they lose, & see how many "cover my arse" tests, X-rays, & specialty consultations they order! Good Grief!!!
hook, line and sinker.... think about this... in years past,
victims had no way to get justice.. because the big
companies would just tie the case up in courts until the
little guy ran out of money or died...
so how would you solve this issue ?
I've never heard a reasonable solution from the Tort
Reform guys... they'd just have us go back to system where
little people got squashed .
money for unlimited lawyers and court proceedings. Pretty
soon, the little guy can't pay the lawyer arguing his case.
The only way you can protect the little guy is to have a
system where the guy who becomes his lawyer can stay with
the case and eventually get paid.
And the current arrangement where he does not get paid if
he does not win - assures that he will do the best job he
can.
You can guarantee that the other side - these big
companies have a powerful legal ability...
It is the contingency fees that drive up the costs of malpractice insurance as well as liability insurance for us all. Removing the cut of those fees from the lawyers? pockets will not affect the little guy?s ability to bring suit, other than weed out the frivolous suits. The lawyers would still be able to set their fees and would take the ones worthy of pursuit, especially if the losing side paid the lawyers? fees.
and I don't know to what degree the doctor is responsible. I do know, however, that we as a country don't want to be held responsible for any of our choices. No one can be held accountable for their genetics, but come on, if you know you have HBP, family history of heart disease, etc., don't you have a personal responsibility to watch your weight, exercise, and take care of yourself? If not you, who?
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