Could a clinical mistake land you in jail?
Crane, M.
Medical Economics 71(4): 46-48; 50 54 Passim
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-7206 PMID: 10184036 Document Number: 437815
Internist Gerald Einaugler is facing 52 consecutive weekends in New York's notorious Riker's Island jail because he was slow to hospitalize a terminally ill nursing-home patient. A jury convicted the Brooklyn physician last June of reckless endangerment and willful neglect, both misdemeanors. He has lost his privileges at a hospital and two nursing homes, and has been disqualified as a Medicaid provider. He may also lose is medical license. What he considered conservative management, a prosecutor saw as criminal neglect, a deliberate attempt to thwart appropriate treatment.