Podiatry Malpractice : What is a Podiatrist (internship, residency and fellowship)

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Michael Quinn

INTERNSHIP, RESIDENCY & FELLOWSHIP 

A majority of states do require one year of podiatric residency training for licensure after matriculation from podiatry school. However, this training is in no way standardized or uniform and can vary from state to state as well as from program to program.


Podiatry residency programs range from one to four years and fall within four different categories; Rotating Podiatric Residency (RPR); Primary Podiatric Medical Residency (PPMR) ; Podiatric Orthopedic Residency (POR) or Podiatric Surgical Residency (PSR). An internship is essentially defined as the first year of training.  The PSR programs are further numerically differentiated as PSR-12, PSR-24, PSR-36 and PSR-48 which simply denote the number of months in the program. As their titles denote, each type of program exposes the resident to different aspects of podiatric care. Generally, a graduate of orthopedic and medical programs have limited surgical experiences.

Tip : Since extent and level of training may vastly differ amongst practitioners, the degree of training should be investigated in order to determine whether or not a defendant / expert was formally trained in the practice area or procedure.  The resident log book may provide some insight into the exposure obtained during training.

Residents are required to keep logs of patient encounters, surgical cases scrubbed and their level of participation. Upon completion of the program, the program director certifies the accuracy of the logs. In order to complete a surgical program, the resident must satisfy a specific number of cases in different surgical categories. Upon completion, the log of procedures is submitted to the program director in order to satisfy certification requirements by the CPME and is usually kept by the individual resident for reference during the board certification process.

 
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$3.5 Million Dollar Verdict- CRPS and Partial Foot Amputation (VA)

Posted on June 3, 2008 by Michael Quinn

A jury in Virginia has entered a $3.5 million verdict in favor of Donita Franklin who sued her foot doctor, podiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Feeny,  over a 2003 surgery that she says caused incurable chronic pain  (crps) and led to the amputation of the front of her right foot.





The pain Franklin suffered became a permanent condition that didn't go away even after she had the front of her right foot amputated, Fennell said. Franklin, who used to be a factory worker, now lives on disability and uses a wheelchair or crutches to get around. "She used to be very active before this" and liked to ride horses, the lawyer said. "Now she can't do anything." Steven Feeny, Jennifer Feeny's husband and office manager, said Monday that he and his wife could have settled the suit but felt that "she did nothing wrong and she just had to have her day in court."

Source: Mike Alle, Roanoke Times (VA) [6/3/08]

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Podiatrist sentenced to five years of probation for phony painkiller prescription scheme (PA)

Posted on May 22, 2008 by Michael Quinn

Stuart Deitcher, D.P.M., a podiatrist from Reading, Pennsylvania was sentenced to five year of probation for writing  phony prescriptions to obtain painkillers for himself.

Dr. Deitcher’s license to practice podiatric medicine has been suspended, and according to his attorney his licensee status will come  before a state review board.



the investigation began after reports that the doctor had difficulty standing and walking, recognizing members of staff, slurred speech, frequently dropping items, falling asleep and appeared confused and unable to perform his duties.

The investigation further revealed that on least one hundred occasions Dr.  Deitcher prescribed large amounts of hydrocodone, a painkiller to himself. Deitcher prescribed hydrocodone for himself and had the prescriptions filled at a local pharmacy.  Deitcher had received nearly 40,000 doses of hydrocodone from medical supply companies over four years.

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Podiatry Malpractice :What is a Podiatrist ? (Cont.)

Posted on May 11, 2008 by Michael Quinn

SCOPE OF PRACTICE (Continued from entry below)

The traditional practice of podiatry (podiatric medicine and surgery) overlaps fields of orthopedic and vascular surgery, dermatology, neurology, infectious disease, rhuematology, physical therapy , emergency medicine and radiology as they relate to the foot, ankle and lower extremity.

However, as far as proper scope of practice, it is defined by the state law of each individual state.   In some states, the practice of podiatry may fall under the auspices of the state board of medical examiners.  In others, there may be a governing board of podiatric medical examiners. It is important to ascertain which agency governs the practice, since standards of practice may be generally adopted into the General State Board of Medical Examiners regulations or standards may be defined under a corresponding agency such as the State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners.  

In some states the practice of podiatry may be limited to the foot.  In other states the scope of practice may include the ankle.  In some cases, the practice may include the entire lower extremity.  State law will further define whether the practice is to include bone and soft tissue and in some cases, serve to restrict to the practice to soft tissue only (no bony procedures).   For example, in New Jersey a podiatrist may treat disease in the lower leg, however s/he may not perform surgery on the bones of the lower leg (tibia & fibula)  The recent  case in Texas underscores the definitional disputes that may arise in a states respective statute.

Tip #2.  In addition to the restriction placed by state law on the podiatrist limiting the anatomical location of treatment, some states will also place a further restrict on on the types of procedures to be performed in any particular location.  For example,  bony procedures may be allowed on the forefoot, however procedures involving bone may not be allowed on the rear foot or ankle.

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