Blog Post 2

My research started with exploring psychological and social aspects of malpractice. However, as I have moved along in my research journey, I have begun to focus on the more finite and less noticeable aspects of malpractice cases. I am exploring a variety of malpractice cases, specifically high profile ones. High profile malpractice cases are lawsuits that involve a large amount of media coverage, large verdicts, or outrageous case descriptions. There is no specific reason for exploring specifically high profile cases except for the fact that I have not been able to find any previous research about it. The less noticeable aspects of malpractice cases that I am looking to analyze is whether or not there is any mention of reform after malpractice has occurred. For my study, reform means changing pre-existing laws and regulations to better hospitals and their environment, or how certain solutions were implemented that led to changes for the better.

Data Collection

In my research process, I have achieved many highs as well as many lows. I have been able to find many sources that describe in great detail insane malpractice cases, intriguing me even more about my research. I have also been able to find lots of cases, more than enough to ensure my research is reliable and valid. A key milestone that I have achieved is completing my data collection. A milestone I have accomplished is how I have been able to collect and analyze 60 sources in great detail. I have been able to emphasize my gap in tons of sources, and I have also found cases that span across the United States with many, many different speciality cases. I am hoepful that with this reserach I will be able to find statistical signifigance in the lack of mention of reform.

Here is a visualization of how I am formatting my data and the different columns and sections that I organize my data into.

Process

While collecting data I have constantly been referring to the research question: What are the various causes of high profile medical malpractice cases, and how are these cases contributing to the reforms put in place? To make sure I meet all aspects of this question, my research process on collecting sources involves three steps.

Here's a picture of me reading through an article (Providing an example of my research space, and some of the tools I use)

Find a high profile malpractice case from a reliable source
Read through the source
Analyze the source and its aspects and fill in a spreadsheet covering important information about the case.

Using these sources, I have been able to efficiently and thoroughly collect valuable data. In collecting this data, I have noticed a few patterns. Some of these patterns include how lots of the malpractice case locations fall under the jurisdictions of southern states such as Georgia and Florida, and very populated states such as New York and California. This leads me to believe there could be some correlation between location and malpractice occurence. I have also noted some other patterns in data, such as lots of the sources involving cases where the defendant's specialty is obstetrics or childbirth. This could be due to many fatcosr that I may have to firther explore when I analyze my data. I have also found a pattern in what the articles say about reform. Most of them don't include what was done or what was changed to prevent malpractice, and instead they only include what should have been done, how someone was fired, or how some information was kept private. It is very interesting that most sources don't explain the changes in reform that have occurred that could help the public feel relieved something so horrible won't happen again. For example, in a case where a gynecologist was taking innaperopatie pictures of women without their consent, the article only says:

“Leading the $190 Million Settlement of the Dr. Nikita Levy Case.” Schochor and Staton, PA, sfspa.com/verdicts-settlements/leading-the-190-million-settlement-of-the-dr-nikita-levy-case/.

This is very concerning as it the lack of mention of improvemnts on refrom could leave the public worried about potential future horrendous actions similar to this one.

Problems

My research process has been relatively smooth, and fortunately I haven't been able to run into too many set backs. However, there have been some issues that I have run into. These include running into sources that aren't available and show me the "This page isn't working." Throughout my research process I have also made many mistakes. For my spreadsheet I forgot to add a column, and this forced me to go back and look over all my sources again. I was able to overcome these challenges through perseverance. I was very tired and burnt out of reading sources, but I pushed through and fixed my mistakes. To overcome inaccessible challenges, all I did was search for more and more sources, and I clicked through every case until I was able to find one that I could access.

Reflecting on my reserahc process so far, I think I have come a long way. I have reformed my research process from starting with rates and reasons for malpractice, then shifting to social factors of malpractice cases. After understanding the incredible challenges this idea may pose, I shifted my research to a more general and legal focus. This unlocked so many new ideas and paths that I could follow for collecting data. Through conversation with mentors and teachers, I have been able to narrow my topic and focus on something very specialized to me. Through collecting and reading through lots of sources, I have found that it is easy to get brunt out quickly. After reading so many articles, you get tired of it, and it is very hard to continue. This is what happened to me while collecting data. However, I also discovered that my passion for medicine and my topic is stronger than being tired of reading. This allowed me to persevere through a tired state and to finish my data collection. Looking forward, I hope to soon finish my data analysis, and create graphs and other visualizations to display my work. This will allow me to finish my paper, as well as prepare for my presentation.

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