Malpractice

Locke offers malpractice insurance plan

Gov. Gary Locke and other Democrats have proposed spending $30 million to ease malpractice insurance costs for some of the state's doctors, setting up a confrontation with advocates of strict limits on pain and suffering awards in malpractice cases. The money proposed is the sweetener in a proposal aimed at reducing malpractice insurance costs without limiting legal judgments.

Controlling the Cost of Malpractice Insurance

Dr. William Hurley is dealing with an emergency patient while facing an emergency of his own. His medical malpractice insurance is about to be canceled. Doctors all over Western Washington are facing the same fate. He says it's because the state has runaway medical malpractice insurance rates.

Farmers cancels some malpractice coverage ahead of schedule

Farmers Insurance Group is canceling malpractice coverage of some doctors as of Dec. 31 -- more than two months ahead of a schedule the company had given Missouri Department of Insurance officials. Other doctors on Farmers policies told Missouri officials the insurance company sent notices in mid-November stating that it would not renew policies that expire Jan. 31.

Malpractice fears lead to halt of birthing option

Women who have had a Caesarean section delivery and want to attempt a vaginal birth in future pregnancies may no longer have that option in Southern Oregon. Three of the four hospitals in Jackson and Josephine counties have stopped offering the option of vaginal birth to women who have previously had a surgical delivery. The fourth hospital could make a similar decision in January.

Making Malpractice Harder to Prove

Doctors' groups, insurers and President Bush have vowed to continue their fight in 2004 to pass legislation that caps jury awards in medical malpractice suits. But there is another movement inching forward, and it, too, could have far-reaching consequences for injured patients. Slowly and quietly, the rules regarding expert witness testimony in medical malpractice cases have been changing: a handful of states have passed legislation in the last two years that generally requires physician experts to work in the same field as a defendant doctor, while professional doctors' groups are setting up committees to review the testimony of their members.

Doctor leaves over malpractice coverage

Surgeon Dr. John Kearney is seeking a six-month leave of absence to return to California, and malpractice insurance coverage is to blame. Kearney said he is hoping Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital's board will grant him the leave at its Jan. 7 meeting so he may be able to return to Elko - if he can work out insurance.

Lawmakers hear differing views on malpractice crisis

Dr. Joe Prosser, medical director at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville, said health care services have grown greatly in the area since 1992 but that the loss of doctors to other states or other parts of this state has started to weaken the ability to provide those services. Prosser said the area first lost its cranial neurosurgeons and now is losing other specialists, all because of substantial increases in medical malpractice insurance coverage in the area.

Hospital's malpractice insurance skyrocketing

Bladen County Hospital's professional liability (malpractice) insurance premiums have been skyrocketing over the past two years and the increases have further aggravated an already tenuous financial position for the hospital. At the Tuesday night meeting of the Hospital Board of Trustees, the board voted unanimously to purchase a policy that will cost $522,469, up more than $78,000 over last year's premium.

State Bar article questions legality of malpractice caps

A Campbell University law professor, in an article published in the Winter 2003 edition of the Journal of the North Carolina State Bar, is challenging the constitutionality of proposed caps on non-economic, or punitive, damage awards in medical malpractice cases. Professor Alan D. Woodlief Jr. says he believes such caps may run afoul of three areas protected by the state constitution - the right to trial by jury in civil cases, the right to an open hearing, and the right to equal protection.

Doctor, Owner of Pharmacy Face Suits

The doctor and pharmacist facing federal charges of illegally prescribing and selling highly addictive painkillers both face trouble on several fronts. Oxnard family physician Michael B. Huff and Ventura pharmacy owner Richard H. Ozar both have medical malpractice cases pending against them from people who claim they became addicted and ill because of their prescribed medications. One lawsuit compares Huff's waiting room to a "line outside a crack house."

Nurse Hurt on Job Wins $10 Million

COLORADO SPRINGS - An El Paso County jury has awarded $10 million in damages to a nurse who was injured on the job at Penrose Hospital but denied speedy medical care. A.J. Silvia, 47, who now lives in Los Angeles, suffered a herniated disc in his lower back while moving a patient Feb. 12, 1996. Although Penrose's doctors said that the longer he waited for surgery, the worse the risk, Silvia was not operated on for 80 days.

Critic of Large Malpractice Awards
Ordered to Pay $800,000 in Damages

A doctor who has been an outspoken advocate for caps on medical malpractice awards was found negligent for a failed hip replacement and ordered by a jury to pay $800,000 in damages. An Allegheny County Common Pleas Court jury earlier this month said Dr. Gerald Pifer, an Allegheny General Hospital orthopedic surgeon, was negligent in replacing Ella Jean Shannon's hip in August 2000.

Man Who Lost Some Sight Wins $2.25 Million Suit

A St. Louis Circuit Court jury awarded $2.25 million to a man who underwent back surgery and ended up losing nearly all the vision in one eye. The damage award for Evan Montgomery, 39, came after a chain of events that Montgomery said started with a misdiagnosis and a set of complications that set him on a perilous course involving life-threatening surgery. An attorney for two of the defendants argued that Montgomery's doctors did all they could under difficult circumstances.

Med Mal Lawsuit Caps Still a Priority for Bush

In a speech at a Republican fundraiser, President George W. Bush reaffirmed his commitment to passing federal medical liability reform legislation. "For the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down on the frivolous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine," Bush told a crowd of well-heeled Republican Party stalwarts at the event, held in Phoenix's Arizona Biltmore Hotel.

Docs Pay to Put Caps on Malpractice Claims

Doctors aren't just talking about reforming medical malpractice insurance. In Oregon, they're backing their words with dollars. The Oregon Medical Association aims to launch a Nov. 4, 2004, ballot measure to cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice claims at a half million dollars. It has raised $580,000 for the effort--mostly from member donations. "In order to sustain a campaign, we need somewhere around $4 million," said Jim Kronenberg, associate executive director of the Oregon Medical Association, and physicians advocacy group with 7,000 members.

Utah Medical Association Backs Arbitration Agreements

Clark Newhall's commentary in The Salt Lake Tribune (Opinion, Nov. 28) about the IHC physician division's decision to require patients to sign arbitration agreements is too full of inaccuracies to let pass unanswered. Just ask anyone who has been through a medical liability dispute that ended up in court (on either side, win or lose) if they enjoyed the process. Ask if they were happy with the legal costs, the length of time it took to resolve the case, the draining, adversarial nature of the battle, the parading of patient medical records in public, etc.

Study Reviews Discussion of Medical
Errors At Hospital Conferences

Doctors participating in internal medicine hospital conferences designed to review adverse medical events do not often discuss related medical errors, according to a study led by researchers from the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC). Study results showed that participants in surgery conferences were more likely than those in internal medicine conferences to discuss medical errors as errors and to attribute errors to a particular cause. Conference leaders for both groups missed opportunities to use explicit language in error discussion, according to the researchers. The study appears in the December 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Mom's Taped Testimony Rips Girl's Doctors

As her testimony was being videotaped, the mother of a 5-year-old Lynbrook girl who died after catching the flu said doctors underestimated the seriousness of her daughter's condition, and one told her shortly before the girl died that she would recover and go home in 10 to 14 days. Lisa Agoado, whose testimony was taped because of a previous courtroom outburst, said her daughter Alyssa's pediatrician, Clifford Butterman of East Rockaway, told her Alyssa's lungs were "clear as a bell" just days before she was hospitalized for double pneumonia in December 1999. After her daughter was hospitalized, doctors at Winthrop-University Hospital told her infectious fluid found around Alyssa's heart was "of no concern," Agoado said.

Advocates for Limiting Malpractice Suits
Promise Retribution Against Opponents

OLYMPIA -- The Washington State Medical Association and other advocates for reining in lawsuits promised Tuesday an aggressive push in the Legislature next year and vowed to unseat vulnerable lawmakers who dare to stand against them. The threat from the state's doctors sets up another confrontation over lawsuit limitations that passed the Republican-controlled Senate this year, only to die in a committee of the Democratic House

Malpractice Insurance Rates May Get State Probe

EDWARDSVILLE -- Madison County officials took steps Friday to seek a state inquiry into the local problem of skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates and the subsequent exodus of doctors from the Metro East area.

Ohio Director Wants $12 Million for Med Mal Fund

Medical malpractice insurance premiums have risen by an average of 30 percent among the five major insurers over the past year and three of the five insurers have experienced financial reversals recently. The Ohio Medical Malpractice Commission, established under SB 281, also is expected to recommend measures, some of which may require funding. The legislation would provide for the transfer of $12 million from the Ohio Joint Underwriting Association (JUA), a state-created medical malpractice insurance company established in 1975, which is being closed.

Appeals Court Reverses Dismissal Of Case

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Court of Appeals has reversed a local judge's dismissal of a medical malpractice suit against a Fayetteville clinic. Circuit Judge Kim Smith had thrown the case out on a motion for summary judgment by the Northwest Arkansas Neurosurgery Clinic of Fayetteville, the sole remaining defendant in the case after settlements were reached with the doctors involved.

Legislative Inaction May Create New Malpractice Crisis

Pennsylvania doctors got a jolt in the mail last week - they may have to come up with thousands of dollars for a medical-malpractice payment by the end of this month. After a year's deferment of their Mcare premiums, doctors were told they might have to pay the state-run medical-malpractice insurance fund premium - about $8,000 to $41,000 for Philadelphia doctors - by Dec. 31 unless Harrisburg lawmakers agree on a funding source to pay the surcharge for them.

Senator Outlines New Medical Malpractice Proposal

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A state senator proposed new insurance regulations and lawsuit limits Thursday as a solution for rising medical malpractice insurance premiums that have caused some physicians to close shop or move out of Missouri. Democratic Sen. James Mathewson of Sedalia said he sponsored the state's last overhaul of medical malpractice laws in 1986, which he hopes will lend credibility to his latest proposal.

Malpractice Bill Drawing Fire From Every Side

The medical malpractice reform bill that recently passed the N.C. Senate is unlikely to please doctors, attorneys or insurance companies if adopted as is by the state House in the spring. Senate Bill 802 is markedly different from its predecessor, Senate Bill 9, which was introduced and championed by N.C. Sen. Robert Pittenger (R-Meck). Gone is a proposed $250,000 cap on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering -- a feature doctors have been vociferously demanding as essential to curbing malpractice insurance premiums.

Just Say No to Forced Arbitration
of Medical Malpractice Claims

In the past few days, many if not most of The Tribune's readers have received a "Dear Patient" letter from Intermountain Health Care informing them that they will no longer receive services from IHC unless they agree in advance to give up their right to a jury trial of any potential medical malpractice claim they might have in future.

Medical Malpractice Still Problem in W.Va.

It may be too early to breathe a sigh of relief and declare the medical malpractice insurance crisis over in West Virginia. There are disturbing indications that hurdles remain to be cleared.

Promised Medical Malpractice Rates Don't Materialize

When Texans voted in September to approve Proposition 12, which allows the Legislature to approve caps of $750,000 on 'pain and suffering' awards in medical malpractice cases, Texans were told that the result would be a cut in the skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates which have been driving doctors out of Texas.

What's Up With Medical Malpractice Insurance In Missouri?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Every Missouri resident who goes to a doctor might end up paying more because of the state's medical malpractice insurance crisis, KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported. Insurance rates for some doctors are doubling, and in many cases, tripling.