Malpractice

Insurance Firm Pays Fine to
Settle Unlicensed Policy Dispute

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. of Itasca, Ill., has paid a $50,000 voluntary fine in connection with its role in attempting to market medical-malpractice policies issued by an insurance company that wasn't licensed in the state. The St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society and the Kansas City Physicians Organization both were prepared to endorse the coverage when Missouri regulators won a court order last summer to prevent the unauthorized malpractice insurance company from doing business in the state.

Large Medical Malpractice Jury Awards Rare in Ky.
Bill would allow a $250,000 limit in certain cases

Kentucky juries seldom find doctors and hospitals negligent in court cases, and when they do, they don't often award large amounts for pain and suffering or punitive damages, a survey of jury verdicts shows. According to the survey data — collected by the Kentucky Trial Court Review, a legal newsletter, and analyzed by The Courier-Journal — health-care providers won three-fourths of the 357 medical cases tried in the state over the past six years. Among the 89 they lost, 37 resulted in damages for pain and suffering, or punitive damages, exceeding $250,000.

Politics of Malpractice Enter Some Exam Rooms

Be prepared to talk about more than your latest ailment on your next trip to the doctor. Doctors across the state are being pressed to talk politics with their patients as a way of turning the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance into an election issue. Dr. William Kobler, a Rockford doctor and president of the Illinois State Medical Society, wants doctors to make it clear to patients that rising medical malpractice rates might affect their ability to see a doctor. The high cost of malpractice insurance is forcing doctors out of business, he said.

Doctors Protest Insurance Bills

PORTSMOUTH - A busload of Seacoast-area physicians shut down their practices today so they could throw their weight behind bills now before the state Legislature that seek to create legal reform for medical-malpractice lawsuits. Many in the medical community believe the bills, if passed, would rein in medical-liability costs and save physicians from walking away from their practices because of the high cost of doing business.

Governor: Tort Reform Likely to Clear Committee

CHEYENNE -- A proposed state constitutional amendment opening the door for caps on medical malpractice lawsuits is likely to make it out of committee when the Legislature convenes later this month, according to Gov. Dave Freudenthal. But the amendment's overall prospects for passage by the full Legislature are hard to predict, Freudenthal told Wyoming Medical Society Director Wendy Curran on Monday.

Judge Declares Mistrial in Medical Malpractice Case

STARKVILLE, Miss. - A mistrial was declared Tuesday in a medical malpractice case after three jurors said they had been patients at the clinic where the doctor being sued had worked. Angela Poe had sued Dr. William R. Locke, of the Starkville Clinic for Women, alleging the doctor was negligent in the prenatal care and birth of her son, Marvin Winford Poe. As part of the process, lawyers had asked potential jurors whether they had been patients at the clinic or had any kind of relationship with it or its staff. On Tuesday, as the court was preparing for opening arguments, Poe's attorney J.C. Patton told the Circuit Judge Jim Kitchens that three of the jurors had been patients at the clinic.

2 City Juries Award $35M in Lawsuits Against Surgeons

Two Philadelphia juries have awarded $35 million to victims of two surgeries that lawyers claimed went horribly wrong. One jury ordered a Philadelphia surgeon to pay $15 million to the sister of talk-show host Kelly Ripa for failing to properly repair her broken ankle. Linda Ripa, 30, was an aspiring model and actress when she was severely injured while eight-months pregnant in a 1999 car accident. A lawyer for Frankford Hospital, where the surgery was performed, called the judgment excessive and planned to appeal.

Doctors Push for Changes in
Virginia's Medical Malpractice Law

Richmond, Va. -- Doctors across Virginia are heading to Richmond this week to push for changes in state medical malpractice laws. The "white coat" demonstration is scheduled to take place Wednesday at the state Capitol. Doctors say the high cost of medical malpractice insurance is adversely affecting their ability to care for patients - and they're lobbying for legislation that would lower the cap on pain and suffering damages in lawsuits. On the other side, a group of patients injured by doctors plans to tell their story.

House Panel Refuses to Reduce
Damage Limit on Medical Malpractice

PIERRE, S.D. - A plan to lower the limit on damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits was rejected Wednesday by a South Dakota House committee. The Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to kill the bill after opponents said there is no need to lower the cap on damages in lawsuits alleging malpractice by doctors, other medical workers and health care facilities. Malpractice insurance premiums in South Dakota are among the nation's lowest, they said.

Medical Malpractice Insurance
Company Pulling Out of Nevada

A major medical malpractice insurance company has announced it will pull out of Nevada, a move that will send some doctors looking for new coverage. Several doctors said the departure of American Physicians Assurance shows that the state's malpractice insurance crisis is continuing, despite recent medical liability reforms approved by legislators.