Malpractice

Medical-Malpractice Battle Gets Personal

There are 73,084 working lawyers in Texas. Selina Leewright never thought that being married to one would cost her her job. But that's why Leewright, a nurse, was fired last summer by Good Shepherd Medical Center in the East Texas city of Longview. In dismissing her, hospital officials praised her nursing skills as "fantastic." But they told her that because her husband, Marty, worked at a law firm that does medical-malpractice litigation, the hospital could not continue to employ her. "I was dumbfounded," Leewright says. "They just assumed that my husband does medical malpractice, which he doesn't at all."

Closing Arguments Made in Malpractice Suit

Attorneys representing clients in a medical malpractice jury trial at the San Benito County Superior Court gave closing arguments Thursday. Hollister resident Dorothy Castillo, 68, is suing Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital and Dr. Robert Wlodarczyk, a cardiologist, for alleged negligence during a 2001 heart procedure that caused her to become a quadriplegic, according to her attorney, Victor Stefan.

Damage Caps Re-Emerge In Malpractice Bill

Twenty-five state representatives signed a "discharge resolution" Tuesday in an effort to force a vote on a Senate bill capping noneconomic damages for medical malpractice lawsuits. State Rep. Ellen Bard, R-153, termed the action a "historic event," noting, "it has not been done successfully since the 1960s or '70s. I don't believe it's ever been done by the majority party."

Challenge To Lawsuit Limits Rejected

LITTLE ROCK — The state Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a lawsuit challenging Arkansas' new law limiting damages in civil cases, saying it lacked jurisdiction to hear the original action. Without further comment, the high court granted a motion to dismiss the challenge to the constitutionality of Act 649 of 2003.

Taft signs 2 bills to put lid
on medical malpractice costs

COLUMBUS - Those suing doctors and hospitals for malpractice would have to immediately back up their claims with a medical expert under a bill signed into law yesterday by Gov. Bob Taft. A companion bill also signed yesterday would force malpractice insurance companies to provide advance notice of their intentions to raise premiums, cancel policies, or stop writing policies in certain specialties or geographic areas of the state.

Gov Says Budget May Hinge on Malpractice Reform

Reaching a deal on a state budget may hinge on "meaningful" medical malpractice reforms that doctors long have been seeking, Gov. Blagojevich said Thursday. The governor also hinted strongly during an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board that he will overhaul the Illinois Gaming Board, which is under fire for its March decision to route the state's only available casino license to Rosemont, even though the board's staff recommended the license go elsewhere. There is one vacancy on the five-member panel, and the terms of chairman Elzie Higginbottom and member Violet Clark expire June 30.

Effort Under Way To Get Caps Out of Committee

Twenty-five state representatives signed a "discharge resolution" Tuesday in an effort to force a vote on a Senate bill capping noneconomic damages for medical malpractice lawsuits.

Bill Would Prohibit Doctor Selectivity

HARRISBURG -- Responding to scattered reports of physicians nationwide using unsavory tactics to fight for state aid and lawsuit liability caps, House Democratic leadership is pitching a law that would prohibit Pennsylvania doctors from refusing to treat a patient based on the patient's job, political opinions or litigation history.

New Tort Law Gets Mixed Reviews

JACKSON - Gov. Haley Barbour on Wednesday signed the tort reform bill he pushed through the Legislature, saying it will end "lawsuit abuse," help change Mississippi's reputation as a lawsuit mecca and help the state attract more industry. The new law provides businesses more protection from lawsuits and places caps - some of the lowest in the region - on pain-and-suffering and punitive damages when businesses are found to have harmed consumers. Barbour signed the bill in front of dozens of lawmakers, lobbyists and business leaders at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Supreme Court to hear 'Terri's Law' appeal

TALLAHASSEE -- The protracted legal battle over the life of a brain-damaged woman whose family and husband disagree over whether she'd want to die or be kept alive will move to the Florida Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed 4-3 Wednesday to hear the case over a law allowing Gov. Jeb Bush to order doctors to continue feeding Terri Schiavo by a tube at her Pinellas County nursing home.

Many Doctors Practice With No Insurance

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Dr. Rene Loyola, a surgeon for 29 years, refuses to buy malpractice insurance because of the high cost of premiums. He has put just about everything he owns in his wife's name to protect it from potential lawsuits. The practice, called "going bare," is most rampant in Florida, where health officials say more than 3,000 of the state's 89,000 licensed physicians have dropped their coverage.

Police Slow on Malpractice Cases

Another malpractice report was filed with the police on Friday, bringing the number of such cases reported to city police to four in the past two months. City police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara said his officers were working hard on the cases, but none had been completed nor any suspects named. "Investigation into malpractice takes time. We also have to be careful in investigating such cases because we largely depend on information from witnesses," he said. Mugiharto filed a police report against two doctors at Pondok Gede Haj Hospital in East Jakarta.

Doctor Negligent In Death Of Woman

A York County Superior Court jury has awarded $1.6 million to the family of a Wells woman who died after a York cardiologist prescribed a clot-busting medication that caused her to suffer a fatal brain hemorrhage. The jury found that Dr. Alan Hymanson was negligent when he administered Retavase to Joan Healy of Wells when she was brought to York Hospital in March 1999. The jury said York Hospital was not negligent. Healy was brought to the hospital after complaining of chest pains. After being given the drug, Healy suffered a brain hemorrhage that left her unable to walk or speak. She died two days later in York Hospital's Intensive Care Unit.

Twelve To 15 Percent HMO Hike Expected

Inflation may be hovering around 3 percent, but many Massachusetts residents will begin paying as much as 15 percent more for health care when new premiums take effect in January. The expected increases, which continue a trend of large price hikes over the state's already large health costs, have many concerned observers looking at potential legislative fixes. Importing drugs from Canada, limiting medical malpractice jury awards and a single payer universal health care system are among the proposals.

Lawsuit Limits Go Into Effect in Miss.

JACKSON, Miss. - Gov. Haley Barbour signed a new law Wednesday that limits large jury awards, touting it as a big step forward in erasing Mississippi's image as a haven for eye-popping verdicts. "Mississippi has been named for three years in a row the worst state in the country for lawsuit abuse. And the Legislature changed this perception overnight," the Republican governor said during a ceremony in the Capitol.

Lawsuit Limitations Bill Signed

The governor signed the bill during a Capitol ceremony attended by legislators and business leaders. He received a round of applause as he completed the process. The bill makes several changes in where lawsuits can be filed and how much can be awarded. It was passed during a contentious special legislative session that ran from May 19 to June 8. Trial lawyers and consumer advocates say the bill limits compensation for people who are hurt by faulty products or others' negligence. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year called Mississippi a "judicial hellhole'' because of large jury awards.

Lawmaker's Daughter Denied Treatment Over Politics

State Rep. Earle Banks, D-Jackson, says he's angered that a plastic surgeon refused to treat his daughter because the lawmaker recently voted against civil justice reforms. "I believe it is outrageous that a doctor refuses to treat a patient because of the patient's family's political views or beliefs,'' Banks told The Clarion-Ledger on Friday. Tort reform passed, and the session is over, Banks said. "It is so childish.''

Med-Mal Mess on Mend?

Neurosurgeons refuse to perform high-risk surgery. Doctors leave Illinois to find cheaper insurance. And the state medical society chief warns that only a cap on jury awards can solve the malpractice crisis. Sound like last week's news? Actually, it was the 1980s. Then, as now, ISMIE Mutual Insurance Co., the state's dominant medical malpractice insurer, sharply raised premiums charged to physicians and lobbied state lawmakers for limits on malpractice verdicts.

Tort Talk Common Topic at Gathering

BILOXI — Civil justice reform was a hot topic of discussion at this year's Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association convention. About 200 trial lawyers attended the annual event this weekend. The four-day convention concluded Saturday at the Grand Casino Biloxi's Bayview Convention Center. Biloxi lawyer Will Denton was one of the speakers. He praised Mississippi trial lawyers Friday for fighting tort reform and encouraged them to continue helping consumers who suffer at the hands of big business.

Record Medical Malpractice Award in Monroe County

A trial in Monroe County ended Friday with the largest medical malpractice award in the history of Monroe County. Two doctors must pay $5.4 million to the family of a woman who died from breast cancer. Maureen Thiel of Bushkill died in 1998 at the age of 43. Thiel's lawyers argued that her doctors did not do enough to diagnose her breast cancer and begin treatment. The jury in Monroe County agreed and awarded Thiel's family more than $5 million in damages.

Cole Wants Home Rule To Battle Malpractice Insurance

CARBONDALE -- Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole wants to take the state's medical malpractice insurance crisis into his own hands. With reform bogged down in the Illinois Legislature, Cole wants to tap the city's home rule powers to keep Carbondale malpractice cases in Jackson County, preventing lawyers from seeking a more sympathetic venue. He also proposes capping non-economic damages -- so-called "pain and suffering" awards -- to three times the actual economic loss to the plaintiff.

Union Couple Awarded $4.6 Million in Malpractice Suit

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - A Union couple whose baby suffered brain damage as a result of a cardiac arrest has settled a medical malpractice lawsuit for $4.6 million. Matt and Linda Parkins sued Pediatric Associates P.A. of Spartanburg, Dr. William W. Burns of Spartanburg and Greenville Hospital System. The lawsuit alleged that their 20-month-old son, who suffered from a substantial adrenal insufficiency, was stricken because the defendants decided to wean him off the synthetic cortisone Cortef. The boy suffered "past and future irreparable brain damage" after his breathing and heart function ceased, according to the lawsuit.

Obstetricians Pay Most in Legal Awards
Malpractice premiums drive many out of N.J.

Doctors in New Jersey who bring babies into the world paid nearly three times as much in malpractice payments during the past five years as any other type of physician. A Star-Ledger analysis of malpractice payments released last week by the state also shows obstetrician/gynecologists paid 28 percent of the largest settlements during the same period.

Licenses Advocate, MD to Sell Medical Malpractice Insurance

AUSTIN, TX -- Advocate, MD Insurance of the Southwest, a subsidiary of Advocate, MD Financial Group, Inc. today announced it has received a license to sell medical malpractice insurance by the State of Texas Department of Insurance. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the new company has been established to ease medical professionals' financial burden by offering high quality medical liability insurance at a reasonable price, ultimately lowering the cost of practicing medicine.

Attorneys Not to Blame

As a plaintiff's attorney in Southern Illinois, I have been reading with dismay the repeated attacks and accusations upon plaintiff's attorneys as the cause of the continuing increases in medical malpractice insurance premiums for physicians. The most recent was by Dr. Sumeer Lal on May 11, 2004. Contrary to what the public may be led to believe, Jackson County is not a plaintiff/patient-friendly venue. After six years of practice across the street from the courthouse, I cannot remember a single medical malpractice verdict more than $1 million. The medical malpractice crisis is the creation of the medical malpractice insurance industry in response to the decreased earnings from investments in a weakened economy.

Nevada Trial Lawyers Group Part of Petition Drive Coalition

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The Nevada Trial Lawyers Association is supporting two statewide initiative petitions that critics say aim to overturn medical malpractice reforms. Trial Lawyers Association spokeswoman Vickie Riley confirmed the group is a member of People for a Better Nevada, the coalition collecting signatures to qualify the measures for the November ballot. "The association thinks this is good public policy and an essential vehicle to accomplishing meaningful insurance reform," she said Wednesday.

Will Courts Allow This Disguised
Attempt to Thwart Malpractice Suits?

The Supreme Court of Florida isn't supposed to care about the merits of an amendment proposed by a doctors' organization that is targeting medical malpractice lawyers. The state's highest court is just supposed to decide whether the wording is clear enough that voters will understand what the constitutional amendment would do. But that's funny in this case. The feuding parties who know the proposal best -- the doctors and lawyers and insurance companies -- can't begin to agree on what this proposal would do.

A Chilling AMA Resolution:
What Happened to the Hippocratic Oath?

Unless cooler heads prevail, the American Medical Association is teetering on the brink of public ridicule, mockery and indignation. Resolution 202 has been introduced by Dr. J. Chris Hawk III from South Carolina to the AMA's Committee B. It is aimed directly at trial lawyers as patients. This resolution sets a new record for loss of sensitivity toward the tens of thousands of patients who die every year due to the gross negligence or incompetence called medical malpractice.

Barbour Touts Lawsuit Limits On 'Tort Tour'

JACKSON, Miss. -- Gov. Haley Barbour is touting Mississippi's new lawsuit limits during stops in Washington and New York. Barbour spoke Wednesday in Washington to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which last year ranked the state as a "judicial hellhole" because of high jury verdicts. Lawmakers meeting in special session last week approved a bill that makes several changes to the civil justice system, including capping pain-and-suffering damage awards at $1 million in general lawsuits and $500,000 in medical malpractice cases.

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Doctors Debated Lawyer Malpractice Fees

TALLAHASSEE -- Doctors tried to convince the Supreme Court on Tuesday that a proposal to give patients at least 70 percent of jury awards in medical malpractice case is clearly understandable and should go before voters Nov. 2. Doctors are aiming at trial lawyers who represent malpractice victims, seeking to limit the percentage of winnings they can take as fees. The medical community says that may keep lawyers from taking meritless suits, something doctors contend is making practicing medicine in Florida prohibitively expensive.

Court Hears Arguments to Cap Medical Malpractice Attorneys' Fees

TALLAHASSEE — Attorneys representing Florida physicians shot back Tuesday in their continuing battle with plaintiffs' lawyers over medical malpractice as they urged the Florida Supreme Court to approve a proposed constitutional amendment that would reduce attorneys' fees in malpractice cases. The court is required to review proposed amendments to determine if ballot language is accurate. It also must decide if the proposals deal with single subjects and do not significantly affect multiple branches of government.

Doctors, Lawyers Argue Over Proposal

TALLAHASSEE -- Doctors tried to persuade the Supreme Court on Tuesday that a proposal to give patients at least 70 percent of jury awards in medical malpractice cases is clearly understandable and should go before voters Nov. 2. Doctors are aiming at trial lawyers who represent malpractice victims, seeking to limit the percentage of winnings they can take as fees. The medical community says that may keep lawyers from taking meritless suits, something doctors contend is making practicing medicine in Florida prohibitively expensive.

Carolinas Healthcare Reports Net Income Up 46%

Carolinas HealthCare System had net income of $51 million for the first three months of the year, up 46 percent from the $35 million reported for the same period of 2003. Operating income was down, partly because of unreimbursed care and medical malpractice insurance increases. But investment income and an 8 percent increase in revenues more than made up the difference, the Charlotte-based hospital system reported Tuesday. Also Tuesday, the organization's governing board approved three capital projects, the largest a $4.3 million radiation therapy renovation and expansion project at the system's flagship hospital, Carolinas Medical Center.

Peterson Says State Must Address Lack Of Doctors

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Physician recruiting is one of the biggest problems facing rural hospitals, U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pleasantville, said Tuesday. Peterson met with rural hospital administrators during the Pennsylvania Rural Hospital Association's Council for Small Hospitals Conference at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. Despite congressional efforts, rural health care is still struggling, Peterson said. Skyrocketing medical-malpractice rates have led to physicians fleeing Pennsylvania, Peterson said, including orthopedic surgeons and obstetrics and gynecology physicians.

Doctor Suggests Refusing Care to Lawyers

A South Carolina surgeon wants the American Medical Association to tell doctors they can refuse to treat trial lawyers in nonemergency cases. Dr. J. Chris Hawk, an AMA delegate from Charleston, S.C., recently introduced a resolution arguing efforts to reform the medical malpractice system have stalled. Hawk instead offers a different, more confrontational approach. According to his proposal, the AMA should tell doctors they can ethically refuse to care for plaintiffs’ attorneys and their spouses except in emergency cases or when required by law.

Governor Signs Medical Malpractice Reform Bill

TRENTON, N.J. -- Gov. James E. McGreevey signed into law a compromise measure Monday that is designed to hold down medical malpractice insurance costs while preserving a patient's right to sue. The agreement, which will create a $78 million fund to help physicians pay for malpractice insurance, comes after a two-year battle between doctors and trial lawyers over whether limits should be placed on malpractice awards. In the end, no caps were placed on settlements.

Bill to Limit Damage Awards in Miss.

JACKSON, Miss. -- For years, business groups and doctors have clamored for limits on civil lawsuits in Mississippi, where juries have awarded some of the nation's most eye-popping awards for damages. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce denounced Mississippi as a "judicial hellhole."

Florida Supreme Court Hears Arguments on
Proposed Medical Constitutional Amendments

The battle between doctors and lawyers moved into the state's highest court today, as attorneys presented three proposed constitutional amendments for the Nov. 2 ballot, and physicians argued why they were inappropriate. The Supreme Court's role is limited - justices can opine only on whether an amendment meets constitutional single-subject requirements and whether the ballot language accurately describes what the amendment will do. As is its custom, the court didn't rule right away but will issue a written opinion later this summer.

Doctors Try to Enlist Patients in Malpractice Reform Push

Providence -- Some Rhode Island doctors are turning the tables, asking their patients for help changing the rules governing medical-malpractice lawsuits. The Providence Journal reports the doctors plan to start talking patients today during regular office visits, and to hand out stickers supporting (quote) "medical liability reform." They'll be urging patients to lobby for two identical malpractice reform bills in the General Assembly.

Illinois Waits to Address Growing Insurance Crisis

BELLEVILLE - The state will address a growing medical malpractice insurance crisis now facing Illinois doctors once the passionate debate dies down, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said on Monday. "After some of the temperatures lower and those with hard feelings ... have a chance to cool off, I'll convene all the different participants," Blagojevich said, "so we can try to come up with something we can get done this year that will help our doctors." The Democratic governor admitted there are "fundamental differences" from parties on both sides of the issue that would have to be worked out before reform could become a reality -- namely the doctors' call for caps on malpractice awards and the lawyers' opposition to them.

New Illinois Med-Mal Carrier to
Focus on Aggressive Defense Tactics

The Professional Liability Insurance Company Of America (PLICA), announced that it now offers physicians in the Illinois malpractice market a professional liability insurance product that has been developed and designed to insulate physicians from exposure to frivolous claims by providing an aggressive defense against such claims while disposing early on of claims that show merit.

Duplicity Alleged of Nevada Ballot Measures

CARSON CITY -- An initiative petition that calls for rolling back auto insurance rates is actually intended to overturn medical malpractice reforms, backers of a competing ballot measure said Monday. "It is a stealth attack on medical liability reform," said Scott Craigie, a consultant to the doctor-led group Keep Our Doctors in Nevada, whose medical malpractice measure already has qualified for the November ballot. Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Association, said the purported auto insurance rollback "is sort of flying under false colors." The auto insurance rollback petition and an accompanying measure were filed with the secretary of state on April 16 by Las Vegas resident Carmen Cashman and a group called People for a Better Nevada. The accompanying measure, called the Stop Frivolous Lawsuits and Protect Your Legal Rights Act, would prohibit limitations on attorneys fees. Both measures would amend the state constitution. Cashman could not be reached Monday for comment.

N.J. Provides Aid to Docs' With Their Insurance

New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey signed into law a bill that will provide $78 million to help doctors cope with soaring malpractice insurance premiums. The law creates a fund that will provide $26.1 million a year, over the next three years, to subsidize a portion of medical malpractice insurance costs for health-care providers. Money for the fund will come from a $75 annual fee that will be charged to doctors, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors and lawyers. In addition, a $3 surcharge will be collected from state employers for each worker.

Lawmaker Looks to Reform NY Medical Malpractice

Albany -- Bronx Assemblyman Jeff Klein will introduce new legislation today to help doctors stem the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance. Klein, a Democrat, is proposing a tax credit for physicians who pay more than ten percent of their income in malpractice insurance.

Many See Caps in Oklahoma Tort Reform Bill as Fair

Trial lawyers and doctors, who stood on opposite sides of the tort reform debate in the Oklahoma Legislature, seem to agree that the caps on non-economic damages in Oklahoma's new law were a fair compromise, the Associated Press reported. However, some lawmakers say the new caps have too many loopholes.

Lawyer Questions Death Cause in Case With No Autopsy

DURHAM -- Someone apparently forgot to request a legally required autopsy in a pending Durham murder case, prompting questions about the victim's cause of death as the trial draws near. Fifty-year-old Larry Holland died seven months after he allegedly was kicked into a coma by Antonio Ramille Ryals, 24, on Valentine's Day last year. Death came when Holland's parents agreed to discontinue "extraordinary" measures that were being used to keep him alive.

Desperate Employers Eye New Health System

WASHINGTON — Alarmed by his company's escalating health insurance costs and a frightening scarcity of remedies, Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive William C. Ford Jr. declared in December that the nation needs an entirely new health care system. Then he tapped Ford's vice chairman to craft a proposal to develop one. "I just think that as a country, if we have a model that isn't working and a model that's driving jobs overseas, then we'd better take another look at it," Ford said.

Judge Questions Jail's Care of Inmate

WEST PALM BEACH -- Jail inmate Paul Korbelak complains of whispering demons. Court-appointed psychiatrists note the 24-year-old Wellington man has been committed 10 times to mental hospitals and had been on expensive prescription drugs to ease his schizophrenic torment. All seem to agree that Korbelak belongs in a mental hospital. Instead he has languished in the Palm Beach County Jail since Jan. 31, when he was booked on a probation violation charge. For nearly all those months, Korbelak has taken no medication for his mental problems.

Floridians To Get Settlement Checks

Attorney General Charlie Crist announced Thursday that checks are being mailed to more than 800 eligible Floridians beginning this week as part of a settlement agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb for unlawfully monopolizing the manufacture and sale of the anti-cancer drug Taxol and its generic form paclitaxel. The settlement was the result of an antitrust case filed against Bristol-Myers Squibb by the Florida Attorney General's Office and attorneys general from the 49 other states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.