Tennessee has a goofy rule concerning expert witnesses that, to my knowledge and belief, exists in no other state. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-115(b) requires any expert witness in a medical malpractice state to practice in Tennessee or a border state unless the trial court “determines that the appropriate witnesses otherwise would not…
Tennessee law requires that the plaintiff present expert proof that the defendant violated the standard of care applicable in the community in which the care was given at the time the care was given. Proof of the standard can come from an otherwise qualified expert who knows the standard of…
Medical malpractice case filings were up last year but are still below the filings for the year when the first tort reform hit medical malpractice cases. October 1, 2008 was the date that pre-suit notice and certificates of good faith became required. In the year before the law change, 646…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a district court’s finding that an expert witness was not qualified to testify on behalf of a plaintiff in a health care liability action, relying on Shipley v. Williams, 350 S.W.3d 527 (2011). In Bock v. University of Tennessee Medical Group, Inc.,…
Four professors have written an article titled "Do Poor People Sue Doctors More Frequently? Confronting Unconscious Bias and the Role of Cultural Competency." The article concludes that "Contrary to popular perception, existing studies show poor patients, in fact, tend to sue physicians less often. This may be related to a…
State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company, the Tennessee medical malpractice insurer owned by the doctors themselves, has had another profitable year even with its significant rate decrease. The company, which insures about 75% of the doctors in the state, has announced the following financial results and other data for the year…
Insurance Journal reports that the parents of a child born with cystic fibrosis sued various Montana health care providers, saying that had they known of the genetic disorder they would have terminated the pregnancy. Cystic fibrosis causes sticky mucus buildup in the lungs and other organs, leading to infections, digestive…
One of the defenses commonly asserted in an Erb’s Palsy medical malpractice case is the "natural forces of labor defense." The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York recently ruled that a trial judge did not abuse his discretion by ruling that the defense could not be…
The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected an effort by the Arkansas Legislature to define who is permitted to give testimony as an expert witness in a medical malpractice case. Broussard’s medical malpractice case was dismissed on summary judgment after her expert witness was excluded under Arkansas Code Annotated section 16-114-206 (Repl.…
This article by an emergency room physician in Texas providers a good summary for the evaluation of chest pain in the emergency room. The article explains that "The decision to discharge a patient who presents with chest pain as the primary complaint should be made only after careful consideration…