Tennessee consumers injured by medical negligence are facing a full assault on their right to trial by jury. Some members of the new General Assembly seem hell-bent on placing arbitrary caps on damages, notwithstanding the fact that medical malpractice lawsuits are down over 40% and malpractice insurer profits are soaring.…
The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation has created a video that discusses how to prevent and manage fires that occur in the operating room. The video is 18 minutes long and was released in February 2010. Here is what the organization says about operating room fires: The most notable finding when…
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has put the medical malpractice case reporting form on its website. The reports must be filed on or before March 1, 2011. Plaintiff’s medical malpractice attorneys who concluded a case in 2010 must complete this form.
I will be speaking on a Webcast seminar on January 5, 2011 at Noon CST discussing the developments in the law of notice and certificates of good faith in medical malpractice cases. I will also discuss service of process issues after the decision in Hall v. Haynes. The seminar is…
Judge Mays of the United States District Court in Memphis has dismissed a medical malpractice case filed against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act because the plaintiff did not file a certificate of good faith as required by T.C.A. Sec. 29-26-122. Judge Mays held that the federal…
The November 25, 2010 New York Times has reported on a study that has found that no progress has been made at improving patient safety in hospitals. The study is reported in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine. It was conducted from 2002 to 2007 in 10 North Carolina…
Yesterday I reported that SVMIC, the bedpan mutual that insures the vast majority of Tennessee doctors, reduced its rates by 23.1% . I also reported that the company declared a $20,000,000 dividend. The net effect of the dividend means that policyholders with a history of no paid claims will receive another 8% reduction (or…
In recent days I have shared several posts (here, here, here, and here) concerning the substantial reduction in the number of medical malpractice cases filed in Tennessee since the enactment of the law that mandates pre-suit notice and filing of a certificate of good faith. Thus, it is not surprising…
This is Part 4 of my report on medical malpractice filings in Tennessee for 2010. (Here is Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.) Today, I examine the county where I live, Williamson County. Williamson County, Tennessee is on the southern border of Davidson County, which is the home of…
This is Part 3 of my report on medical malpractice case filings in Tennessee. (Click to read Part 1and Part 2.) Here are the case filings for some of the larger counties in the state for the year ended September 30, 2010: County …