The Administrative Office of the Courts has released the form that must be filed by plaintiffs in medical negligence cases (and by defendants who allege fault of another health care provider). Both forms are available here. In general, a plaintiff must file the certificate within 90 days after filing suit.…
The Tennessee State Board of Medical Examiners has a policy about prescribing drugs. It applies to any prescription written for a patient, whether in person, electronically, or over the Internet. The policy includes the following: (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), it shall be a prima facie violation of…
Nursing homes continue to attempt to avoid trial by jury by requiring residents to sign arbitration ageements. And the Tennessee courts continue to insist that if nursing homes are going to do so they must follow the law. Here are two decisions that refuse to enforce arbitration provisions in nursing…
Tennessee permits a plaintiff to rely on the res ipsa loquitor doctrine in medical negligence cases when appropriate under the facts. For the most recent Tennessee case on the issue see Flowers v. H.C.A. Health Care Services of Tennessee, Inc., 2006 WL 627183 ((Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 14, 2006). But…
How does SVMIC evaluate claims? Here is what they tell their insureds.
The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled unconstitutional a state statute that imposed certain requirements on expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases. The statute required that experts be board certified in the same specialty as the defendant and mandated that the expert have practiced (or taught) that same specialty for…
Here is an interesting post from Torts Prof Blog: "After all the time and money spent, aren’t the results of medical malpractice litigation extremely accurate? Although perhaps better than earlier studies indicated, malpractice results are imprecise. The Harvard School of Public Health study, in assessing how often medical error occurred…
The Tennessee Supreme Court issued its first two tort law opinions of the year yesterday, both dealing with the same subject: the potential liability of a hospital for the acts of a non-employed,, hospital-based physician. The Court said that "to hold a hospital vicariously liable for the negligent or wrongful acts…
The Speaker of the House signed a bill yesterday that makes it more difficult for patients to bring medical malpractice actions. The Senate Speaker signed the legislation last week and therefore the bill is on its way to the Governor. The legislation requires that a patient give at least 60…
Indiana is not known as a particularly progressive state when it comes to tort law (or anything else for that matter). But not even Indiana could deny a plaintiff the use of the res ipsa doctrine when the plaintiff caught on fire during surgery. You read that right. The plaintiff…