How does SVMIC evaluate claims? Here is what they tell their insureds.
Articles Posted in Medical Negligence
A New Attack on the Contigious State and Locality Rule?
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…
Are the Results of Med Mal Trials Accurate?
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…
Court Decides Apparent Agency Cases Concerning Hospital-Based Physicians
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…
Medical Malpractice Notice and Certificate of Merit Bill Sent to Governor
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 Applies Res Ipsa Doctrine in Fire Case
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…
2007 Counsel for Claimants Reports
To those of you who had a medical malpractice judgment or settlement in 2007: Please remember that the 2007 "Counsel for Claimants" reports must be completed and sent to the Tennessee Dept of Commerce and Insurance on or before April 1, 2008. Here is the website where you can download the…
Back from Trial
It’s over. Rebecca Blair and I have been in trial in Columbia, Tennessee since February 25, 2008. Our client was a eleven year-old boy who lost his 34 year-old mother to hyperkalemia (an excessive level of potassium which causes the heart to stop) a little over three years ago. Ginger…
Op-Ed Published
The Tennessean has been kind enough to print an op-ed piece I wrote and to editorialize against the health care industry’s attempt to avoid full responsibility for the harm it causes to its patients. Read the editorial here. Read my op-ed piece here. Read the opposing op-ed piece by Rep.…
When Should a Doctor Speak Out?
This article in yesterday’s The Washington Post reported that 96% of physicians thought that they should report an impaired or incompetent colleague – but 45% said that they did not always do so. In addition, "46 percent said they had failed to report at least one serious medical error that…