It is getting worse. Healthgrades reports that the number of errors in our nation’s hospitals rose 3% over the years 2002 – 2005. From the press release: The HealthGrades study of 40.56 million Medicare hospitalization records over the years 2003 to 2005 … found: • Patient-safety incidents continue to rise in…
Amercicans for Insurance Reform have released a report that demonstrates that the "insurance crisis that hit doctors between 2001 and 2004 was not caused by claims, payouts or legal system excesses as the insurance industry claimed." Rather, this report concludes as follows: "Inflation-adjusted payouts per doctor not only failed to…
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down that portion of legislation requiring a plaintiff in medical negligence cases to file affidavits of merit in medical malpractice cases within 30 days of filing the complaint or face dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint. The Court ruled that the statute imposed a requirement for commencement…
Part of the case evaluation process is a review of appropriate literature. A literature review is not enough – you still need as expert to testify that the protocols set forth in any given piece of literature represent the standard of care. But the existence of literature on point can…
The Kansas Supreme Court has stated that a patient injured as a result of alleged medical negligence can file suit under the state’s consumer protection act. The patient , Williamson, alleged that the defendant doctor "represented that the surgery he was recommending had a high likelihood of successfully relieving her…
It takes a tremendous amount of time and money to screen medical malpractice cases. Our office reviews over 700 cases per year and rejects over 95 percent of them over the phone. Of the remaining 5 percent most are rejected after review of the medical records and, if appropriate, consultation…
I wrote two posts in the last year (here and here)about doctors who have been attacked by organized medicine for giving testimony on behalf of plaintiffs in medical malpractice lawsuits. The goal of these efforts is not only to punish the doctors for having the audacity to testify for a…
Plaintiff filed an affidavit from an expert witness in opposition to a motion for summary judgment in a medical negligence case. The expert – from UAB in Birmingham – explained that he understood the standard of care in Memphis because of the following: 2. I am familiar with the standard…
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has released the "2006 Tennessee Medical Malpractice Claims Report"" which, in fact, is based on 2005 data. Read the entire report here. Some highlights: * There were 5 – that’s right – 5 – claims were resolved by judgment for the plaintiff in…
The Georgia Supreme Court was confronted with this question: "In what circumstances, if any, is evidence of a nurse’s failure to pass a licensing examination admissible in a medical malpractice action against the employing physician?" Plaintiffs’ son Luke was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis resulting in brain damage and quadriplegia. Plaintiffs claimed…