The Tennessee General Assembly has a myraid of tort “deform” bills pending in the medical malpractice field this year. Generally speaking, the bills want to cap damages on meritorious cases, limit attorney’s fees for lawyers who represent patients, cut off subrogation interests, impose periodic payments, etc. The newest example of…
The Hunter v. Ura decision that I wrote about several days ago also seems to open the door to prejudgment interest in personal injury and wrongful death cases. Several years ago a case called Myint seemed to suggest that prejudgment interest could be awarded in such cases. Then, several court…
Hunter v. Ura has been decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The Court reversed the Tennessee Court of Appeals and reinstated a jury verdict for the plaintiff. The majority opinion is authored by Justice Riley Anderson. Justice Barker, joined by Chief Justice Drowota, dissented on one issue of many raised…
Would you think that a doctor who has had 33 medical malpractice payouts in the last decaded would still be practicing medicine? Dr. Michael Sachs in Manhattan is. His record became news after a 42 year old mother died after a nose job performed in his office. The cause of…
The Supreme Court of the State of Minnesota has held that a physician has an affirmative duty to inform a child’s biological parents about the risks posed by their child’s genetic problem. The plaintiff’s child was born with an inheritable form of mental retardation known as “Fragile X.” The parents…
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that the mother of a stillborn infant may seek damages for wrongful death and for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The child died as a result of conceded medical malpractice. The misdiagnosis took place several hours before the child died in utero. The mother…
An article in the Washington Post demonstrates an amazing ability of Sen. Bill Frist: the skill to make a medical diagnosis from a videotape. This may surprise some of you who do medical negligence work or address a lot of medical issues in your practice. As lawyers we are all…
Most tort reform proposals center on limiting damages for people who are found by a jury to have meritorious claims. Insurance companies that sell malpractice insurance want their exposure capped. (Who wouldn’t?) Do doctors and hospitals get lower premiums in return? Well, that depends on if you ask the insurance…
The cause of medical negligence cases is medical negligence. To be sure, the legal system does not do a very good job of holding careless health care providers accountable (far more people are injured or killed by medical negligence than ever bring a lawsuit much less win a lawsuit) but…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has held that the three-year statute of repose for medical negligence cases does not violate due process when applied to those who are mentally incompetent. The plaintiff argued that due process required that the statute of repose should be tolled during the period of incompetency. Read…