Medical Negligence

January 27, 2011

Lies, Damn Lies and Medical Malpractice Reform

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.

Max Kennerly, one of my favorite bloggers, has a great post on similar efforts in Congress. Here is an excerpt:

Even if we put aside the fact that, for every dollar spent on compensating the victims of medical negligence, more than $5 dollars in damage was caused by medical negligence, it bears repeating that the overall costs of compensating injured patients is so small that it the medical malpractice liability system does not restrict access to health care. Similarly, malpractice lawsuits have not been shown to change of physician behavior — so-called “defense medicine” — even in high-risk, high-liability cases like obstetricians’ decisions to perform c-sections when the baby shows signs of fetal distress.

January 27, 2011

Preventing and Management of Operating Room Fires

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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:

January 26, 2011

2010 Medical Malpractice Reports Due March 1, 2011

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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.

December 29, 2010

Upcoming TBA Speech – January 5, 2011 Noon CST

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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 sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association. The price is $45 for TBA members and $65 for non-TBA members. One hour of CLE credit will be earned.

Register here.

December 20, 2010

Federal Judge Rules That Certificate of Good Faith Must Be Filed in FTCA Med Mal Cases

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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 courts should apply Tennessee substantive law on the issue and that the failure to file the certificate required dismissal of the case.

The judge also dismissed the loss of consortium claim brought by the medical malpractice plaintiff’s spouse, saying that her claim was derivative to her husband’s claim and since his claim was rejected for failure to file the certificate the loss of consortium claim was also barred.

November 29, 2010

NY Times: “Study Finds No Progress in Safety at Hospitals”

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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 hospitals, found that harm to patients was common and that the number of incidents did not decrease over time. The most common problems were complications from procedures or drugs and hospital-acquired infections.

As the author explained,

November 11, 2010

State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company’s Profits Explode

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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 so) in rates effective May 15, 2010.

How can SVMIC cut rates so dramatically while paying the highest dividend it has paid in years? There are two reasons. First, as a result of the tort reform passed effective October 1, 2008 (revised effective July 1, 2009) claims have decreased substantially. Fewer claims means reduced claims handling costs, defense fees, court reporter and other litigation fees, and claims payments. Since the law permits insurers to "write off" reserves as they are established, fewer claims means that reserves are lower than these would have otherwise been had there been more claims. A decrease in the need to set aside money in reserves for these "absent" claims increases net income.

And how it has increased. In 2009, SVMIC had a net income (after taxes) of a whopping $71, 968,000, an increase of over 100% from a year earlier.

November 10, 2010

Medical Malpractice Insurer Slashes Rates

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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 that State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company, the doctor-owned medical malpractice insurer that insures the vast majority of non-university based physicians in Tennessee, has slashed medical malpractice insurance rates.

The average rate decrease, effective for renewals on or after May 15, 2010, is $23.1% at $1M / $3M insurance policy limits. There are different rates of decreases depending on specialty, dividend status, limits, years in practice, and other factors.

November 9, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings – Part 4

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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 our state capital, Nashville. In 2010 Williamson County had 180,891 residents. Almost 90 percent of those residents were white and about 5% of them were African-American. The average household income was almost $122,000 per year and the per capita annual income was about $42,000. Over 56% of the people in the county have attained at least one college degree.

Williamson Medical Center is a 185-bed hospital in Franklin. It provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care. It has an active emergency room and has physicians on-staff in some 36 specialties.

November 8, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings – Part 3

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

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

Shelby 88