Articles Posted in Medical Negligence

My article on the new medical malpractice notice and certificate of good faith legislation (which goes into effect today, July 1) made the cover of the July edition of the Tennessee Bar Journal.  Here is the article.

Anyone who practices in the field of medical negligence needs to become familiar with this legislation.  This article will give you an easy way to get up to speed on this new law.

Sometimes a lawyer representing a patient in a medical malpractice trial may want to introduce evidence of "bad acts" of a health care provider or a provider’s expert witness.   This article   from the Medical Malpractice Newsletter published by the Hinshaw & Culbertson tells us how the defense is going to attempt to keep that information from the jury.

From ACOG’s Press Release:

Refinements of the definitions, classifications, and interpretations of fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring methods were issued today in new guidelines released by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). The objective of the guidelines is to reduce the inconsistent use of common terminology and the wide variability that sometimes occurs in FHR interpretations. ACOG’s Practice Bulletin, published in the July 2009 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, supports the recommendations of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Health Development workshop* on electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) held in April 2008.

…

Here it is.

An excerpt: 

Now, I recognize that it will be hard to make some of these changes if doctors feel like they are constantly looking over their shoulder for fear of lawsuits. Some doctors may feel the need to order more tests and treatments to avoid being legally vulnerable. That’s a real issue. And while I’m not advocating caps on malpractice awards which I believe can be unfair to people who’ve been wrongfully harmed, I do think we need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, let doctors focus on practicing medicine, and encourage broader use of evidence-based guidelines. That’s how we can scale back the excessive defensive medicine reinforcing our current system of more treatment rather than better care.

Here is the article from today’s New York Times.

SB  2109   passed the Senate at 11:36 on June 4 and is now on its way to the Governor’s desk.  The Bill  passed the House (HB2233) in May.   UPDATE:  The Governor signed the legislation on June 11.   Click here for information on the June 15 seminar on this important bill.

The bill dramatically changes the law that came into effect just last October 1, and impacts both the pre-suit notice and the certificate of merit provisions.   The effective date of the bill is a little tricky and bears careful study, but the notice provisions come into effect July 1, 2009.

Generally speaking, the law makes it easier to give notice of a potential medical malpractice claim and gives more specifics about what the notice must say.  It also requires that the claimant provide a HIPPA-compliant authorization with the notice.

The Tennessee Bar Association is sponsoring a seminar to educate lawyers on the new medical malpractice statute passed by the Senate earlier today.  If signed by the Governor, and there is no reason to believe that he will not sign the bill, the legislation makes major changes in medical malpractice procedural law.  The TBA has selected me as the speaker for this program.

The seminar will be webcast at 11:00 CDT on Monday, June 15, 2009.

A portion of the legislation is effective July 1, 2009 , but the transitional issues will be discussed in the seminar.  Each provision of the legislation will be discussed in detail.  I participated in all of the negotiations concerning this legislation and will provide a history of how the legislation developed.

The Tennessee Bar Association is sponsoring a seminar to educate lawyers on the new medical malpractice statute passed by the Senate earlier today.  If signed by the Governor, and there is no reason to believe that he will not sign the bill, the legislation makes major changes in medical malpractice procedural law.  The TBA has selected me as the speaker for this program.

The seminar will be webcast at 11:00 CDT on Monday, June 15, 2009.

A portion of the legislation is effective July 1, 2009 , but the transitional issues will be discussed in the seminar.  Each provision of the legislation will be discussed in detail.  I participated in all of the negotiations concerning this legislation and will provide a history of how the legislation developed.

SB  2109   passed the Senate at 11:36 and is now on its way to the Governor’s desk.  The Bill  passed the House (HB2233) in May.   There is no indication that the Governor will not sign the legislation.

The bill dramatically changes the law that came into effect just last October 1, and impacts both the pre-suit notice and the certificate of merit provisions.   The effective date of the bill is a little tricky and bears careful study, but the notice provisions come into effect July 1, 2009.

Generally speaking, the law makes it easier to give notice of a potential medical malpractice claim and gives more specifics about what the notice must say.  It also requires that the claimant provide a HIPPA-compliant authorization with the notice.