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Archives
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Analysis: Obama's fate largely in Congress' hands phillyBurbs.com, PA (Associated Press) - Apr 30, 2009 "...That may be philosophically just too much for you to swallow. On the other hand, there are some areas, like reducing the costs of medical malpractice insurance, where you do agree with me." Opinion - Dr. Scott Haig: How to fix health care: Four weeds to remove TIME Magazine - Apr 30, 2009 ...From where we sit (and doctors think we are the ones who are in the best position to know what malpractice means and when it happens) there is little or no correlation between doing bad stuff and getting sued... Opinion - Dr. Robert F. Hamilton: Don't let Fanny Med control health care Belleville News-Democrat, IL - Apr 30, 2009 ...pass the Shadegg bill to allow health insurance to be sold across state lines and avoid costly mandates, reform medical malpractice tort law federally, and refine state high risk programs... Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller: A look at medical-malpractice insurers Barrons, New York, NY - Apr 30, 2009 We reviewed three medical-malpractice pure-play carriers to evaluate and compare the reserve positions, in absolute and relative terms, and estimate their ability to continue to post strong reserve releases... Oregon medical malpractice insurance rates decrease Insurance Journal, CA - Apr 29, 2009 Physicians and surgeons in Oregon have seen a decline in medical professional liability insurance rates the past several years... Medical malpractice news
Arizona top court OKs qualifications for expert witnesses Cortlandt Forum, New York, NY - Apr 28, 2009 The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld a law that sets the minimum qualifications for expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases. In order to discourage frivolous lawsuits, the Arizona law requires experts to certify that the malpractice allegations raise legitimate issues before a case can proceed Opinion - Adam Candeub: Warranties could solve health crisis The Detroit News, MI - Apr 29, 2009 ...A warranty-based system would require a slight statutory revision at the state or federal level. It also offers an attractive alternative to medical malpractice's ever malleable, extremely expensive and litigation-prone "standard of reasonable care," which dictates the quality of health care we receive... Oregon raises malpractice cap for public physicians Cortlandt Forum, New York, NY - Apr 28, 2009 ...The new law restricts damages at $1.5 million to $3 million for employees of state hospitals and clinics. The caps will rise gradually to the $2 million to $4 million range over the next five years... Medical malpractice suits on the rise Atlanta Business Chronicle, GA - Apr 28, 2009 ...And the floodgates could open even more if a pending lawsuit in Fulton County gets to the Georgia Supreme Court and the court agrees to strike down the law... Medical malpractice news
By law, Rendell releases his letters Philadelphia Inquirer, PA (Associated Press) - Apr 28, 2008 ...About two dozen letters dealt with health-care issues, including a program that has helped doctors pay malpractice-insurance premiums and Rendell's efforts to expand health coverage... Editorial: Cap and trade: Damage limit due for tort system The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK - Apr 28, 2009 ...Absence of a damage cap, though, means the pain and suffering is shifted to good doctors and their patients, whose cost of care is inflated by the price of malpractice premiums. Lawyers should trade in their greed for the greater good... Senate Republicans say they would cut state spending further The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA - Apr 27, 2009 ...The only significant tax measure in the Senate plan, Corman said, is the transfer of a 25 cent-per-pack cigarette tax surcharge that until now has been used to help subsidize medical malpractice payments into the general fund... Malpractice rates dropping in Oregon Oregon Public Broadcasting, Portland, OR - Apr 27, 2009 A review of medical insurance shows that malpractice rates in Oregon have dropped 18 percent over the last four years... Medical malpractice news
Oklahoma physicians push for liability protections American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Apr 27, 2009 ..The tort reform legislation, approved by the House in late March, would cap noneconomic damages in various types of civil liability cases, including medical negligence suits, at $300,000... Opinion - Bert Marshall: Aiding our health, economy The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK - Apr 27, 2009 ...Physicians in Oklahoma are at a disadvantage compared with those in our neighboring states that have enacted medical malpractice reform... Has malpractice crisis been cured? The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA - Apr 27, 2009 Medical malpractice law suits keep getting rarer in Pennsylvania. But that doesn't mean the closely related debate over who are the true victims of the medical malpractice system -- patients or doctors -- has faded away... Editorial: As his term winds down, Rendell has plenty on his plate The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA - Apr 26, 2009 ...Rendell wants to tap the "M-Care Abatement" fund, the money set aside for catastrophic malpractice lawsuit settlements. It's a complicated financial maneuver that is not as straightforward as the governor makes it sounds... Number of Pennsylvania medical lawsuits drops The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA - Apr 24, 2009 ..That's a 40 percent drop from 2000, 2001 and 2002, when the state averaged 2,732 medical malpractice lawsuits per year. The lawsuit climate in those years had doctors threatening to leave the state... Malpractice bill emerges toothless from House The Colorado Statesman, Denver, CO - Apr 24, 2009 For the second time in two years, it appears efforts to revise Colorado’s medical malpractice law have been thwarted... Medical malpractice suits on the rise Atlanta Business Chronicle, GA - Apr 24, 2009 The number of medical malpractice cases filed in Georgia is starting to rise again, four years after 2005’s tort reform cut the number of cases by 20 percent... Medical malpractice news
Rendell: Malpractice declining across Pa. The Republican-Herald, Pottsville, PA - Apr 24, 2009 Pointing to signs that Pennsylvania’s medical malpractice crisis is over, Gov. Ed Rendell said Thursday he doesn’t think it is necessary to continue subsidizing malpractice costs for doctors.... Rendell says medical malpractice insurance continues to show signs of significant improvement Gant Daily, Clearfield, PA - Apr 24, 2009 ...“Our actions have worked. Thanks to thoughtful legislative reforms passed in 2002, along with aggressive judicial and administrative reforms implemented since then, the number of malpractice cases being filed and the cost of malpractice insurance continue to drop.” ... Malpractice suits fall in Pa., easing insurance crisis The Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Apr 24, 2009 ..."The results have been extraordinarily impressive in abating the malpractice insurance crisis," Rendell said at a news conference. He also said the decline had helped retain doctors and attract malpractice insurance providers. Because of the success, he said, he will not seek to renew the state-funded insurance subsidy program for doctors, known as MCARE... Fewer medical lawsuits in PA WHYY Radio, Philadelphia, PA - Apr 24, 2009 ...The governor says legislative and court reforms have decreased the number of malpractice claims by 41 percent from earlier in the decade... Editorial: Undoing the will of the people Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV - Apr 24, 2009 ...Using disingenuous arguments that those infected with hepatitis in the recent colonoscopy scandals won't be fully compensated (in fact, compensation for provable economic damages was never capped), the lawmakers now propose to eliminate those caps, a transparent favor to trial lawyers who use "pain and suffering" awards to jack up their take... Medical malpractice bill flies through legislature before being killed Face the State, Denver, CO - Apr 23, 2009 ...House Bill 1344, sponsored by Rep. Christine Scanlan, D-Dillon, would have raised the caps on non-economic damages in medical liability cases from $300,000 to $460,000. The bill's opponents claimed this change would have raised malpractice insurance rates by seven to 10 percent... Medical malpractice news
News from the Pennsylvania General Assembly The Philadelphia Inquirer, PA (Associated Press) - Apr 23, 2009 ...Gov. Ed Rendell is scheduled to discuss medical malpractice reform at a Thursday news conference... Colorado medical-malpractice bill dies Denver Business Journal, CO - Apr 22, 2009 ...would have made medical-malpractice insurers get prior approval from Colorado’s insurance commissioner before they could raise premiums by more than 5 percent a year... N.J. hospitals say state can tap $20M in federal funds to avoid charity-care cuts The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ - Apr 22, 2009 ...Grant-Davis said another 100,000 patients are expected to seek health care at the clinics because of job losses and the exodus of obstetricians who can't pay expensive malpractice insurance premiums... Opinion - Dr. Amar Dave: No, to runway and unfettered legal system in America Morris Daily Herald, Morris, IL - Apr 22, 2009 ...The cost of tort in this great country is more than $300 billion a year. There are 86,000 to 90,000 new medical liability cases filed each year for the last several decades. There has been no reduction in the medical errors due to these massive numbers of medical malpractice cases ... Medical malpractice news
Cap on nursing home damages fails The Tennessean, Nashville, TN (Associated Press) - Apr 22, 2009 ...A proposal to place caps on damages in lawsuits against nursing homes failed in a House subcommittee on Tuesday, but the sponsor says he will try again next year... Editorial: Start over on malpractice bill The Denver Post, CO - Apr 22, 2009 ...The process of setting caps on malpractice awards is meant to prevent headline-grabbing, out-of-control jury awards that might steer talented doctors away from Colorado. But when doctors make mistakes, the victims deserve reasonable awards... Hospitals need life support The Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY - Apr 22, 2009 ...Doctors leaving New York to escape low reimbursements and astronomical malpractice insurance costs. It's enough to make a hospital CEO sick... Opinion - Jason D. Fodeman: Making the health care crisis worse The Standard Times, New Bedford, MA - Apr 22, 2009 ...Exorbitant malpractice awards and settlements drain billions of dollars from the health system — and into attorneys' pockets — every year... Ruling: No cap applies Maryland Daily Record, Baltimore, MD - Apr 21, 2009 A Montgomery County judge has declined to cap the non-economic damages in a multimillion-dollar medical malpractice verdict, saying the state’s limit on such awards applies only to lawsuits that were first submitted to arbitration... Revised medical-malpractice bill sails along Denver Business Journal, CO - Apr 21, 2009 A bill making medical-malpractice insurers get approval from Colorado’s insurance commissioner before they could raise premiums by more than 5 percent a year is moving quickly through the House of Representatives... Medical malpractice news
Assembly OKs bill lifting malpractice cap on lawsuits Nevada Appeal, Carson City, NV - Apr 21, 2009 ...The final vote was 26-15 to send the legislation to the Senate. The vote was primarily along party lines with Republicans opposed to the change... Bill hiking malpractice cap gutted The Denver Post, CO - Apr 21, 2009 ...The watering down of House Bill 1344 came during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee and frustrated the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, which had been optimistic the restrictions would be lifted... Editorial: State has the stronger claim Concord Monitor, NH - Apr 21, 2009 ...It is parked in a fund set up by the Legislature in 1975 to meet what was then a critical need for medical malpractice insurance that doctors and other providers were having a hard time buying... Details of Pa. governor's budget plans PhillyBurbs.com (Associated Press) - Apr 20, 2009 ...Divert more than $900 million from state parks, a doctors' malpractice insurance fund and state workers' health benefits... Legislators gut lawsuit caps in medical-malpractice bill Denver Business Journal, CO - Apr 20, 2009 ...would still make medical malpractice insurers get prior approval from Colorado’s insurance commissioner before they can raise premiums by more than 5 percent a year. The commissioner also could set hearings on proposed premium hikes when deemed necessary... Supreme Court steps in to break logjam of malpractice cases Las Vegas Business Press, NV - Apr 20, 2009 ...The Supreme Court has arranged for retired judges from the senior judge program to help settle some of the more than 400 pending cases. Settlement conferences are scheduled through May to deal with the first 72 lawsuits... Medical malpractice news
NH medical society challenges state taking $110 m Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, NH (Associated Press) - Apr 20, 2009 The New Hampshire Medical Society says the state has no right to take a $110 million surplus from a state fund that underwrites malpractice insurance and use it for other purposes in the state budget... In years past The Post-Journal, Jamestown, NY - Apr 20, 2009 ...In 1984, a court's ruling that lawyers' fees in malpractice suits could not be limited would lead to higher insurance costs for doctors, the Pennsylvania Medical Society said. The state Supreme Court struck down a section of a 1975 law that contained the limits on legal fees as well as other restrictions on malpractice suits... Health care's cure: Electronic records Forbes.com - Apr 20, 2009 ...Electronic records can alert health care staff to allergies, potential complications that can cost enormous sums of money to fix, and thereby avoid malpractice suits. These records can also lower doctors' insurance, eliminate redundant tests, speed up treatment and cut costs across the board... Making sure your patients know what you're saying American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Apr 20, 2009 ...California recently became the first state to require health insurers to pay for interpreters for members with limited English-speaking abilities in doctors' offices and other facilities. The law applies to the most common language or second most common spoken by an insurers' members... Opinion - W. Ben Vernon: Trial lawyers asking only what's in it for them The Pueblo Chieftan, CO - Apr 19, 2009 ...Seventy percent of the money consumed in a malpractice suit goes to feeding the process and the attorneys, not to compensating an injured patient. It takes years to resolve those cases, and more than two-thirds of them are determined to be without merit and simply go away after an extravagant waste of precious health care dollars... The suit for more suing Southeast Texas Record, Beaumont, TX - Apr 18, 2009 ...This lawsuit, brought by a group of plaintiff's lawyers seeking to gut House Bill 4, otherwise known as Texas' medical liability reform, is about something less cerebral and more primal: money... Opinion - Anthony C. Raccuglia: Don't call lawyers 'greedy' until you know the facts Morris Daily Herald, Morris, IL - Apr 17, 2009 ...Pity each of you if ever we trial lawyers decide it isn’t worth it and reject all medical and product liability negligence claims against those big corporations and the doctors. Don’t be so quick to blame lawyers until you know all the facts... Medical malpractice news
Kaiser Permanente to settle kidney transplant claims for $1 million Los Angeles Times, CA - Apr 17, 2009 ...The settlements ranged from $100,000 to $300,000 for each client; most were limited by a state law passed in 1975 capping malpractice awards for "pain and suffering" at $250,000. There is no limit on what patients can collect for loss of future wages... Opinion - Michael F. Barrett: The facts about malpractice lawsuits The Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Apr 17, 2009 ...Medical malpractice lawsuit fillings have declined by more than 40 percent. Jury verdict amounts have also declined... Medical malpractice filings stable in Pa. Philadelphia Business Journal, PA - Apr 16, 2009 The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week released the latest medical malpractice data that shows the declines in filings and verdicts from previous years continued last year... Kaiser kidney transplant patients, families settle for $1M Sacramento Business Journal, CA - Apr 16, 2009 ...California’s medical malpractice law limits malpractice recovery awards to $250,000 per case, which Eisenberg described as an “arbitrary” ceiling... Medical malpractice news
Doctors leave Massachusetts for friendlier climes WBUR, Boston, MA - Apr 16, 2009 ...That's due partly to the cost of living, the expense of maintaining a practice, and the burden of malpractice insurance... Health care panel recommends 1.2% hike in hospital rates Baltimore Business Journal, MD - Apr 15, 2009 ...Murray said 60 percent of hospital costs stem from employee wages, and with the downturn in the economy salaries won’t be nearly as high next year. He also said supplies, malpractice lawsuits and capital costs have remained flat or negative... Medical malpractice news
Board that disciplines doctors may be reined in Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX - Apr 15, 2009 ...In the end, the House Public Health Committee said it would amend House Bill 3816, which also would disclose the names of some complainants to doctors and create an advisory committee to oversee the board. The committee didn't specify what it might change... Opinion - Steven Bergin: Patients' fund must be free from raids The Sheboygan Press, WI - Apr 15, 2009 ...There are no taxpayer dollars in the fund. Instead, since 1975, physicians and other medical professionals have paid hundreds of millions of dollars into the fund to provide for patients injured as a result of medical errors... Editorial: A poor prescription The Daily Sentinel, Grand Junction, CO - Apr 14, 2009 Some folks in Colorado are once again hoping to change a critical part of the state’s 20-year-old reform of medical malpractice laws by significantly increasing the caps on one form of awards in medical malpractice cases, then raising those caps with inflation in the future... Medical malpractice news
State medical board wins praise for changes Wichita Eagle, KS (Associated Press) - Apr 14, 2009 ...A year after the resignations, some of the board's most scathing critics appear mesmerized with its turnabout: the number of board actions on complaints has doubled, the open-case backlog has been slashed, and an expedited suspension process has been implemented to deal with immediate public threats... Editorial: State's medical malpractice Daily Press, Newport News, VA - Apr 14, 2009 Virginia is demonstrating that when it comes to policing medicine, it puts the interest of doctors — even dangerous doctors — ahead of the interests of the public... Medical malpractice news
Pennsylvania law gives prescription power to nurse-midwives Insurance Journal, CA (Associated Press) - Apr 13, 2009 ...McCoy said the exodus of obstetricians and gynecologists from the state because of rising medical malpractice insurance costs also helped build support for the bill... Opinion - Steven Bergin: Wisconsin Medical Society files appeal to protect patients The Janesville Gazette, WI - Apr 13, 2009 ..For more than 30 years, the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund has existed to protect Wisconsin patients. Today that fund is in jeopardy and, subsequently, so may be patients’ access to high quality health care... Opinion - Herman Cain: Seven ways to make health care in America better North Star Writers Group, Byron Center, Michigan - Apr 13, 2009 ...When it costs doctors an average of $250,000 for malpractice insurance, something is wrong. This is driving a lot of doctors away from medicine and out of small towns that cannot generate this kind of medical ante... The doctor will see you - log on now Star-Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN - Apr 12, 2009 ..For doctors, it's easy and hassle-free, Schoenberg says; the online system does everything from providing malpractice insurance to depositing payments in their bank accounts... Wexford Health works with inmates Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Apr 12, 2009 ...The clinical staff like the set hours, Mr. Hale said, and particularly like not having to worry about haggling with insurers, paying malpractice premiums or overseeing the administration of a medical office. Wexford Health takes care of all of that... Lawmakers advance medical negligence bill Merced Sun-Star, CA (Associated Press) - Apr 10, 2009 ..AB495 would remove the lawsuit award cap of $350,000 for gross negligence, and would increase the amount of time patients have to file a lawsuit... Medical malpractice news
Judge dismisses some claims that Texas medical malpractice caps violate plaintiff's constitutional rights Southeast Texas Record, Beaumont, TX - Apr 9, 2009 ...The class action suit filed in the Marshall court on Feb. 25, 2008, seeks to nullify the tort reform act by arguing that the state's limits on non-economic damages are unconstitutional... Hidden malpractice dangers in EMRs Medscape Today - Apr 9, 2009 ...Under the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, physicians who demonstrate meaningful use of EMR by 2011 will be eligible for full federal subsidies of up to $44,000. Failure to implement EMR by 2014 may also result in increased malpractice premiums and increased exposure to malpractice claims... Medical malpractice news
Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC to stop paying for medical errors WGHP-TV Fox8 News, High Point, NC - Apr 8, 2009 ...The state's largest medical insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, announced it will no longer pay hospitals for problems caused by preventable medical errors... Letters: In search of better medical justice New York Times, NY - Apr 8, 2009 ...The answer lies in doctors and hospitals being informed and brave enough to reject the advice of lawyers who terrorize them into practicing defensive medicine... Medical malpractice news
Nevada court addresses medical malpractice backlog Insurance Journal, CA (Associated Press) - Apr 8, 2009 ...The Nevada Supreme Court is taking steps to resolve a backlog of medical malpractice lawsuits through a "settlement marathon" in May... Opinion - Jayne Carroll: Send prescription nicotine idea to ash heap The Hillsboro Argus, OR - Apr 8, 2009 ...Physician medical liability insurance is already sky high; imagine how much such insurance would be if patients could legally claim their smoking use was doctor approved... Medical malpractice news
Lawmakers debate medical negligence bill Nevada Appeal, Carson City, NV (Associated Press) - Apr 7, 2009 ...Proponents of the bill said existing state law protects doctors who harm patients by limiting damage awards in medical malpractice suits to $350,000. The bill would remove that limit in cases of “gross negligence.” It also would expand the time in which an effected patient or family member could sue... Nevadans ask lawmakers to remove medical liability limit Reno Gazette-Journal, NV - Apr 7, 2009 ...The hearing was the latest in an ongoing medical malpractice skirmish that has often pitted patients and lawyers against doctors and insurance companies... Bill raises Oregon malpractice cap The Oregonian, Portland, OR - Apr 6, 2009 ...The House voted 50-8 in favor of the bill, which dramatically increases the old cap of $200,000. Senate Bill 311 now goes to Gov. Ted Kulongoski for his signature. All no votes came from Republicans... Opinion - Glorianne Scott: Why medical malpractice caps should be raised in Colorado Denver Legal News Examiner, Denver, CO - Apr 6, 2009 ...While we may associate medical malpractice lawsuits with unwarranted attacks on poor defenseless Dr. McDreamy, actual malpractice cases stem from negligent actions that result in extreme suffering and economic loss for the victims... Medical malpractice news
Look ahead: Malpractice award limits under review Nevada Appeal, Carson City, NV (Associated Press) - Apr 6, 2009 Nevada lawmakers start the 10th week of their 2009 session today by reviewing a plan stemming from the Hepatitis C outbreak in Southern Nevada that would allow bigger lawsuit awards as a result of negligence by medical professionals... Bill on malpractice-suit cap returns Denver Post, CO - Apr 6, 2009 After failing in 2008, supporters of legislation to allow injured patients more money in medical malpractice lawsuits are trying again this year — with only five weeks left in the session... Ariz. high court validates standards for expert witnesses in liability cases American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Apr 6, 2009 ...The Arizona Supreme Court in March upheld the constitutionality of a 2005 law establishing minimum qualifications for expert witnesses who testify in medical liability cases... Editorial: Court missed opportunity to limit punitive damages Reading Eagle, Reading, PA - Apr 6, 2009 ...the Supreme Court's ruling could have an impact that extends far beyond the tobacco industry into such fields as medical malpractice, for example... Opinion - Lee Egerstrom: Go slow on proposal to ease Minnesota's insurance protections MinnPost, Minneapolis, MN - Apr 6, 2009 ...That means policies such as boat insurance, crop-hail insurance, directors and officers insurance, medical malpractice insurance, professional liability insurance and pet insurance, for a few prominent examples, would no longer be given prior approval before flying through the market place... Lawsuit challenges tort reform in Texas Texarkana Gazette, TX - Apr 5, 2009 ...The Medical and Malpractice Tort Reform Act of 2003 was touted by proponents as a means to deter the filing of frivolous suits... Doctor shortages hit Maryland The Frederick News-Post, Frederick, MD - Apr 5, 2009 ...Maryland's average malpractice award payment is nearly $320,000, about $35,000 more than the national average, according to a study released in December by the American College of Emergency Physicians... Opinion - Robert Kessler: Lawsuits only make malpractice worse Las Vegas Sun, NV - Apr 5, 2009 ...No system is perfect but the answer isn’t repealing tort reform, which has increased physician numbers and patient access to care, sextupled the number of insurers, and saved Nevadans millions of dollars in just five years... Opinion - Philip K. Howard: Health care also needs legal reform Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN - Apr 5, 2009 ...Doctors and nurses don't want to speak up, for fear of assuming legal liability, and this causes unnecessary errors. Under instructions from lawyers, they don't apologize or offer explanations when things go wrong... Editorial: We think: State needs fair budget Orlando Sentinel, FL - Apr 5, 2009 ...Lawmakers could also stand up to the medical and business lobbies, who've got them interested in making the cost to file medical malpractice and home foreclosure lawsuits so prohibitive that some victims might not pursue them... Editorial: Securing health-care coverage Barrons, New York, NY - Apr 4, 2009 ...As a first step, however, he has offered a plan estimated to cost about $60 billion a year. It would require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions at administered prices, fix prices for malpractice insurance, subsidize workplace health-insurance premiums and individual private premiums... Medical malpractice news
Florida legislators raise fees instead of taxes South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL - Apr 3, 2009 ...One proposal would impose filing fees of $2,000 for lawsuits involving assets or damages of more than $250,000 including antitrust and intellectual-property cases, medical malpractice, home foreclosures and even divorces... Bill capping 'pain and suffering damages clears Oklahoma committee Insurance Journal, CA (Associated Press) - Apr 2, 2009 ...Among its key provisions are ones to place a so-called $300,000 "hard cap" on pain and suffering damages, to require a certificate from an expert that a lawsuit has merit and to change class-action lawsuit guidelines by requiring litigants to "opt in" to a suit rather than "opt out."... Opinion - Jeff Raymond: Doctors flee state is simply a myth Muskogee Phoenix, OK -- Apr 2, 2009 ...The state’s leading medical malpractice insurer, doctor-owned Physicians Liability Insurance Co.,also is doing well. PLICO is in the best financial shape of its three-decade existence, as its executives proclaim and its reports show... Medical malpractice news
Planned Valley health collaborative misses cut for federal funds The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Apr 2, 2009 ...The health centers qualify for enhanced reimbursement, as much as $100 per visit based on service costs, rather than the $18 per visit Medicaid allows. They also qualify for additional federal grant money and malpractice insurance, which can save millions of dollars each year, said Lahoz... Nevada court addresses medical malpractice backlog The Modesto Bee, CA (Associated Press) - Apr 1, 2009 The Nevada Supreme Court is taking steps to resolve a backlog of medical malpractice lawsuits through a "settlement marathon" in May... Malpractice disclosure advances The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC - Apr 1, 2009 ...The details of medical malpractice judgments and settlements greater than $75,000 would be released to the public under a bill that cleared the House on Tuesday. Currently none of that information is made available to the public... Opinion - Philip K. Howard: Just Medicine New York Times, NY - Apr 1, 2009 ...According to a 2006 study in the New England Journal of Medicine, around 25 percent of cases where there was no identifiable error resulted in malpractice payments. Nor is the system effective for injured patients — according to the same study, 54 cents of every dollar paid in malpractice cases goes to administrative expenses... Medical malpractice news
Tort reform bill hailed as a cure for doctors' ills The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK - Apr 1, 2009 ...HB 1603 includes several changes to how doctors, insurers and businesses are treated in lawsuits. Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said reforms to the state’s civil justice system would aid economic development and cut costs to medical doctors for malpractice insurance... Physicians voice approval for civil justice measure The Journal Record, Oklahoma City, OK - Apr 1, 2009 ...“We’re here to show you the crisis,” said Eli Reshef, an obstetrician-gynecologist practicing in Oklahoma City. Reshef said Tuesday’s press conference was arranged in response to the lobbying efforts of trial lawyers in the past few weeks... Opinion - Dr. Steven Bergin: State wrong to raid patients' fund Wausau Daily Herald, WI - Apr 1, 2009 ...We believe the money in the fund was not the state's to take, and the raid eroded the financial integrity of this essential safeguard. Because the fund provides stability to the medical liability environment, erosion of its assets is likely to have a strong negative impact on the recruitment and retention of quality health care professionals in Wisconsin... Tuesday at the N.C. General Assembly (March 31) - Doctors ordered Star-News, Wilmington, NC (Associated Press) - Mar 31, 2009 ...The House voted 115-0 in favor of a solution to a dispute pitting physicians with their state regulator over how much information about malpractice judgments and settlements to make public... Bill would include patients in Nevada physician discipline process Reno Gazette, NV - Mar 31, 2009 ...The bill would also call for a voluntary "remediation agreement" between the board and doctors on complaints or risky behavior that don't meet the criteria for malpractice... |
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