All-medical edition:
- Shocker for New York docs: possible assessment of $50K apiece to make up losses at nonprofit med-mal insurer [White Plains Journal-News Chamber reprint]
- Dr. Ray Harron, a central figure in furor over mass asbestos and silicosis screenings, seems rather hard to locate at the moment, though he does have a lawyer speaking on his behalf [NY Times, WV Record]
- Another push to raise the threshold of liability for emergency room care in Arizona [AZ Business Gazette]
- End run around Roe? Some state legislatures attaching sweeping new tort liabilities to the provision of abortions [Childs]
- Three nominees for worst-founded medical lawsuit, lamentably unsourced [Medical Justice]
- Spokane psychiatrist shouldn’t have engaged in romantic (though not sexually consummated) dalliance with forty-ish patient; that much is clear. But should she now get cash? [AP/Seattle Times]
- “Baby falls to floor during home delivery, mom sues hospital for too-early discharge” [SE Texas Record]
- A sensitive subject: malpractice and doctors’ suicides [KevinMD, a while back]
- “If the ‘loser pays’ system is so bad, why do most other countries keep it around instead of switching over to an ‘Americanized’ system of tort law?” [WhiteCoat Rants]
- Hospital, ambulance service among those sued after fatal crash of NFL’s Derrick Thomas [seven years ago on Overlawyered]
4 Comments
Eugene Volokh applies Lawrence v Texas to health provider-patient romantic relationships.
http://volokh.com/posts/chain_1168045584.shtml
Regarding the baby falling to the floor during a home delivery – the woman was 8 and a half months pregnant, went to the hospital because she thought she was in labor, and was sent home without even a vaginal exam to see how far her cervix had dilated, or being seen by her doctor. Depending on how long it was between her return home, and the birth of her child, I’d definitely say that the hospital has some blame there, if the facts are as alleged.
Regarding Shocker for New York Docs. The math seems all wrong.
1) There is a $500 million shortfall. There are 30,000 doctors in the system and they are saying a $50,000 assessment per doctor would be needed. In what bizarro universe is $1.5 billion needed to close a $500 million shortfall.
2) The state took $700 million from the insurance funds to close a state budget shortfall. Maybe they should just give it back?
“The Peirce Law Firm, which specializes in asbestosis claims, has acknowledged that scam, but says it wasn’t behind it. The firm also says it didn’t know about Gilkison’s part in the plan and that, because he was a contractor, it isn’t responsible for Gilkison’s actions.”
No doubt that Mr. Peirce will be running for some politico office soon eh?