Overlawyered » obstetrics

Obstetrician not liable for trying to save baby’s life

Walter Olson — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:45:18 +0000

“A woman whose fetus was stillborn cannot sue the doctor who performed an emergency Caesarian section in a futile attempt to save its life, an appeals court ruled.” The unanimous five-judge panel called the plaintiff’s theory “remarkable.” [Reuters via White Coat]

Tags: obstetrics

Obstetrician not liable for trying to save baby’s life is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Medical roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:57:05 +0000

View from Massachusetts General Hospital: drug shortages getting “dire” [WBUR, earlier here, here, here, etc.]
Medical liability roundup: Sheriff arrives at Ohio doctor’s home to enforce $9.7 million award blaming lack of Caesarean section for cerebral palsy [TribToday] North Carolina legislature overrides Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of liability limits [News & Observer via White Coat] Trial-lawyer-friendly Florida Supreme Court could strike down malpractice award limits in pending case [Orlando Business Journal]
“Antitrust rules handcuff physician-led delivery models” [American Medical News]
Relatedly, who was it who imagined anonymous denunciation of doctors was going to be a good idea? [Jay Hopkinson via Larry Ribstein]
New Medicare paperwork threat to clinical trials? [Beck]
Study: Elected coroners less likely to label deaths as suicide than appointed counterparts, family’s access to insurance benefits may be factor [Kevin B. O'Reilly, American Medical News]
“Gee, why wouldn’t Obama administration want judges and “public interest” lawyers running its new health care law?” [Mickey Kaus on New Republic report]

Tags: antitrust, Florida, insurance, medical, Medicare, North Carolina, obstetrics

Medical roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 7 roundup

Walter Olson — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:19:34 +0000

Claim: unwanted sugar in Dunkin’ Donuts coffee order sent customer into diabetic shock [AP]
Schadenfreude aside, key theory in feds’ case against John Edwards looking mighty strained [Meck Deck/John Locke Foundation, Steve Hayward/Power Line, Ted Frank, Jacob Sullum] “They’ve indicted one former presidential candidate on one count of false statements?” [Caleb Brown] American Lawyer looks back at the law firms that backed Edwards in 2008; our coverage of his ’04 law-firm backers and of moneyman Fred Baron, and my commentary on Baron’s ethical standards;
Edwards-reminiscent? Theory that earlier C-section would have averted cerebral palsy nets $58 M verdict [Thomas Scheffey, Connecticut Law Tribune]
Carter Wood, key business-policy blogger, departs NAM for Business Roundtable;
Tenderer tort-law treatment for trespassers, courtesy 3rd Restatement? [David Freddoso/Examiner, Richard Cupp via TortsProf]
Non-shockingly, some litigation defense lawyers aren’t enthusiastic about lawsuit reform [Texas Lawyer]
“Attorney charged with stealing clerk’s textbook from courtroom” [Baltimore Sun]

Tags: criminals who sue, defense lawyers, don't, John Edwards, obstetrics, restaurants

June 7 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Henry Waxman and the Bendectin story

Walter Olson — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:12:17 +0000

Could it be that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) — known for his extensive involvement in pharmaceutical issues over many years as a Congressional nabob, and for his long, close alliance with the plaintiff’s bar — is really unfamiliar with the story of Bendectin, one of the staple horror stories of litigation run amok in the drug field? [Carter Wood, ShopFloor] Background here, here, here, etc., etc. The whole clip, starring Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA), is worth watching: Bilbray wonders aloud whether there are any lawyers he can sue when unfounded lawsuits put needed medical technologies out of reach.

Tags: Henry Waxman, obstetrics, pharmaceuticals

Henry Waxman and the Bendectin story is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“More risk of getting sued…”

Walter Olson — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:07:02 +0000

Some Florida ob-gyns turn away seriously overweight patients, who face a greater risk of complications in pregnancy [Sun-Sentinel/Palm Beach Post] More: White Coat.

Tags: defensive medicine, obstetrics

“More risk of getting sued…” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Suit: Another woman’s breast has ruined my life”

Walter Olson — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:57:26 +0000

A Brooklyn woman intends to pursue further levels of judicial review after an appeals court denied her damages in a breast-feeding mix-up “because the error was discovered and fixed inside the hospital and her infant didn’t get sick or injured.” [Brooklyn Paper; another breastfeeding mixup case]

Tags: damages, hospitals, New York, obstetrics

“Suit: Another woman’s breast has ruined my life” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Delayed action

Walter Olson — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:46:30 +0000

White Coat sums up a recent jury verdict: “Obstetrician ordered to pay $3 million to patient born with cerebral palsy … 18 years ago.” The doctor, from Glens Falls, N.Y., “has $2 million in insurance coverage and may have to cover $1 million of the verdict himself,” according to the story. Statutes of limitations in medical malpractice actions are often “tolled” (suspended) until a child reaches the age of majority, so that it is by no means unheard-of for families to file suit a decade and a half after a medical occurrence.

Tags: obstetrics, statutes of limitations

Delayed action is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

November 12 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:42:54 +0000

By reader acclaim: “Rules in Chandler restrooms: Don’t drink from toilets” [Arizona Republic]
Arbitration and class actions before the Supreme Court: “Misconceptions about Concepcion” [Andrew Trask]
County commissioner candidate sues county employees, rival over election flyer [Whidbey Island, Wash. News-Times]
Fannie’s Tammany: MacLean, Nocera on the politicized world of the mortgage GSEs [Tabarrok]
$56 million obstetrics verdict against Westchester County, N.Y. hospital [Hochfelder]
Legal Ethics Forum is looking for guest bloggers;
New Federalist Society white papers on Ohio and North Carolina supreme courts;
“When Art Imitates Life: Suing for Defamation in Fiction” [Jane Kleiner, Citizen Media Law]

Tags: arbitration, hospitals, libel slander and defamation, mortgages, North Carolina, obstetrics, Ohio, wacky warnings, Washington state

November 12 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

June 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:00:23 +0000

Supreme Court limits scope of “honest services fraud” law [Mauro/NLJ, Ilya Shapiro and Tim Lynch, Cato, Bainbridge and more]
No, defensive medicine isn’t a myth, ask your emergency room doc [AP/Columbus Dispatch] Eagerness to share horror stories [Sharon Begley, Newsweek] “Unusual for a Democrat, Obama readily acknowledges that defensive medicine is a problem.” [AP/WaPo] “VBAC rates are low, but are obstetricians to blame?” [Lin and Tuteur at KevinMD, Replogle/Fair Warning]
Social life of a blawger, cont’d: I sat at David Lat’s table at CEI’s evening with Judge Kozinski [Above the Law] Judge Learned Hand, writing in an antitrust case, “was very knowledgeable about everything except how the world works.” [among the many funny things Judge K. said]
For those keeping count, at least seven Roman Catholic dioceses in this country have filed for bankruptcy in abuse scandal [Hartley]
Business Roundtable enumerates rapidly expanding roster of federal regulatory burdens [Ted at PoL, Amend the CPSIA, Tad DeHaven and Daniel Mitchell, Cato]
Colleges fiddle numbers to comply with Title IX, but don’t you dare call it a quota law [LegalBlogWatch, Greenfield] New report on law’s ill effects on soccer [College Sports Council, Charlotte Allen/MtC] More: Allison Kasic, IWF. And back when, I wrote on Princeton wrestling and Title IX; CSC tells how that turned out.
Former student of Prof. Robin West defends homeschooling [Sub Specie]
Not too long ago: “My environmental advocacy organization would only fill the company cars at BP” [Stoll]