http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/medical-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/medical-roundup/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:57:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=25038

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

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/10/medical-roundup/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-7-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-7-roundup-3/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 05:19:34 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23278

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

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/june-7-roundup-3/feed/ 5 http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/henry-waxman-and-the-bendectin-story/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/henry-waxman-and-the-bendectin-story/#comments Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:12:17 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23241
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

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/06/henry-waxman-and-the-bendectin-story/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/more-risk-of-getting-sued/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/more-risk-of-getting-sued/#comments Thu, 19 May 2011 05:07:02 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=23034 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

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/05/more-risk-of-getting-sued/feed/ 4 http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/suit-another-woman%e2%80%99s-breast-has-ruined-my-life/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/suit-another-woman%e2%80%99s-breast-has-ruined-my-life/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:57:26 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=22656 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

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/04/suit-another-woman%e2%80%99s-breast-has-ruined-my-life/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/delayed-action/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/delayed-action/#comments Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:46:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=21397 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

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/02/delayed-action/feed/ 2 http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/november-12-roundup-3/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/november-12-roundup-3/#comments Fri, 12 Nov 2010 12:42:54 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=20109

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

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/11/november-12-roundup-3/feed/ 1 http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/june-25-roundup-2/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/june-25-roundup-2/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:00:23 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17955

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]

Tags: Alex Kozinski, BP Transocean oil spill, Catholic Church, defensive medicine, fraud, obstetrics, Title IX

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/june-25-roundup-2/feed/ 3 http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/why-are-so-many-jersey-moms-having-c-sections/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/why-are-so-many-jersey-moms-having-c-sections/#comments Fri, 04 Jun 2010 05:09:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=17649 Go ahead, guess. [Morristown, N.J. Daily Record]

Tags: New Jersey, obstetrics

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/06/why-are-so-many-jersey-moms-having-c-sections/feed/ 0 http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/new-mom-given-wrong-baby-to-nurse-wants-settlement-from-hospital/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/02/new-mom-given-wrong-baby-to-nurse-wants-settlement-from-hospital/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:03:57 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=16133 Some commenters find the damages to be elusive, though [Evanston, Ill.; Chicago Sun-Times via White Coat, Jake Aryeh Marcus/BlogHer via Carton/Legal Blog Watch]

Tags: damages, hospitals, Illinois, obstetrics

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