September 23 roundup

“Zurich hospital turns away US health tourists”

“Zurich University Hospital has stopped treating North American ‘medical tourists’, fearing million-dollar claims from litigious patients if operations go wrong. Hospitals in canton Valais have also adopted measures to protect themselves against visitors from the United States, Canada and Britain.” [Swissinfo.ch via Mark Perry and Coyote]

“New Allegations About Fred Baron’s Role in Edwards Deception”

A book proposal by former John Edwards aide Andrew Young is sensationally said to allege “that Edwards asked [the late asbestos-suit impresario] Baron if he could find a doctor who would falsify a DNA report.” [New York Times via (quoted) AmLaw Litigation Daily] Now where would anyone have gotten the impression that Baron was a good person to talk to if you wanted to misrepresent medical facts about someone?

September 22 roundup

  • Proposed Costco fuel settlement: $0 for class, $10M for attorneys. [CCAF]
  • Senator Specter’s latest attempt to curry favor with trial lawyers. [Ribstein; see also Corporate Counsel]
  • The Frank-Gryphon paper on the game theory of medical malpractice settlements is now posted. Comments welcome. [SSRN]
  • Heritage panel on tort reform in the states features Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. [Summary at Point of Law]
  • Liability waivers ignored and Texas Motor Speedway on the hook for $12 million after a 12-year-old driver strikes 11-year-old in the pit area. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram; id. on pre-trial]
  • Martha Raye turning over in her grave, as trial lawyers target denture cream as next mass tort. [AP/Washington Post]

How class actions get invented

Sean Wajert on a class action filed against Bayer:

Plaintiffs are consumers who claim to have purchased Bayer combination aspirin and dietary supplement products. They do not claim that they were injured by these products or that the products were ineffective. Instead, plaintiffs seek damages because they say they would not have purchased these products if they had known that Bayer, instead of submitting a New Drug Application (“NDA”) for each of these combination products, relied on the preexisting separate regulatory review of aspirin and the supplements.

More: Ron Miller.

September 21 roundup

Straight talk in medical reports

Throckmorton is losing patience with pathology and radiology reports that hedge and dodge instead of laying things out straight:

Oh, I miss the days when you got a radiology report that said, “fracture right 3rd rib, no pneumothorax”. Because of frivolous lawsuits radiologists have learned to be vague, noncommittal and to pass the buck of possible litigation. So now you get a 2 page report that says “linear lucency in right 3rd rib, clinical correlation recommended, underinflated lung fields cannot exclude underlying interstitial disease and or masses. CT recommended for further evaluation, if condition warrants.” along with several other paragraphs of lawyer imposed legalmedspeak….