Medical Malpractice

• Tort Reform, Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death

  Staff Writer | January 19, 2006 9:12 AM | 0 CommentsDenver, CO

  A story from the Denver Post talks about the non-profit group Colorado Citizens for Accountability and their battle to inform the public about medical malpracticeand tort reform. Founded by Patty and David Skolnik, whose son was diagnosed with a brain cyst. Only after he was operated on did the family find out that the doctor who performed the surgery had pending malpractice suits in other...

• Statute of Limitations in Nevada Medical Malpractice Cases

  Steve Klearman | January 18, 2006 5:31 PM | 0 CommentsReno, NV

  Nevada's 2004 ballot initiative, concieved and created by the U.S. medical malpractice insurance lobby, and naively passed by Nevada's voters (who thought that they were voting to "keep doctors from moving out of Nevada"),contains a new one-year statute of limitations that severely curtails the rights of Nevada's medical malpractice victims.Nevada statute 41A.097 provides: 1. Except as...

• Expert Affidavits Required in Nevada Medical Malpractice Actions

  Steve Klearman | January 18, 2006 4:52 PM | 0 CommentsReno, NV

  Although medical malpractice is really a form of negligence, it must be proven through the use of expert witnesses. Doctors are usually needed to evaluate cases and to testify against other doctors. Similarly, nurses are frequently required to testify against other nurses. Defense lawyers hire their own experts in an effort to defeat the plaintiff's case. In medical malpractice trials, the jury...

• Insurance Companies Significantly Overstating Their Losses

  Staff Writer | January 18, 2006 9:07 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A recently published study by The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights demonstrates that insurance companies have been significantly overstating their losses and then revising them downward in later years.The study showed that the insurance companies reported "incurred losses," what they expected to have to pay out on claims, averaged 46% larger that what they actually paid out. The...

• The Medical Malpractice Reform Debate in Arizona

  Staff Writer | January 17, 2006 12:45 PM | 0 CommentsPhoenix, AZ

  With the medical malpractice reform debate gearing up this legislative session in Arizona, I thought I'd reflect on this highly emotionally charged issue. Doctors say that they cannot continue to practice medicine when insurance premiums continue to skyrocket. Patients want access to quality medical care and want accountability in case something goes wrong with their medical care. Is...

• Not Surprising - Nursing Homes are Still Deficient

  Staff Writer | January 17, 2006 8:11 AM | 0 CommentsDallas, TX

  As reported in the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/16/politics/16nurses.html?th&emc=th.Does it surprise you that state inspectors often over look serious deficiencies in nursing homes. From a new report from the General Accountability Office, Congressional investigators report that state inspectors either miss serious problems or just do not report the severity of the problems...

• Tenet HealthCare Settles $215 Million Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

  Robert Wolf | January 16, 2006 11:56 AM | 0 CommentsDallas, TX

  Hospital chain Tenet Helathcare Corp, a publically-traded health care company, announced a deal to settle class-action lawsuits for $215 million, mostly regarding unnecessary surgeries occurring at one of its California hospitals. There are "bigger fish still to fry," said Ryan Beck analyst Robert Mains. "The securities litigation, in our view, was a relatively small item."The deal, which...

• New Treatment for Advanced Ovarian Cancer

  Staff Writer | January 16, 2006 9:35 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  The National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, has issued an announcement regarding an encouraging new treatment for women with advanced ovarian cancer.The treatment involves delivering anti-cancer drugs into a vein and directly into the patient's abdomen. This has been found to extend overall survival for women with advanced ovarian cancer by about a...

• Florida Bar Seeks Comments Re Amendment 3 Rule

  Bob Carroll | January 16, 2006 8:05 AM | 0 CommentsPinellas, FL

  Your thoughts concerning the wording of a new Rule being drafted by the Florida Bar can be made through January 17. The Florida Supreme Court has determined that the victims of medical malpractice have the legal right to waive the provisions of Amendment 3, the submarine effort of the health care providers and insurance companies to deny legal representation to claimants. The Florida Bar...

• Safety Alert for Blood Testing Kit

  Jamie Sheller | January 16, 2006 7:44 AM | 0 CommentsPhiladelphia, PA

  The FDA and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics notified health care professionals of the recall of a blood testing kit. The HBsAg Confirmatory Kit is used to test blood for the Hepatitis B virus. An unknown component in the diluting solution may produce Not Confirmed results for samples found to be positive with the initial test. These false negative results could result in a lack of treatment for...