Author
By Alex Stein California’s referendum initiative to make an inflation-based adjustment to the state’s 39-years old $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages for medical malpractice moves forward. See here. The California Medical Association (CMA) unsurprisingly opposes this…
By Alex Stein Last week, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island decided that suit against a lab for failure to identify illness or genetic disorder sounds in ordinary negligence and not in medical malpractice. Ho–Rath v.…
By Alex Stein Whether a tort action sounds in “medical malpractice,” as opposed to “general negligence,” or vice versa, is often critical. Medical malpractice actions must satisfy special requirements that include shortened limitations periods, statutes of…
By Alex Stein A clinical social worker hears from his patient about the patient’s interest in child pornography, but does nothing to solve the problem. Later on, the police raids the patient’s house to find evidence…
By Alex Stein Until recently, the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) was a designated arbitrator in thousands of nursing home agreements. When a nursing home resident complained about medical malpractice or other mistreatment, her complaint had to…
By Alex Stein We are just in mid-March, but yesterday’s decision of the Florida Supreme Court, McCall v. United States, — So.3d —-, 2014 WL 959180 (Fla. 2014), is – and will likely remain – the…
By Alex Stein Two days ago, the Appellate Court of Connecticut affirmed the dismissal of an indigent plaintiff’s action to void a statute requiring plaintiffs to support malpractice suits against medical professionals by an opinion letter…
By Alex Stein In a recent case, Lawrence v. Mountainstar Healthcare, — P.3d —-, 2014 WL 685594 (Utah App. 2014), Utah’s Court of Appeals sharpened the distinction between two categories of doctors’ statements: (1) “we messed…
By Alex Stein A gynecologist’s patient filed a suit alleging that he touched her inappropriately and made sexually charged comments during her office visits. The suit was filed against the gynecologist and his employer. The plaintiff’s…
By Alex Stein When a patient files a malpractice suit against a doctor, she waives the evidentiary privilege that protects the information pertaining to her treatment by the doctor. This information extends to all communications between…
