Liability

  • Read more: Suits for nursing-home neglects sound in general negligence rather than medical malpractice, and are consequently not subject to damage caps
    Article

    Suits for nursing-home neglects sound in general negligence rather than medical malpractice, and are consequently not subject to damage caps

    By Alex Stein The West Virginia Supreme Court has recently delivered a super-important malpractice decision, Manor Care, Inc. v. Douglas, — S.E.2d —- (W. Va. 2014), holding that suits for nursing-home neglects sound in general negligence, rather than medical malpractice, and are consequently not subject to damage caps. This decision is very well reasoned and I expect…

  • Read more: Medical Malpractice: FTCA’s Trap for the Unwary
    Article

    Medical Malpractice: FTCA’s Trap for the Unwary

    By Alex Stein Anyone interested in medical malpractice must read the First Circuit’s decision in Sanchez v. United States, 740 F.3d 47 (1st Cir. 2014). Mr. Sanchez’s wife died in a Massachusetts hospital shortly after delivering her third child by c-section. She died from arguably preventable hemorrhaging. Mr. Sanchez and his lawyer thought that they had a…

  • Read more: The Law & Economics of the VA Fiasco
    Article

    The Law & Economics of the VA Fiasco

    By Alex Stein Over at the CATO blog, Roger Pilon discusses the unfolding VA fiasco that involves hospitals covering up their failures to provide acutely needed services to veterans and doctors working in a slowdown mode (as illustrated by an eight-person cardiology department that “sees as many patients in a week as a single private practice…

  • Read more: Fixing California’s Tort Reform
    Article

    Fixing California’s Tort Reform

    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 initiative. According to CMA, “The $250,000 cap on non-economic damages is an effective way of limiting frivolous lawsuits.” This is…

  • Read more: Michael Jackson and Emotional Damages
    Article

    Michael Jackson and Emotional Damages

    By Dov Fox You know the King of Pop died in 2009 while rehearsing for a comeback tour in London. Here’s a twist you may not have heard about: Michael Jackson fan club members sued Conrad Murray, the doctor who administered the lethal overdose of anesthesia. And the celebrity enthusiasts won. A French court recently awarded five of the grieving fans economic damages (albeit…

  • Read more: Suits against labs sound in ordinary negligence rather than medical malpractice
    Article

    Suits against labs sound in ordinary negligence rather than medical malpractice

    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. Rhode Island Hospital, — A.3d —-, 2014 WL 1765421 (R.I. 2014). The “ordinary negligence” sound is music to the plaintiffs’…

  • Read more: Medical Malpractice or General Negligence? A Redux
    Article

    Medical Malpractice or General Negligence? A Redux

    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 repose, expert affidavits, and merit certificates. Suits sounding in ordinary negligence need not satisfy those requirements. Filing and prosecuting those…

  • Read more: Medical Malpractice Decision of the Year: Florida Supreme Court voids the $1M cap on noneconomic damages for a patient’s wrongful death
    Article

    Medical Malpractice Decision of the Year: Florida Supreme Court voids the $1M cap on noneconomic damages for a patient’s wrongful death

    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 most important medical malpractice decision of 2014. The case at bar presented a particularly egregious example of medical malpractice: a…

  • Read more: Pom Wonderful v. Coca-Cola: Will the Supreme Court’s Decision Have Implications Beyond “Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored Blend of 5 Juices”?
    Article

    Pom Wonderful v. Coca-Cola: Will the Supreme Court’s Decision Have Implications Beyond “Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored Blend of 5 Juices”?

    By Kate Greenwood Cross-Posted at Health Reform Watch On April 21st, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Pom Wonderful v. The Coca-Cola Company, a case in which Pom sued Coke under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act arguing that Coke’s product “Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored Blend of 5 Juices” was misleadingly named.  Coke countered that…