Tort Reform

  • Read more: CAVEAT HOSPITIA: Suits Alleging Negligent Credentialing Against Hospitals Get Exemption from Tort Reform
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    CAVEAT HOSPITIA: Suits Alleging Negligent Credentialing Against Hospitals Get Exemption from Tort Reform

    By Alex Stein Policymakers and scholars interested in medical malpractice and torts generally should read Billeaudeau v. Opelousas General Hospital Authority, — So.3d —-, 2016 WL 6123862 (La. 2016). In this recent and important decision, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that suits alleging negligent credentialing against a hospital sound in regular negligence, rather than medical malpractice,…

  • Read more: President Trump’s Tort Reform
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    President Trump’s Tort Reform

    By Alex Stein President Trump’s budget for Fiscal Year 2018 proposes a thoroughgoing reform of our medical malpractice system [Executive Office of the President of the United States, Major Savings and Reforms, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2018, at 114 (2017) (hereinafter, the “Budget”)]. The reform’s stated goals are “[to] reduce defensive medicine ……

  • Read more: The High Cost of Clinical Negligence Claims
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    The High Cost of Clinical Negligence Claims

    By John Tingle In the UK, the Department of Health (DH) have just published a consultation paper on introducing fixed recoverable costs in lower value clinical negligence claims. The document contains some controversial proposals which many claimant, patient lawyers are very concerned about. They feel the proposals will make it much harder for patients with…

  • Read more: Improving the safety of maternity care in the National Health Service (NHS) and other medico-legal matters
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    Improving the safety of maternity care in the National Health Service (NHS) and other medico-legal matters

    By John Tingle There are some very interesting Government patient safety and access to justice policy development activities currently going on in England. Maternity Services In maternity services, there is a clear recognition by Government that safety is inconsistent and that there is significant scope for improvement. Our still birth rates are amongst the highest in…

  • Read more: Sovereign Immunity Protects State-Owned Hospitals and Medical Personnel Against Malpractice Suits
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    Sovereign Immunity Protects State-Owned Hospitals and Medical Personnel Against Malpractice Suits

    By Alex Stein Pike v. Hagaman, — S.E.2d —- 2016 WL 3097727 (Va. 2016), is a must-read for anyone interested in medical malpractice and health law. This new decision of the Virginia Supreme Court grants state-owned hospitals and their personnel categorical sovereign-immunity protection against medical malpractice suits.

  • Read more: Medical Malpractice vs. General Negligence under California Law
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    Medical Malpractice vs. General Negligence under California Law

    By Alex Stein In its recent decision, Flores v. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hosp., 369 P.3d 229 (Ca. 2016), the California Supreme Court has sharpened the critical distinction between “medical malpractice” and general negligence. Under California statute, a plaintiff’s ability to file a medical malpractice suit expires in one year after the accrual of the cause of action. The statute tolls…

  • Read more: Tort Reform in Oregon: Constitutional, After All?
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    Tort Reform in Oregon: Constitutional, After All?

    By Alex Stein Three years ago, Oregon’s Supreme Court voided the state’s $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages for medical malpractice for violating the constitutional guarantee that “In all civil cases the right of Trial by Jury shall remain inviolate” (Or. Const., Art. I, § 17, as interpreted in Lakin v. Senco Products, Inc., 987 P.2d 463,…

  • Read more: Patient Fall: Medical Malpractice or General Tort?
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    Patient Fall: Medical Malpractice or General Tort?

    By Alex Stein Courts coalesce around the view that patient fall injuries are actionable only as medical malpractice except when the care provider acts with intent or malice. This approach gives providers of medical care all the protections that benefit defendants in medical malpractice cases (compulsory suit-screening panel procedure, merit certificate / affidavit as a prerequisite…

  • Read more: Medical Malpractice: The New Wave of Constitutional Attacks on Damage Caps
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    Medical Malpractice: The New Wave of Constitutional Attacks on Damage Caps

    By Alex Stein About forty-five years ago, tort reforms took off and states have started capping compensation awards for victims of medical malpractice. The plaintiffs bar countered this initiative by raising different constitutional challenges against caps. Those challenges alluded to equal protection, due process, separation of powers, and the general right to a jury trial. Some…

  • Read more: Nevada’s $350,000 Cap on Noneconomic Damages Held Constitutional and Applicable Per Incident
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    Nevada’s $350,000 Cap on Noneconomic Damages Held Constitutional and Applicable Per Incident

    By Alex Stein Bad news for Nevada’s victims of medical malpractice. This state’s Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages as limiting recovery for all kinds of victims and injuries. Tam v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., — P.3d —- , 2015 WL 5771245 (Nev. 2015).  Moreover, the Court held that the cap…