The Connecticut Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved legislation that would significantly hamper the effectiveness of the state’s 2005 medical malpractice tort reforms. In 2005, the Connecticut legislature passed a law that requires a person alleging medical malpractice to get a written opinion from a physician practicing in a similar specialty as the accused that supports […]

On March 22, the United States House of Representatives voted 223-181 to pass House Resolution 5 (HR 5), the Protecting Access to Healthcare (PATH) Act, which would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) for Medicare as well as place a federal $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, limit punitive damages, establish […]

On March 15, the New Hampshire Senate unveiled Senate Bill 406, an early offer program for the state’s medical liability lawsuits. If enacted, the bill promises to have a deflating effect on the cost of medical malpractice insurance for doctors and the overall cost of medical malpractice litigation in the state. The early offers program […]

A bill currently in front of the Connecticut General Assembly, and championed by the trial lawyers lobby, intends to weaken the definition of an expert witness in medical malpractice lawsuits. If the requirements attached to expert testimony are weakened, it would likely have an inflationary effect on medical malpractice insurance rates for healthcare workers practicing […]

On March 9th, the Florida legislature adjourned its 2012 session without passing three anticipated healthcare liability bills. The liability bills would have dealt with assisted-living facilities, medical malpractice lawsuits and the dispensing of drugs to workers-comp patients. Of greatest concern to the Florida Medical Association and its physician members was the bill dealing with medical […]

James Woods recently testified before the Rhode Island General Assembly in favor of apology-in-medicine legislation. That’s right, the acclaimed American film, stage and television actor extraordinaire is a proponent of apology in medicine. Apology in medicine in not a new concept, but in the context of medical adverse events and unanticipated outcomes, an apology has […]

The largest medical malpractice insurance provider in West Virginia, the West Virginia Mutual Physicians Insurance Company (WVPMIC), announced a change in leadership. And the new president and chief executive officer, R. Austin Wallace, MD, heaped large amounts of praise on the medical liability insurance company he now runs as well as the state legislature that […]

A couple of weeks ago an interesting piece of legislation (SB 1506) was put forth in the Florida state senate. Sen. John Thrasher (R-St. Augustine) filed the measure to protect physicians by sovereign immunity from large Florida physician malpractice judgements. It notes the unique feature of emergency room physicians: they are required by law to […]

The medical liability climate in Florida is a mess. Medical malpractice insurance in Miami’s Dade County is more expensive than any other in the nation, and the high cost of medical malpractice premiums influence too many doctors in the Sunshine State to choose to practice bare, without any liability insurance coverage at all. Add the […]