side note: This week, the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) released its annual Judicial Hellholes Report. Since 2002, the Judicial Hellholes Report has documented in annually published reports various abuses within the civil justice system, focusing primarily on jurisdictions where courts are radically out of balance. This list has been an invaluable tool in educating […]

side note: Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen recently released a study that analyzed data from Texas, which in 2003 imposed some of the strictest liability caps in the country. While medical malpractice litigation plummeted dramatically since the caps were imposed, residents of Texas are still paying as much for healthcare as any other state in […]

side note: The below article is very interesting in the fact that Mississippi’s largest medical malpractice insurer, Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi (MACM), has gone on the record as saying the state does not need additional tort reforms. That’s right, a medical malpractice insurance company is saying no more tort reform is necessary. Specifically, the […]

Thanks to the federal government, Electronic health records (EHRs) are being used more and more with each passing day. No longer considered ahead of the curve, but the new standard of practice, EHRs are proving to add another layer of doctor liability to our already litigious times. With the newly created market and demand for […]

side note: Physicians in Wyoming pay moderate medical malpractice insurance rates. They may not be as affordable as the medical malpractice insurance rates in neighboring Idaho, but Wyoming has never had to worry about winding up on the American Tort Reform Association’s Annual Judicial Hellholes List. Unfortunately, after the recent case discussed in the below […]

The James Madison Institute just released an interesting study entitled, Alternative Solutions to Florida’s Medical Malpractice System. The report begins by outlining nothing new: a flawed Florida tort system, physician liability insurance cases that take years to resolve, and awards that are dramatically inconsistent. It describes a system that discourages the reporting of errors and, […]

side note: In 2005, the Illinois Legislature passed a series of tort reform laws intended to have a deflating effect on medical malpractice insurance premiums for the state’s healthcare workforce. At the heart of these reforms was a $500,000 cap on non-economic damages. Non-economic damages are harms such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, disfigurement […]

side note: Today’s healthcare industry is increasingly dependent on computers and data sharing via the internet or an intranet system. Add to this the increasingly common use of social networking services, like Facebook, as a means of marketing a medical practice to potential patient customers. This evolution toward cyber-dependency has been accelerated by the Patient […]

side note: The report discussed in this article was published by the James Madison Institute (JMI), a Florida-based think tank dedicated to dedicated to advancing the ideas of limited government, economic freedom, federalism and individual liberty coupled with individual responsibility. The JMI report argues that the current medical liability tort system is ineffective, costly and […]