Side Note: Let’s say you’re a physician being sued for medical malpractice, and your case was dropped. That’s great, isn’t it?! While that is absolutely fantastic news for you, it doesn’t mean that it is not without some negatives, too. The article below discusses a recent study published in Health Affairs magazine that looked at […]

side note: Always a complicated market for medical malpractice insurance, Pennsylvania Gov. Corbett ends joint-and-several liability with the signing of the Fair Share Act.. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett recently signed into law Senate Bill 1131, better known as the “Fair Share Act,’’ which reforms how damages are recovered in civil lawsuits, ensuring an equitable framework […]

side note: California’s MICRA Act has been considered the gold standard of tort reform since 1975, but Texas’ 2003 medical liability tort reforms built on California’s law and upped the ante. And the results have been amazing. The article below purports that in the wake of the Lone Star State’s 2003 reforms, the number of […]

side note: I have yet to see the new documentary “Hot Coffee,” but have read enough of the press surrounding it to know it is making a significant impact. This blog post from Forbes.com may be heavy handed with its own bias, but it does illustrate why people have such a visceral reaction to tort […]

side note: Could this be a judicial “make good”? After neutering the majority of Illinois’ medical malpractice tort reforms when it deemed the state’s cap on non-economic damages unconstitutional two years ago, Illinois’ highest court more clearly defined the role of expert testimony in medical professional liability lawsuits this month. The question is whether this […]

side note: Wow. This is a new wrinkle in the New Jersey judicial system. For the longest time, the argument against caps on non-economic damages was that they violated a plaintiff’s right to a jury trial, where the jury decides compensation. Here, a judge can invalidate or adjust a medical malpractice jury verdict simply on […]

side note: It comes as no surprise to hear that the United States’ healthcare system — which includes medical professional liability insurance companies — is facing unprecedented change, as both the government and private sectors try to reign in escalating medical costs that far outpace inflation. What should be interesting to the MPLI industry is […]

side note: Below is a South Carolina Supreme Court case that has implications that exceed the two motorcyclists injured. At the heart of this case is whether South Carolina’s two-tier statutory cap on damages is constitutional. Under the two-tier system, state-employed physicians and dentists are only liable for $1.2 per person and per occurrence; for […]

Side Note: There is some good news for physicians in Florida regarding Florida med mal tort reform. A new bill, HB 479, specifically addresses new, more stringent requirements for expert medical malpractice witnesses who appear in Florida courts. Under the law, out-of-state licensed expert witnesses must obtain certification. In essence, expert witnesses are now being […]