Posts Tagged ‘medical’

New batch of reader letters

We’ve posted another batch of letters from readers. Among topics: a Pennsylvania case in which a doctor was ordered to pay for a mistake by nurses in the operating room; an outcry by consumers over the results of a class action (Schwartz v. Citibank) over late fees which is resulting in a $9 million payout in lawyers’ fees and refunds in the range of 18 cents for many credit card holders; a report from a reader that Norton Internet Security is blocking access to our site because we have too much talk about “weapons”, presumably meaning too much discussion of firearms litigation; and a letter on the prospect of lawyers’ going after the personal assets of Connecticut doctors in negligence cases after exhausting their insurance coverage.

One doc’s memoir: litigation crisis as morality crisis

Last year it was reported that Dr. Kirk Kooyer, who had come to Mississippi to serve the poor, was leaving the state after being sued by a patient who later said she didn’t want to file charges against him but was talked into doing so by her lawyers (see Aug. 1, 2002; Dorothy L. Pennachio, “Why Dr. Kooyer Had To Move”, Medical Economics, Dec. 23, 2002). Now Kooyer has published a memoir/essay on the tort mess which really shouldn’t be missed, at this link. Brief excerpts follow:

“I watched as a litigation mentality crept into the Mississippi Delta, fueled by a favorable judicial environment. I have had to personally deal with the harassment of unmerited litigation along with its consequences to my family, my practice and, ultimately, my idealism. …

“[A] jury in Sharkey County, where I lived and practiced for eight years, awarded $10 million to the family of a man who had electrocuted himself by touching a pipe to a power line. As the treating physician in that case, as well as a resident of the county, I was interested in knowing what culpability the jury felt the defendant electric company had in the electrocution. One of the jurors told me, ‘Oh, we didn?t think the electrical company did anything wrong, but this way the children will be taken care of.’ …

“Perhaps no individual has suffered more [from the state’s medical liability crisis] than Dr. John Lucas III from Greenwood, Miss. Dr. Lucas, a fourth-generation Mississippi physician, is a trauma surgeon who was instrumental in setting up Mississippi?s statewide trauma network to speed victims of trauma from rural areas to appropriate medical care. In the past year, Lucas has been forced to witness the dismantling of the trauma network because of declining numbers of trauma surgeons in Mississippi. Additionally, he has had to personally deal with three distracting medical malpractice lawsuits, which he considers frivolous. And this past spring, his oldest son sustained a critical head injury in an automobile accident near Greenville, Miss. Last year, Greenville had well-established neurosurgical services. This year the last neurosurgeon providing emergency services in Greenville left the state. After his accident, vital neurosurgical care was delayed while Dr. Lucas’ son was transported 100 miles to the University Medical Center in Jackson. Dr. Lucas, a well-respected surgeon who worked diligently to improve trauma care in his state, who was personally dragged into Mississippi?s lawsuit frenzy, helplessly watched his precious son linger in a coma for several weeks and die for lack of expedient medical care. …

“I don?t think we should be distracted from what is at the heart of our nation?s tort crisis: a crisis in personal morality. We were taught from an early age not to accuse falsely and not to take something that doesn?t belong to us. When litigation is pursued in cases where there has been no negligence and where there has been no injury, not only is tort law not fulfilled, but an important moral teaching is also forgotten.” (Kurt Kooyer, “New Crisis in the Mississippi Delta”, The Spark (Calvin College), Fall). In its next issue, the Calvin College magazine runs a response from an Emory law prof who finds it just fine and completely understandable that people should file lawsuits demanding large sums as a way of “seek[ing] answers” after sudden and unexplained medical catastrophes — which tends to confirm Kooyer’s last point, so far as we can see. (Paul J. Zwier II, “Another Look at a ‘New Crisis in the Mississippi Delta'”, Winter) (& see Dec. 17).

New letters to the editor

We’ve posted another batch of letters to the editor, including one from David Giacalone commenting on the recent case in which a Washington state jury hit the state with $8.8 million in damages for not preventing an assault by youths in foster care; a note from an Ontario barrister pointing out that both Canada and Great Britain maintain specialized commercial courts, a trend that is spreading in this country as well; letters on Fox v. Franken and on malpractice insurers’ investments; and, last but certainly not least, a humdinger of a letter from someone who is really, really upset that anyone would have the temerity to write the sorts of things we publish in this space (“Are you even a lawyer?”, he demands to know).

Med-mal roundup

Massachusetts: “The Romney administration and the Harvard School of Public Health, seeking to address soaring health care costs driven by medical malpractice lawsuits, are working on a sweeping proposal to move malpractice claims out of state courts and into a new administrative framework much like the state’s workers’ compensation system.” (Ralph Ranalli, “Malpractice plan would limit trials”, Boston Globe, Nov. 13). “Defense and plaintiffs’ lawyers agree that, in recent memory, no medical malpractice verdict in excess of policy limits has resulted in the seizure of a Connecticut doctor’s house, savings or other personal assets”, reports Thomas B. Scheffey of the Connecticut Law Tribune. But now following a series of high awards “more aggressive collection strategies may come into play” as trial lawyers at Bridgeport’s kingpin tort firm of Koskoff, Koskoff and Bieder are “exploring other options” with regard to collecting a $10 million judgment against a Stamford physician insured for only $1 million (“Med-Mal Awards Put Doctors on Alert”, Nov. 18). And a judge in McDowell County, W.V., has dismissed Dr. Julie McCammon’s lawsuit against the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and its former president for causing her malpractice insurance rates to rise, ruling that the defendants owed her no duty of care. (Nora Edinger, “Doctor’s suit dismissed”, Clarksburg Exponent Telegram, undated, appx. Nov. 26).

Update: second cardiologist sued over alleged fen-phen fraud

“A second doctor was accused of fraud [earlier this month] in a federal lawsuit filed by the AHP Settlement Trust, the entity created to process claims related to the $3.75 billion fen-phen settlement.” (see Sept. 21, Sept. 25). The new suit alleges that a New York City cardiologist conspired with an unnamed law firm to submit medically unreasonable claims of heart valve injury, resulting in the payment of millions of dollars in claims. “Compensation was a motivating factor in the fraud, the suit alleges, noting that for each VHD [valvular heart disease] certification, Mueller allegedly received an immediate payment of $500 over and above the $900 he received for interpreting the echocardiogram. The suit alleges that Mueller received another payment of $1,500 following compensation to the claimant, earning more than $1 million.” Contingency fees for expert witnesses are not necessarily prohibited as such in American courtrooms, though they have been widely viewed with distaste by ethics authorities. (Shannon P. Duffy, “Fen-Phen Settlement Trust Sues Second Doctor for Fraud”, Legal Intelligencer, Nov. 17).

Update: N.J. pols plan revenge on docs

New Jersey doctors bet big and lost (see Nov. 4, Nov. 5) hoping that a $2 million investment in this fall’s campaign would lead voters to throw out the trial-lawyer-allied Democrats. And now their intended targets “are doing what winners do here: Gloating, and plotting revenge. … Now, chest-thumping Democrats plan to inflict some pain and suffering payback on the medical profession.” “It’s one of the basic rules of politics: If you’re going to engage in an all-out assault, you’d better make sure you’re going to win,” said Assembly Majority Leader Joe Roberts. “Deep down, [Marlton pediatrician Michael Falk] never believed the legislature would pass caps anyway. Why? Because many lawmakers are lawyers whose campaigns rely heavily on donations from fellow lawyers. But what really raises the doctor’s blood pressure is the suggestion that the MDs should have stayed silent. Since when, he asks, are democratically elected officials in the business of punishing their constituents for exercising their rights?” (Monica Yant Kinney, “Doctors paying price for exercising a right”, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 16; Caitlin Gurney, “Campaigning costs state’s doctors”, Nov. 14)(& welcome readers of DynamoBuzz, a weblog about New Jersey politics and other subjects, which says some awfully kind things about us, calling us “one of the hidden gems of the Internet … chock full of information about our legal system run amok”)

Medical privacy madness, cont’d

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has more about how HIPAA, the federal medical-privacy act, is undercutting care (see Oct. 23). For example, doctors who believe their elderly patients should not be driving anymore are less likely to pass on the word to family members. ‘We’re [also] seeing more medication errors in older patients because of this,’ says John Riesch, a vascular surgeon for the past 41 years and a former president of the Medical Society of Wisconsin. … The patients, who were used to having family members or companions help them figure out their medications, are now fending for themselves and sometimes taking the wrong dosage, Riesch says.” A federal regulator, meanwhile, expresses impatience at some doctors’ overcaution on these matters: despite “persistent” and “destructive” myths to the contrary, “spouses can pick up prescriptions for one another, doctors can send e-mails to their patients, and hospitals can release a patient’s room number and condition if the patient approves,” and so forth. Silly doctors, to be so spooked by the prospect of $10,000 fines for overstepping hundreds of pages of guidelines. (Meg Kissinger, “Fears over privacy law compromising care”, Nov. 8).

“I didn’t know I was suing you!”

It’s something doctors run into more and more often: one of their patients is suing them, but doesn’t seem to be aware of it. In one common fact pattern, the patient is recruited into a mass tort suit against a pharmaceutical maker, whereupon the lawyer names the doctor as an added defendant. Feeling bad about this, the client may ask the lawyer to remove the doctor’s name from the list of those being sued — but asking isn’t necessarily the same as getting the lawyer to do it. Quotes yours truly and mentions this site (Dorothy Pennachio, Medical Economics, Nov. 7).

Malpractice key issue in NJ, Pa. races

“In New Jersey, where state-level candidates usually campaign over issues such as property taxes and school funding, the No. 1 issue is now medical malpractice — if political fund-raising totals are any indication.” Doctors are throwing themselves into state politics and are so passionate about the issue that they’re actually outspending trial lawyers by a wide margin. (“Malpractice Issue Draws Most Funding in N.J. State Races”, BestWire/HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society), Oct. 28). Pennsylvania physicians are up in arms as well, hoping to make their voices heard in a key state supreme court contest between Republican Joan Orie Melvin and Democrat Max Baer (Carrie Budoff, “This time, physicians are players in election”, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 3; Marian Uhlman, “As doctor workforce ages, a fear of shortage”, Oct. 12). In Massachusetts, nearly 1,000 doctors descended on the statehouse last spring attired in white coats, demanding malpractice reform (David Kibbe, “Liability insurance hikes scaring off some doctors”, Ottaway/New Bedford Standard-Times, Oct. 6). See also “Tort-reform law could cure ills of malpractice” (editorial), Rockingham News, Oct. 31 (New Hampshire)(suggesting that recent Texas reforms serve as model).

Disappearing Australians

Lifeguards: “One of Victoria’s most popular surf beaches may be unpatrolled this summer as its lifesaving club struggles to pay the huge public liability insurance costs. The Torquay club will not put lifesavers on the beach this season if the State Government does not pass legislation protecting members and the club from litigation.” (Stephen Moynihan, “Popular beach may have no lifesavers this season”, Melbourne Age, Nov. 2). Pediatric surgeons: “Eighteen orthopedic surgeons and obstetricians have quit public hospitals in Sydney in the past week because of the Government’s medical indemnity charge.” (Ruth Pollard, “Children’s surgeons quit, more will follow”, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 2). Rural obstetricians (Lucy Beaumont, “Insurance fear on rural births”, Melbourne Age, May 6). See David Little, “Left untreated, the indemnity system will cause more suffering”, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 9; Richard Ackland, “In a row between doctor and lawyer, you know who the politician will call”, Sydney Morning Herald, Oct. 31)