Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog

The drum beat has already started for medical malpractice tort reform in West Virginia. The number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in West Virginia is grew from130 in 2004 to 174 in 2007.

Ignoring the fact that with 75 medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed in West Virginia through July, the current pace is below 2003, there has to be some acknowledgment that there are highs and lows in the number of medical malpractice filings through mere happenstance. Of course, the West Virginia State Medical Association is already beating the drum beat that new action might need to protect doctors.

Underscoring how random malpractice lawsuit filings are as a predictor of trends, more than one-third of the malpractice lawsuits filed in West Virginia in 2008 were in July, which is usually a month with a relatively low number of lawsuits filed. Accordingly, this response from the West Virginia State Medical Association is – to be generous – reactionary.

This same thing happened in Maryland. A rash of medical malpractice settlement and verdicts in a single year - which could have been on purpose - led to a medical malpractice crisis that quickly revealed itself not to be crisis at all.

Click here for the AP article on this story.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Medical Malpractice News

Bookmark:

The president of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association, Wayne M. Willoughby, writes an excellent response in the Baltimore Sun to a Maryland doctor's editorial arguing that we have a problem with frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits in Maryland.

Take whatever side you want on the medical malpractice tort reform issues but it is impossible to argue that we have a problem with frivolous malpractice cases in Maryland. The Certificate of Merit requirement coupled with the financial cost of bring a malpractice case does away with 99% of cases that should not be filed. I'm not saying that every malpractice case in Maryland should be won by the plaintiffs. That is simply not true. But tort reform advocates use "frivolous" frivolously because they know it is a good buzz word. But it is simply not a problem in Maryland.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Malpractice Tort Reform

Bookmark:

I saw California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Meet the Press shortly after Tim Russert's death. I've never been huge fan but his moderate views and understanding of the complexity of the issues facing California were fairly impressive. (Was the bar set low?)

Anyway, the Terminator is on the wrong side of insurance reimbursements for doctors in California. His administration intends to appeal an appeals court ruling from last week halting a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates to doctors.

I realize that we have a problem with this country with entitlements. But if you are of the mindset that we have to reduce entitlements, we have to do it head on as opposed to nickel and diming doctors.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Medical Malpractice News

Bookmark:

Medical Malpractice Law News provies a list of 28 things that should never happen in a hospital. These are a list of medical events that should not happen in the absence of negligence. Of course, many of these adverse events listed could happen in the absence of medical or hospital malpractice.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Maryland Malpractice Cases

Bookmark:

I found a Maryland Law Review article today that discusses what precipitated the birth Medical Mutual, the insurance company that insurers most Maryland doctors.

In 1974, the malpractice carrier for eighty-five percent was not Medical Mutual but St. Paul who informed doctors that because the Insurance Commissioner had refused the commissioner’s request to increase medical malpractice insurance rates, it would stop selling new malpractice policies in Maryland.

In response, the General Assembly created the Medical Mutual to provide malpractice insurance to Maryland health care providers. I had no idea that a previous "malpractice crisis" (in quotes because I'm always skeptical) spawned Medical Mutual while I was in elementary school.

Medical Mutual competes against other malpractice insurance companies and obviously does so competitively or they would not have so many doctors. So apparently, the idea spawned 34 years ago still works quite well today.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Medical Malpractice News

Bookmark:

One question you will here Maryland medical malpractice lawyers asking each other is do you need to file in health claims arbitration if the case if filed in federal court. It is a good question because it is a tough question whether under the Erie Doctrine, Maryland's health claims arbitration is "substantive" or "procedural."

While the analysis is tricky, the answer is clear. In Davison v. Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Inc., 462 F. Supp. 778 (1978), the court found that District Court for the District of Maryland held that mandatory arbitration of Maryland medical malpractice lawsuits are a prerequisite to trial.

So if you have a federal medical malpractice case - usually a diversity case in a jurisdiction where you are not excited about the potential jurors - you still need to begin down the Maryland Health Claims Arbitration path.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Trial Strategies

Bookmark:

More evidence doctors are focusing on insurance companies instead of medical malpractice lawyers. The American Medical Association has a new campaign called “the Cure for Claims.” Their mission: to force/encourage health insurers to pay claims quickly.

The AMA claims that $210 billion is added to the cost of health care because insurance companies do not pay claims in a timely manner. I’m doubting the $210 billion but I get the point. Look, medical malpractice lawyers in Maryland and around the country are nodding their heads because they know how difficult insurance companies can be. They business goal is to take in premiums and deny claims. (That line is flip and at times unfair but you get the point.)
For all of the nonsense about medical malpractice tort reform, doctors are now realizing that the real way to increase their profits and their salaries is to take on the insurance companies.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Malpractice Tort Reform

Bookmark:

More evidence doctors are focusing on insurance companies instead of medical malpractice lawyers. The American Medical Association has a new campaign called “the Cure for Claims.” Their mission: to force/encourage health insurers to pay claims quickly.

The AMA claims that $210 billion is added to the cost of health care because insurance companies do not pay claims in a timely manner. I’m doubting the $210 billion but I get the point. Look, medical malpractice lawyers in Maryland and around the country are nodding their heads because they know how difficult insurance companies can be. They business goal is to take in premiums and deny claims. (That line is flip and at times unfair but you get the point.)
For all of the nonsense about medical malpractice tort reform, doctors are now realizing that the real way to increase their profits and their salaries is to take on the insurance companies.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Malpractice Tort Reform

Bookmark:

Here are two sample medical malpractice lawsuits:

Sample Medical Malpractice Lawsuit #1

Sample Medical Malpractice Lawsuit #2

We provide these sample lawsuits as a guide to medicial malpractice lawyers in Maryland and around the country who are filing medical malpractice complaints.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Trial Strategies

Bookmark:

As the Internet is cluttered with personal information, there is increasing talk in legal journals about using blogs Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking Web sites, to learn more about potential jurors. The Internet provides such a rich resource of information about potential and even already seated jurors.

The problem in Maryland medical malpractice lawyers using this kind of resource is that it is very difficult logistically. Once the jury walks into the room, your computer is facing the jurors. There really is not time under Maryland quick voir dire selection to pass the jurors information along. Once a jury is already seated, I think it is real hard to find information about that juror to tailor your opening or closing statements around a particularly juror.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Trial Strategies

Bookmark:

In a medical malpractice trial in Pittsburgh, the jury found that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center at Shadyside's care of the Plaintiff was both medical negligence and that the it was the cause of the death of a man. The jury awarded $2.5 million under the Pennsylvania Wrongful Death Act. The gave no damages for under the Pennsylvania Survival Act.

Incredibly, the jury issued a statement as to why: "After eight days of testimony in the case of Rettger v. UPMC Shadyside, it is the unanimous opinion of the jury that no amount of damages will adequately punish UPMC. It is our belief that UPMC Shadyside's policies, culture, and lack of competent supervision resulted in the death [of the decedent].”

Plaintiff’s now seek a new trial because they had evidence to show that the decedent’s lost earning capacity was between $4 million and $15 million.

I wish Plaintiff’s medical malpractice lawyers all of the luck in the world as they continue their fight on behalf of the victim’s family. This appeal would not fly under Maryland medical malpractice law because of the wide discretion given to juries to determine damages. Still, it is hard to understand why the jury chose to disregard the judge's instructions and to disregard the overwhelming evidence with respect to lost earning capacity, particularly in light of how strongly they apparently believe in the hospital’s negligence.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Medical Malpractice News

Bookmark:

Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi introduced a bill designed to encourage doctors and other medical professionals to volunteer their services to patients who cannot afford or access care. The law would provide grants that states would use in part to assume medical malpractice risk for doctors and ensure patients can recover damages from medical malpractice.

I have not thought through all of the ramifications of such a bill but it sure seems to make a lot of sense. What we also need to look at more creatively as a society is trying to get more doctors into rural areas. There have always been reports of doctor shortages in the more rural parts of Maryland.

Posted by Ronald V. Miller, Jr. | Permalink | Email This Post | Comments (0)

Posted In: Malpractice Law

Bookmark: