Texas’ brutal medical tort reform may have saved the Texas medical industry millions in malpractice insurance premiums and given Texas hospitals near immunity for medical incompetence but it hasn’t done anything to curb the stunning bills that Texas hospitals regular charge patients. The Government Accounting Office reports that Dallas hospital…
A Dallas jury recently rendered a verdict for $23 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages against Boston Scientific Corporation. The case involved a defective Obtryx sling implanted in the plaintiff to treat urinary leakage. The punitive damages finding was immediately reduced to $11 million pursuant to…
Endo International Agrees To Settle Vaginal-Mesh Defect Lawsuit Endo International recently settled approximately 10,000 vaginal-mesh lawsuits involving their Perigee, Apogee, and Elevate mesh implants for a combined settlement of more than $400 million. The settlement averages about $48,000 for each injured victim. Endo reportedly has reserved $1.6 billion for liability…
Last year CMS quit reporting life-threatening conditions acquired by patients during hospital stays. CMS has now announced that they will resume posting data on their website regarding eight hospital-acquired conditions including when foreign objects are left in patients’ bodies and when patients are given the wrong type of blood. Having…
The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission recently recommended that lawmakers pass a law revoking the licenses of nursing homes that have three serious violations within a two-year period. Changes to medical malpractice laws have made it more difficult for plaintiff’s lawyers to effectively police nursing homes thereby destroying the incentive of…
Modern technology has given us the hazards of texting while driving and now sexting during surgery. A Seattle anesthesiologist was recently suspended for sexting and exchanging sexually explicit messages during surgery. The investigation revealed that he had sent sexually explicit pictures of himself and texts during multiple procedures including Cesarean…
For many years a common practice of liability insurance companies in wrongful death cases where one of their negligent insured killed a spouse was to start rumors that the surviving spouse and wrongful death claimant had engaged in an extramarital affair and then to investigate their own rumors solely for…
The parents of new physician Dr. Jennifer Sidari of West Pittston have reportedly brought a wrongful death medical malpractice claim against Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center alleging that the hospital failed to properly diagnose and treat an easily diagnosable, treatable and entirely correctable blood clot which ultimately lead to her…
When a smoke alarm fails and a life is lost the event gives rise to a number of legal claims. Building owners and managers have to inspect, maintain, repair or replace the detector to make sure that smoke alarms are functional. When a building owner or manager fails to discharge…
The Center for Justice and Democracy at the New York Law School recently published a study that conflicts with many commonly held beliefs regarding medical malpractice. The summary conclusions of the study are: -Few injured patients file claims or lawsuits; experts agree that when cases are filed, they are not…