Malpractice and Tort Reform Act of 2003, a class action suit filed in the Marshall court of the Eastern District of Texas argues that the state’s limits on non-economic damages are unconstitutional.

Texans overhauled the Texas civil justice system by adopting the comprehensive tort reform bill (House Bill 4)regarding health care liability claims in 2003, which includes limits on non-economic damages. Economic losses are not capped and include factors like medical costs and lost income.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/208641-class-action-challenges-texas-cap-on-medical-malpractice-damages

A proposal to raise caps in medical malpractice lawsuits is scheduled to be heard by the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on Monday.

Senate Bill 164, sponsored by Sen. Peter Groff, D-Denver and Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, would raise the caps for non-economic damages (such as pain and suffering) in medical malpractice cases to match those in other types of damage cases. The current cap in medical malpractice cases for non-economic losses is $300,000; in general liability cases it’s $366,000, but that figure is scheduled to be inflation-adjusted this year.

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/02/11/daily71.html

Medical malpractice can occur whenever a patient is in the care of a healthcare professional. This can involve the failure or delay in properly diagnosing or treating an illness or injury so that it causes new or aggravated injuries.

Highly experienced and knowledgeable medical malpractice attorneys help thousands of people every year who have been the victim of medical malpractice or medical negligence.

Many people do not realize how frequently medical malpractice occurs. In fact, thousands of people every year are either injured from medical malpractice or medical negligence, or die from injuries or illnesses that could have been prevented or treated with proper medical care.

for full story, copy and paste this link:
www.bestsyndication.com/?q=012508_houston_medical_malpractice.htm

The sad state of health care is one of the leading issues in the presidential campaigns. Our system is a national disgrace. It costs twice as much per person as other industrialized countries, yet 47 million Americans have no health insurance, and our health lags behind most industrialized nations. And, except for those who pay extra for a boutique provider, service is often poor.

We need major transformation of our system. But without consensus on three fundamental requirements, political haggling over the matter will get us nowhere.

copy and paste this link:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/348335_healthcare23.html

We’ve all heard the argument made by the insurance companies and medical industry: so-called tort “reform” leads to better healthcare. This is the line that the insurance and medical industries have been pushing in states all across the country.

Well, guess what? It ain’t so.

The truth is that patients in states with arbitrary restrictions on their access to the legal accountability system are more likely to have worse overall healthcare.

Using the non-profit Commonwealth Fund’s independent ranking of state health system performance, access, and quality, Texas Watch compared states that restrict patient access to the courthouse with those that do not. In every category, it is clear that patients in states that restrict patients’ legal rights fare worse than those in states that allow patients to hold wrongdoers accountable.

copy and paste this link for access:
www.texaswatch.org/TW/index.cfm?event=showPage&pg=HealthRankingsTortReform

One doctor writes in the New York Times,
“Most doctors are afraid to take responsibility for medical errors. We are acutely aware of the potential hazards — legal and professional — of taking ownership of a mistake. But studies have shown that physicians’ apologies do not necessarily increase malpractice lawsuits. In fact, they may protect against litigation. Seventeen states have enacted legislation encouraging such apologies, some even making physicians’ expressions of remorse inadmissible in court.

It was not always this way. Hospital legal departments routinely used to advise doctors never to admit responsibility for an error.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/health/views/01case.html?ref=science

By his count, Dr. Douglas A. Dorsay has performed nearly 2,000 angioplasties, a procedure where a surgeon threads a catheter through the bloodstream to clear blockages.

By state officials’ count, he did so flawlessly — until one morning in March 2006.

The Florida Board of Medicine disciplined Dorsay in August for his surgical error. He was one of six Southwest Florida doctors, and 73 statewide, with cases before the body in August.

What makes him different is that he is willing to talk about it.

The Sarasota vascular surgeon said he agreed to discuss his case in depth with the Herald-Tribune because both doctors and the public harbor misconceptions about medical errors.

“I’m not trying to hide from it,” Dorsay said. “All of us have made mistakes.”

State records show about 40,000 active, licensed physicians in Florida. Some 1,750 had at least one disciplinary action. Hundreds more have lost their licenses, given them up or moved out of state.

Experts say that countless more errors and near-misses never get reported to state medical boards. Doctors and hospitals worry that disclosing their errors will draw lawsuits and drive away patients — fears that are unfounded, some studies have found.
 

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Nearly half of Texas counties–124, or 49 percent–have no obstetrician, neurosurgeon, or orthopedic surgeon. Those specialists aside, 21 Texas counties have no physician of any kind. That’s one county worse than before Proposition 12 passed, when 20 counties had no doctor.

The TMA counts 186 new obstetricians in Texas since Proposition 12 passed, and President Dr. William Hinchey offers that as proof of tort reform’s effectiveness.

No independent study has shown what caused the increase, though Texas medical schools have graduated increasing numbers, by the hundreds, of physicians every year since 1997, the earliest year for which TMB posts data. And the state’s growth probably played some part. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Texas’ population grew 12.7 percent between 2000 and 2006, compared with 6.4 percent for the country as a whole. The number of obstetricians in Texas increased only 4.27 percent over the same six years, including three years under tort reform.

More telling is where the new obstetricians–and neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons–decided to go.

The Medical Board’s latest obstetrician data for the 254 Texas counties reveals that several counties led the gains.

Collin County, the Dallas suburb that is the wealthiest in Texas in terms of per capita income, gained the most obstetricians. Its 34 new ones increased its obstetrician ranks by an impressive 45 percent since Proposition 12 passed.

In second place is Montgomery County, Houston’s northern neighbor along the booming Interstate 45 corridor, and the state’s fourth-fastest growing county, according to the U.S. Census 2006 estimate. Montgomery gained 19 obstetricians. Tarrant County followed with 17.

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They provided no estimated price tag. To help pay for it, they said McCain would end a provision in the tax code that let employers deduct the cost of health care from their taxable earnings. Additionally, they said, passing tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards would help reduce costs.

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A woman who had both breasts removed in error because of a biopsy result that was later found not to be hers, appeared on Good Morning America earlier today, Thursday, and talked about her story.

Darrie Eason, a 35 year old woman from Long Island, New York, had a double mastectomy after a tissue sample from a lab based in New York came back positive for breast cancer.

Doctors later told her she did not have breast cancer and “never did”, she said on the TV programme. Apparently there was a “lab mixup”.

The New York State health department reported that Eason’s biopsy sample had been mislabelled at CBLPath Inc’s laboratory in Rye Brook, said a report on ABC News earlier today.

Eason has filed a lawsuit against the laboratory, CBLPath, who are headquartered in Ocala, Florida, for an undisclosed sum, according the Associated Press.
for full story, click here