Med Mal News

Florida Study of Mammography Issues Nets Two Differing Reports

Betsey T. Herd, a Tampa, FL, plaintiff's attorney who served on the State's Workgroup on Mammography Accessibility, has broken from the group to issue her own report, which sharply differs from the majority's conclusion that medical malpractice suits are a leading cause of the decrease in women's access to mammograms. Herd issued a separate report because the majority of the group, which was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican legislative leaders, refused to include her views in its report, issued a week before Herd's. That report called for caps on damages recoverable for misreading mammograms, among other things. “I was like a lone voice,” Herd said, explaining her decision to issue a separate report. “They didn't want to dilute their tort reform initiatives. That was their only agenda.” Karen Eaton, the executive director of the mammography work group, chalked up Herd's views to the fact that she represents trial lawyers and is therefore biased.

Public Citizen's Web Site Offers Drug Safety Information

Consumer group Public Citizen has launched a newly revamped Web site, www.WorstPills.org, which is meant to provide consumers with information about drugs the group considers unsafe or ineffective. The group, whose drug information Web site is accessible by subscription, claims that nearly 200 drugs on the market today are unsafe or ineffective.

Pennsylvania Courts Gathering Information on Med-Mal Trends

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued New Rule of Civil Procedure 1042.16 on Dec. 27, 2004, which requires courts in counties that mandate a cover sheet when filing lawsuits to add the title, “Civil Action — Medical Professional Liability Action,” to those cover sheets. The change will aid the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts in collecting and developing statistical information on Pennsylvania medical professional liability actions. In November, the Supreme Court promulgated another new rule with the same purpose, No. 1904 of Judicial Administration, requiring Pennsylvania trial courts to begin docketing medical malpractice actions with a separate code and to send a report on each county's med-mal litigation to the court administrator by Jan. 20 of every year.

Largest Washington Insurer Seeks Rate Decreases

The State of Washington, which currently has medical malpractice reform legislation in the works, got good news last month: Even without the passage of such legislation, Physicians Insurance, the company that covers nearly 70% of the state's physicians, wants to lower premiums by 7.7% in 2005. In an interview given to a reporter at the Seattle Times, Gary Morse, vice president of Physicians Insurance, discounted the idea that tort reform legislation was perhaps unnecessary in light of the news that the insurer was now in a position to lower premium rates. Morse said that the decreases were made possible because company underwriting standards had been toughened and the company now has special teams working on cases that are likely to result in high damage awards. (Ostrom, Seattle Times, 1/10).

Georgia Senate Approves Tort Reform Measure

Following an insurer's pledge that it would lower medical malpractice premiums by 10% if tort reform measures were passed, the Georgia state Senate voted 39-15 to cap medical malpractice noneconomic damages at $250,000, or $750,000 if multiple tortfeasors are found responsible. Penalties will also be imposed in cases that go to trial that could have been settled out of court. The insurer that promised to lower its rates, MAG Mutual, insures the majority of Georgia's doctors. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, which is expected to approve it.

New Jersey Offers Plan to Restabilize Insurer

New Jersey's largest medical malpractice insurer, MIIX Insurance Co., is trying to stave off bankruptcy under a plan recently filed by State Banking and Insurance Commissioner Holly Bakke. Under the plan, lawsuits against MIIX insureds that have not yet gone to trial — along with any settlement conferences, arbitrations or mediations — would be stayed until September.

Bakke was appointed rehabilitator in September 2004 to help the state try to restore MIIX to solvent runoff condition. To avert liquidation, New Jersey wants to settle several of the roughly 2,600 claims outstanding against MIIX insureds. The state plans to choose 700 to 900 claims that the company would in all likelihood be found liable for, and offer settlements to those claimants. The maximum offers would be relatively low, with settlement offers for the most severe injuries being capped at $1 million. The amounts offered would not be negotiable. In addition, payments on these proposed settlements would be made only if enough of the offerees accepted to make the plan worthwhile to the state. MIIX stopped writing new policies in May 2002.

Florida Study of Mammography Issues Nets Two Differing Reports

Betsey T. Herd, a Tampa, FL, plaintiff's attorney who served on the State's Workgroup on Mammography Accessibility, has broken from the group to issue her own report, which sharply differs from the majority's conclusion that medical malpractice suits are a leading cause of the decrease in women's access to mammograms. Herd issued a separate report because the majority of the group, which was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican legislative leaders, refused to include her views in its report, issued a week before Herd's. That report called for caps on damages recoverable for misreading mammograms, among other things. “I was like a lone voice,” Herd said, explaining her decision to issue a separate report. “They didn't want to dilute their tort reform initiatives. That was their only agenda.” Karen Eaton, the executive director of the mammography work group, chalked up Herd's views to the fact that she represents trial lawyers and is therefore biased.

Public Citizen's Web Site Offers Drug Safety Information

Consumer group Public Citizen has launched a newly revamped Web site, www.WorstPills.org, which is meant to provide consumers with information about drugs the group considers unsafe or ineffective. The group, whose drug information Web site is accessible by subscription, claims that nearly 200 drugs on the market today are unsafe or ineffective.

Pennsylvania Courts Gathering Information on Med-Mal Trends

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued New Rule of Civil Procedure 1042.16 on Dec. 27, 2004, which requires courts in counties that mandate a cover sheet when filing lawsuits to add the title, “Civil Action — Medical Professional Liability Action,” to those cover sheets. The change will aid the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts in collecting and developing statistical information on Pennsylvania medical professional liability actions. In November, the Supreme Court promulgated another new rule with the same purpose, No. 1904 of Judicial Administration, requiring Pennsylvania trial courts to begin docketing medical malpractice actions with a separate code and to send a report on each county's med-mal litigation to the court administrator by Jan. 20 of every year.

Largest Washington Insurer Seeks Rate Decreases

The State of Washington, which currently has medical malpractice reform legislation in the works, got good news last month: Even without the passage of such legislation, Physicians Insurance, the company that covers nearly 70% of the state's physicians, wants to lower premiums by 7.7% in 2005. In an interview given to a reporter at the Seattle Times, Gary Morse, vice president of Physicians Insurance, discounted the idea that tort reform legislation was perhaps unnecessary in light of the news that the insurer was now in a position to lower premium rates. Morse said that the decreases were made possible because company underwriting standards had been toughened and the company now has special teams working on cases that are likely to result in high damage awards. (Ostrom, Seattle Times, 1/10).

Georgia Senate Approves Tort Reform Measure

Following an insurer's pledge that it would lower medical malpractice premiums by 10% if tort reform measures were passed, the Georgia state Senate voted 39-15 to cap medical malpractice noneconomic damages at $250,000, or $750,000 if multiple tortfeasors are found responsible. Penalties will also be imposed in cases that go to trial that could have been settled out of court. The insurer that promised to lower its rates, MAG Mutual, insures the majority of Georgia's doctors. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, which is expected to approve it.