Med Mal News

Group Drops Challenge of State's Assisted Suicide Law

A Denver-based group that challenged Connecticut law barring assisted suicide has announced it will not appeal a recent ruling by a judge who said the law applies to physicians who prescribe medicine that will help terminally ill patients end their lives. Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization that focuses on end-of-life issues, said that Connecticut doctors Gary Blick and Ron Levine will not pursue their case. The two had argued that a doctor aiding a terminally ill patient is not practicing assisted suicide and therefore physicians shouldn't be included under the law. Attorneys for the state had argued that it was not an issue for the courts to decide, and in early June Superior Court Julia Aurigemma said any changes to the law must come from the legislature.

NJ Legislators Want Lawyers to Subsidize
Med-Mal Coverage

New Jersey's legislature is once again proposing to charge attorneys $75 per year to help defray medical providers' costs of obtaining medical malpractice coverage. The measure (A-2807), which aims to reinstate a surcharge on attorneys made it out of the Assembly's Health and Senior Services Committee in June. New Jersey's State Bar Association challenged the original surcharge (instituted in 2003 and allowed to lapse in 2007) in court, but was unsuccessful. Now the Bar has taken its appeal to the legislators, sending a statement to committee members saying it is “fundamentally unfair to tax thousands of lawyers in New Jersey who do not practice in the medical malpractice area to pay for harm caused by negligent doctors.”

New York Gets $2.9 Million to Reduce Malpractice Suit Costs

In June, New York received one of several federal grants, worth a total of $2.9 million, that will fund 20 pilot programs intended to decrease the costs of malpractice claims on medical care providers. In New York, part of the State's $2.9 million grant money will go to a program to encourage med-mal claimants and medical care providers to reach settlements as early in the process as possible. Judges specially trained on mediation techniques and medical issues will sit down and talk with aggrieved patients and/or their families, along with those accused of harming them. Several hospitals in the New York City area that have already agreed to participate in the program. “This comprehensive program will increase patient safety, promote early disclosure, facilitate settlement and lower medical malpractice costs across the board,” said New York's Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau in a statement.

Group Drops Challenge of State's Assisted Suicide Law

A Denver-based group that challenged Connecticut law barring assisted suicide has announced it will not appeal a recent ruling by a judge who said the law applies to physicians who prescribe medicine that will help terminally ill patients end their lives. Compassion & Choices, a nonprofit organization that focuses on end-of-life issues, said that Connecticut doctors Gary Blick and Ron Levine will not pursue their case. The two had argued that a doctor aiding a terminally ill patient is not practicing assisted suicide and therefore physicians shouldn't be included under the law. Attorneys for the state had argued that it was not an issue for the courts to decide, and in early June Superior Court Julia Aurigemma said any changes to the law must come from the legislature.

NJ Legislators Want Lawyers to Subsidize
Med-Mal Coverage

New Jersey's legislature is once again proposing to charge attorneys $75 per year to help defray medical providers' costs of obtaining medical malpractice coverage. The measure (A-2807), which aims to reinstate a surcharge on attorneys made it out of the Assembly's Health and Senior Services Committee in June. New Jersey's State Bar Association challenged the original surcharge (instituted in 2003 and allowed to lapse in 2007) in court, but was unsuccessful. Now the Bar has taken its appeal to the legislators, sending a statement to committee members saying it is “fundamentally unfair to tax thousands of lawyers in New Jersey who do not practice in the medical malpractice area to pay for harm caused by negligent doctors.”

New York Gets $2.9 Million to Reduce Malpractice Suit Costs

In June, New York received one of several federal grants, worth a total of $2.9 million, that will fund 20 pilot programs intended to decrease the costs of malpractice claims on medical care providers. In New York, part of the State's $2.9 million grant money will go to a program to encourage med-mal claimants and medical care providers to reach settlements as early in the process as possible. Judges specially trained on mediation techniques and medical issues will sit down and talk with aggrieved patients and/or their families, along with those accused of harming them. Several hospitals in the New York City area that have already agreed to participate in the program. “This comprehensive program will increase patient safety, promote early disclosure, facilitate settlement and lower medical malpractice costs across the board,” said New York's Chief Administrative Judge Ann Pfau in a statement.