A popular way states have encouraged doctors and other health care providers to practice within their borders is by stopping medical malpractice claims in their early stages by requiring the filing of a certificate of merit before a case can proceed.
Recent happenings about which you need to know.
One of the most frustrating and wasteful legal expenses for a medical device or pharmaceutical manufacturer is the cost of defending against claims where its product is ultimately found not to be involved. A discussion of the Iqbal/Twombly decisions and what they mean.
The Patient Safety Act authorizes the creation of a new type of entity, a patient safety organization (PSO), to receive and analyze information relating to patient safety. The Act confers broad federal privilege and confidentiality protections to this information, with significant penalties for breaches.
Who's doing what; who's going where.
Recent rulings of interest to you and your practice.
Unlike any time in recent history, the slump in the economy in general, and in the housing market in particular, has had an impact on the ability of couples that decide to separate and divorce from actually following through on that plan.
A New York appellate court has refused to enforce a separation agreement that allowed a father to terminate child-support payments to his ex-wife if their teen-aged son "engag[ed] in full-time employment."
Usually, when the employee spouse has interests in multiple plans, the divorce settlement will also contain a waiver or release by the non-employee spouse of his or her interests in other plans. But even if effective under state law, that does not, by itself, protect the employee's interests and those of the employee's successors.
Despite the panic and misunderstandings, the purpose of the guidelines is to require disclosure by reviewers who present themselves as unbiased but who actually are not. This is a laudable purpose.
