Features

Recent news you need to know.

The public favors reducing jury awards in malpractice lawsuits and allowing drugs to be imported from Canada, but ranks them relatively low on a list of 12 health care priorities for President Bush and Congress to address this year, according to a new post-election survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.

Major shifts in clinical practice rarely evolve as quickly or dramatically as has occurred with the practice of offering a trial of labor to patients who have had a previous cesarean section. Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) has become a relatively rare event in recent years. The popular press has addressed the issue as a matter of patient choice, while the obstetrical community has focused on safety -- both for the patient and for the health care providers. Medical malpractice liability has been cited as a reason for the decision by a number of hospitals in the United States to stop offering VBAC to its patients. If that is, in fact, one of the reasons for this move, it demonstrates the essential nature of our legal system as a check on the use of dangerous and unsupported clinical practices by our health care community.

Recent rulings of interest to you and your practice.

As medical practitioners and the attorneys who defend (or sue) them have learned over the last few years, health care professionals are liable for wrongful disclosure of protected health care information under HIPAA and various state statutes. Lack of sophistication of the law in this area is no excuse for turning over medical records to unauthorized recipients, and appropriate statutory requirements must always be met. But it's not always easy to tell when those safeguards on patient privacy are paramount and when other considerations might trump them. A recent case offers an interesting permutation on the question by asking: When can law enforcement authorities access medical records without the patient's authorization? The wrong answer could leave the health care facility or provider that hands over patient records vulnerable to liability for unauthorized release.

Features

The decision by Chief Judge Stuart M. Bernstein of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in <i>In re Global Service Group LLC</i>, 316 B.R. 451 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2004), provides a sense of relief not only for lenders, but also for various other participants in the bankruptcy arena who may face claims based on "deepening insolvency." This case is especially significant because it helps define the conduct that may subject a party to liability under an amorphous concept that is still evolving.

Recent rulings you need to know.

Features

When AMERCO, the parent company of U-Haul International, emerged from bankruptcy protection in March 2004, it secured an unusual place in history -- exiting Chapter 11 with a global capital restructuring that resulted in zero dilution in shareholder value. Alvarez &amp; Marsal, which was retained as the company's financial advisors, executed one of the most successful restructurings on record by developing and implementing a complex and consensual plan that required significant negotiations with a diverse group of debt and equity holders. By the end of the swift process, AMERCO's common equity value had increased by over 350% and nearly $300 million in value was restored to the investments of preferred stock and unsecured debt holders.