LJN Newsletters

Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.

On June 7, Ulster County Supreme Court Judge E. Michael Kavanagh issued an order permanently enjoining Mayor Jason West of New Paltz from officiating at same-sex weddings until such time as state law is changed to allow such marriages. This was the nation's first permanent injunction against a public official's officiating at these cermonies. A few days later, on June 10, Judge Jonathan Katz of Town Court dismissed the 19 criminal charges brought against the Mayor for his actions.

The Orthopedic Specialty Group, a 12-member group of physicians practicing in Connecticut, notified that state's trial lawyers in May that its members would no longer appear at depositions for the fees they'd charged in the past. This move, they said, was made in response to soaring malpractice insurance rates.

Recent rulings of importance to you and your practice.

In the latest legal battle between doctors and lawyers over medical malpractice litigation, a California internist has sued three Hillsborough County, FL, doctors and the Florida Medical Association (FMA) for initiating an FMA investigation of the internist's expert testimony in a Tampa malpractice case.

In a disappointing decision for malpractice plaintiffs and their medical caregivers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 21 that patients do not have a state law private right of action against their Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) when such entities make coverage decisions that impact the patient's health care. The decision means patients have little recourse against their HMOs, which under federal law are liable to plan beneficiaries only for the cost of services they wouldn't cover.

Last month, we discussed some possible ways that hospitals, in order to maintain staffing needs, can help physicians obtain medical malpractice insurance coverage at reasonable rates. These possible solutions range from giving physicians outright payments to help cover their premiums to establishing a physician insurance program through an independent or hospital-owned insurer. It is important, however, that when hospitals and physicians consider any of these alternatives, they take into account the regulatory implications of any program they may devise.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a nonprofit research and communications organization funded by auto insurers. Its purpose is to ascertain what works and doesn't work to prevent motor vehicle crashes and to reduce injuries in the crashes that occur. The Institute's Web site (www.iihs.org) is a resource for practitioners who need information on vehicle safety. IIHS research focuses on countermeasures aimed at all three factors in motor vehicle crashes (human, vehicular, and environmental) and on interventions that can occur before, during, and after crashes to reduce losses.