Risk Management Review: A CFO's Approach
Set aside some quiet time every year to think through your insurance and risk management programs with someone knowledgeable in the field. Law firm administrators are mostly not insurance experts, and unless there is some crisis, tend not to give this area the attention it needs. Crisis time may be too late.
CASES IN COURT
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a landmark decision in a much anticipated case, Cook County v. United States ex rel. Chandler, 2003 WL 890268, S.Ct. (March 10, 2003). The Court's unanimous opinion authored by Justice Souter resolved a split among the circuit courts by holding that municipal corporations are 'persons' amenable to qui tam actions under the False Claims Act, and subject to the imposition of civil penalties, treble damages, and costs.
Verdicts
The latest rulings you should know about.
MedBytes
Reviews of the latest Web sites for you and your practice.
Med Mal News
News items of interest to you and your practice.
The IME and the Physician/Patient Privilege
Does a patient lose the right to invoke the physician/patient privilege when he or she has seen a physician for an independent medial examination (IME) rather than for treatment? The question may come up in the aftermath of a workers' compensation or medical malpractice case if questions of possible fraud on the claimant's part surface, and you may be asked to advise your client as to his or her rights.
Med Mal Antidote: Good Records
Any physician who has had the unfortunate experience of being the target of a medical malpractice lawsuit bemoans the attention paid by the plaintiff's lawyers to precise record keeping. Most physicians pride themselves on their medical skills, not their neat note taking. They will tell you that entries in a medical record are meant to enhance the care and treatment rendered to a patient, not to be read by lawyers or juries many years later.
Preserving Your Clients' Right to Recovery
The exclusive remedy for patients injured due to medical malpractice by federal employees acting within the scope of their employment is through the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). Under the FTCA, the United States allows claims to be made against it in certain circumstances. However, because the FTCA is a waiver of sovereign immunity, strict compliance with the requirements for filing is necessary in order to preserve your clients' rights to recovery.
Dissolving a Same-Sex Marriage
American gay couples have a new place to get married. In a landmark ruling last month in Ontario, Canada, the Court of Appeal held that it was unconstitutional to prohibit homosexuals from entering into same-sex marriages, thus opening the way for the first full-fledged same-sex marriage right anywhere outside of Europe. (The Netherlands has permitted same-sex marriage since December 2000, but only to Dutch parties. Belgium has allowed such marriages since January of this year.) The ruling has sent some gay American couples over the border to get marriage licenses and legalize their unions.
The Impact of HIPAA Privacy Regulations on Discovery of Plaintiffs' Medical Records
When products liability defense counsel first heard of the new privacy regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA Privacy Regulations), most counsel probably thought that only their regulatory healthcare colleagues would be affected by these detailed and complicated laws. How great an impact the HIPAA Privacy Regulations will have on product liability litigation in general is yet to be seen, but it is clear that these regulations will have an immediate effect on discovery of medical records. Under the statutory or common law of most states, when a plaintiff files a suit that puts his/her medical or health condition at issue, the plaintiff waives his/her right to privacy, to at least some extent, in his/her medical records. When the HIPAA Privacy Regulations became enforceable on April 14, 2003, this was no longer the case. Because the HIPAA Privacy Regulations provide strict privacy protection for a patient's medical information, even if the patient filed a lawsuit with his/her health at issue, discovery of the patient's medical records could become more difficult for product liability defense counsel. However, defense counsel still will have several options to obtain discovery of a plaintiff's medical records under the HIPAA Privacy Regulations.
