Med Mal News
August 27, 2008
The latest news of importance to you and your practice.
Revised PhRMA Code Provides a New Roadmap
August 27, 2008
Providing physicians with up-to-date, accurate information about the medicines they prescribe clearly improves patient care and advances health care in general. Nonetheless, the public health need for informed and educated HCPs may, at times, create tension with the pharmaceutical industry's perceived drive for profits.
Are Juries Fair to Physicians?
August 27, 2008
Given how large the awards are when there is a verdict against a physician, many in the medical profession and their defense teams have come to believe that juries are random and unfair. The conventional wisdom seems to be that judge-made decisions are a safer bet for med-mal defendants. Is this true?
Fed Court Confirms It: Peer-Review Participants Are Immune
August 27, 2008
The Fifth Circuit decision in <i>Poliner v. Texas Health Systems</i> has put another damper on the hopes of unhappy peer-reviewed medical professionals who want to seek monetary damages for their real or perceived injuries. On the other hand, the decision has eased the minds of those who must step up to ensure the quality of medical care, even when it means taking away some or all of a colleague's privileges.
Practice Tip
August 27, 2008
Over the past decade, plaintiffs have stepped up their assaults on federal diversity jurisdiction in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation. Along with their efforts to chip away at the learned intermediary doctrine, plaintiffs increasingly are attempting to join local sales representatives fraudulently in order to defeat diversity.
A Review of Recent Medical Monitoring
August 27, 2008
Courts have historically been divided over several key elements with respect to what a plaintiff must prove to support a claim for medical monitoring. In this article, we review recent decisions regarding medical monitoring and assess whether there has been any consensus among the courts as to whether an actual, present physical injury is required to support a medical monitoring claim and whether class certification is appropriate for medical monitoring claims.
Resolving the Enigma of Law Firm Leadership
August 27, 2008
When a firm finds itself in the midst of a management crisis, the place to begin to search for the source of the problem is at the top of the management hierarchy. This may not be a popular notion or an easy task. The purpose is not to find fault. The point is that an organization does not simply evolve. It must be built in an orderly manner. The values that are important to a firm have to be defined and centrally organized. The responsibility for these goals must be keyed to an organizational factor, whether this is a committee or an individual.
New Marketing Technology Awaits Your Firm
August 26, 2008
See an intriguing ad for a law firm but no pen and paper on hand? Joseph Mitchell, president of textMyCity, is hoping that soon you'll reach for your cell phone. TextMyCity, which Mitchell started seven months ago, is part of a new movement pushing for marketing strategies built around technology. Mitchell's service uses text messaging to advertise and spread information, also known as "mobile marketing." With textMyCity, companies sign up to become members and are issued a tag; when an interested person sees a member company's ad and sends a text message to textMyCity with the tag, the service sends the customer back a text message with contact information.
