Recent News
Law written to deter frivolous malpractice lawsuits declared unconstitutional
A state law designed to deter the filing of frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits was declared unconstitutional Tuesday by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. This is the third time the state Supreme Court has struck down similar legislation. In each case, the Legislature...
Arkansans for Jobs and Justice Launches Campaign for Real Tort Reform in Arkansas
A coalition representing a diverse group of Arkansans has joined together to support commonsense reforms that will help make Arkansas more competitive with surrounding states and protect everyday Arkansans. Paperwork was filed today for Arkansans for Jobs and Justice...
‘Sorry’ doesn’t mean they’ll sue: How hospitals avoided lawsuits after adverse events
Communication-and-resolution programs (CRP) at four Massachusetts hospitals led to lower medical liability costs and improvements in patient safety after adverse events, countering concerns that telling patients about errors would motivate more to file lawsuits. Led...
Physicians Say Up to 30% of Treatment Unnecessary
Despite years of emphasis on curbing costly and potentially harmful unnecessary care, physicians believe that overtreatment remains an ongoing problem, according to research from Johns Hopkins University published this week in the journal PLOS ONE. The findings, based...
Advances in Patient Safety and Medical Liability
Research in patient safety and medical liability in recent years has widened our definition of these terms. Patient Safety improvement is no longer a preventive strategy to protect medical facilities from lawsuits—it is a serious and wide-reaching effort to measurably...
Brace Yourself for an Ob/Gyn Shortage by 2020
Depending on where you live in the United States, it could already be tough to find an obstetrician/gynecologist—almost half of U.S. counties lack one, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But recent studies show that the problem is only going to get...
Congressman Steve King defends his medical malpractice tort reform bill
Healthcare Matters announced today that its video interview of United States Congressman Steve King — sponsor of the Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017— is available on Cunningham Group's website. The Healthcare Matters interview of Rep. Steve King focused on the...
Tort reforms facing legal challenges in three states
In contrast with the federal government—where a House-passed medical liability reform bill languishes in the Senate—many states have found success enacting tort reforms that better serve patients and physicians. But court cases are challenging reforms in place in at...
Rural America’s Childbirth Crisis: The Fight to Save Whitney Brown
Whitney Brown was in labor with her first baby when suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Convulsions shook her body. Ms. Brown’s blood pressure and oxygen levels dropped, and the baby’s heart rate plunged. Nurses at Saint Thomas River Park Hospital called obstetrician...
This was our government working as it should
The Aug. 2 news article “Lobbyists taking credit for writing bill to overhaul medical malpractice laws” claimed that lobbyists boasted about writing new legislation blindly passed by Congress without review. The bill was a modestly revised version of legislation that...