Recent News
Insurers Pause to Take Pulse of Medical AI
Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies may help reduce medical errors and improve patient outcomes, but their use in health care raises liability concerns and questions around medical malpractice risks. Insurers are not yet restricting...
Nikki Haley’s Good Healthcare Idea: Medical Malpractice Reform Can Help Reduce Costs
The Republican presidential candidates during last week’s debate offered few useful ideas to improve healthcare and lower costs. But credit to Nikki Haley for highlighting one: tort reform. Asked how to protect sick Americans from financial ruin, she mentioned the...
Court Holds Arizona’s COVID Immunity Statute Unconstitutional
Roebuck v. Mayo ClinicArizona Court of AppealsSeptember 19th, 2023 The Arizona Court of Appeals today held A.R.S. § 12-516, Arizona’s COVID immunity statute, unconstitutional. The COVID immunity statute directs that a health care professional or institution is not...
NM Rural Hospitals Struggling to Find Insurance Coverage
Aug. 26—Because New Mexico is considered a plaintiff-friendly state with high payouts from medical malpractice lawsuits, rural hospital officials say they are struggling to find insurance coverage. One of the many hospitals across the state that is dealing with this...
Tort Reform Fight Returning to General Assembly
ATLANTA — After years on the back burner in the General Assembly, tort reform promises to be front and center when Georgia lawmakers convene in January for the 2024 legislative session. Gov. Brian Kemp signaled his intention to push for changes in the state’s civil...
New Coalition Takes Aim at Tort Reform in Georgia
ATLANTA – A new nonprofit founded by three high-power lobbying firms is setting its sites on tort reform in Georgia. Competitive Georgia announced its formation Tuesday, the latest sign that business leaders are preparing a major push for the General Assembly to curb...
State Supreme Court Decisions Narrow Pandemic-Related Liability Protections for Providers
A pair of state high court rulings this week put senior living and other long-term care providers on notice that pandemic-related liability protections aren’t a given. The Connecticut Supreme Court issued two opinions on Wednesday that allow negligence claims...
Effect of Lawsuits on Professional Well-Being and Medical Error Rates Among Orthopaedic Surgeons
Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 31(16):p 893-900, August 15, 2023. | DOI: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-23-00174 Abstract Introduction: Orthopaedic surgery is one of the most cited specialties among legal claims. Malpractice lawsuits are...
How Oregon’s Strict Liability Expansion Threatens Access to Care
A pregnant woman presented at an Oregon hospital’s emergency department where the anti-nausea medication ondansetron (marketed as Zofran by GSK) was administered, and the hospital billed her. The woman then alleged the Zofran caused her child to be born with...
Medical groups: Liability may limit care for top athletes
A group of prominent medical organizations says it's growing concerned about what they consider to be a threat to medical care for top-level athletes: increasing liability risks for doctors as salaries for those athletes rise. The American Orthopaedic...