Recent News
October 2025 Newsletter
Putting patients first in New Mexico As poor liability policies continue to lead to physician shortages in New Mexico, a new nonprofit is giving patients a platform to influence health care policy and ensure their own access to care. Patient-Led NM aims to elevate...
Inflation Is Rising, Fueling Sky-High Medical Malpractice Verdicts
By Alicia Gallegos In July, a Pennsylvania appellate court upheld a record $207.6 million verdict against the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, for a birth injury that occurred during delivery. Two months earlier, a jury awarded $70...
The new malpractice frontier: Who’s liable when AI gets it wrong?
Author(s) Austin LittrellFact checked by: Keith A. Reynolds Key Takeaways AI integration in healthcare is outpacing legal frameworks, creating liability challenges for physicians, health systems, and manufacturers. The standard of care may evolve to include AI,...
Putting patients first in New Mexico
By Daniel J. Chacón, The Santa Fe New Mexican As New Mexico grapples with a shortage of physicians, lawmakers have voiced frustration over what they describe as a broken health care system in the state. Doctors themselves have sounded the alarm, some advocating for...
Precedential Opinion: Superior Court of Pennsylvania Upholds the Enforceability of a Venue-Selection Clause in the Context of a Medical Malpractice Case
By Marshall Dennehey Hospitals may once again be able to control where a patient brings a medical malpractice claim through a venue-selection agreement entered into with their patients. Background The plaintiffs, Saramari Somerlot and Ryan Dufresne, brought this...
Arizona doctors and hospitals lose immunity from COVID negligence lawsuits, court rules
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services Key Points: Arizona Supreme Court rules lawmakers acted illegally to immunize doctors and hospitals from COVID claims 2021 statute voided, designed to provide liability protection for medical professionals during pandemic The...
September 2025 Newsletter
Court voids COVID-era protections for providers Arizona’s top court has struck down a 2021 law that gave doctors and hospitals broad protection from medical liability lawsuits tied to care during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving providers vulnerable from a time of great...
August 2025 Newsletter
Court decision risks driving doctors out of Pennsylvania, leaders say A court ruling in Pennsylvania is sounding alarms among health and business leaders who warn it could deepen the state’s patient access to care crisis. The leaders of five statewide associations...
State affidavit-of-merit requirements must apply in federal courts too
By Tanya Albert Henry Contributing News Writer A man is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to let him go forward with a lawsuit against a physician and two medical centers even though he doesn’t have an affidavit saying that his case has merit. Delaware requires that a...
OPINION: New Mexico medicine needs progress over slogans
By Nathaniel Royba As a physician born and raised in New Mexico, I feel compelled to write a response to Brian Egolf’s recent op-ed (“Putting patients, providers first: A plan for NM health care” in the Aug. 17 Sunday Journal). For too long, doctors have been silent....