Seminar on New Medical Malpractice Legislation
The Tennessee Bar Association is sponsoring a seminar to educate lawyers on the new medical malpractice statute passed by the Senate earlier today. If signed by the Governor, and there is no reason to believe that he will not sign the bill, the legislation makes major changes in medical malpractice procedural law. The TBA has selected me as the speaker for this program.
The seminar will be webcast at 11:00 CDT on Monday, June 15, 2009.
A portion of the legislation is effective July 1, 2009 , but the transitional issues will be discussed in the seminar. Each provision of the legislation will be discussed in detail. I participated in all of the negotiations concerning this legislation and will provide a history of how the legislation developed.
Go here to register for the program. The program will be held via webcast at a charge of only $45 for TBA members and $65 for non-members. One hour of CLE credit will be given.
Regarding the new legislation, the Dept. of Health does not have addresses for nurses, emt's, etc. Are we allowed to send complaints to their home if we cannot find their place of work per the new statute?
The website has an address - it may be a home address or a business address. Here is the site: http://health.state.tn.us/licensure/index.htm
It is important to follow the statute. Remember, you don't have to give notice - you have to send notice in compliance with the statute. In other words, it makes no difference if the notice is actually received as long as you send notice in compliance with the statute.
If you know that the nurse,etc. no longer works at the a particular business address you must use due dilligence to find where that nurse works. If you cannot, you have the extraordinary cause provision as a safety value.
Remember to that if you serve the nurse's employer you are covered re vicarious liability. Thus, even if for some reason service against the individual is deemed ineffective you still have a claim against the employer for the nurse's negligence