Team Health Holdings, Inc. is a physician-founded, physician-led outsourced healthcare professionals staffing organization. Based in Knoxville, TN, it purports to be "the largest providers of [Emergency Department] staffing and management services in the United States, based upon patient visits and revenue." The company serves "approximately 550 hospital clients and…
The Blog of Legal Times advises that the Committee on Court Administration and Case Management of the United States Judicial Conference has developed pattern jury instructions "to address the increasing incidence of juror use of such devices as cellular telephones or computers to conduct research on the Internet or communicate with…
How many tort cases are tried in Tennessee in the last year? The Annual Report of the Tennessee Judiciary gives us the answer. Here is the data for the year ended June 30, 2009: Total jury trials in all tort cases: 260 Total number of medical malpractice…
A plaintiff in a car accident lawsuit has become a legal malpractice plaintiff. Sharon Langford has sued a law firm with office in Kentucky and Florida and made some very serious allegations. Basically, she was alleged to seek health care for her injuries from a specific provider and that…
Tennessee’s nursing homes rank the 5th worst in the United States, according to an analysis done by the Tennessean. The February 3, 2010 article points out that [a]bout 15,000 nursing homes nationwide got ratings of one to five stars, with five being the best, from the U.S. Centers for…
My daughter was hurt in a soccer game because the ref refused to reign in a reckless player on the opposing team. Can I sue? My son is devastated because he was improperly called out on strikes by a blind umpire. Can I sue? Setting aside the merits of these…
A bill has been introduced in the Tennessee General Assembly to cap "non-economic" damages in medical malpractice lawsuits to $1,000,000, regardless of the degree of harm suffered by the patient. Non-economic damages are defined as " damages for physical and emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, discomfort, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of…
The Tennessee Medical Malpractice Claims Report for 2009 (which reports data for 2008) contains lots of information of interest to lawyers who represent Tennesseans in medical malpractice claims. Last week I wrote about the number of claims closed in 2008 and the amount paid on these claims. Today I will…
The Tennessee Adult Protection Act, T. C. A. Sec. 71-6-101 et seq, creates civil action for compensatory and, as appropriate, punitive damages when "adults" covered by the act are victims of abuse or neglect, sexual abuse or exploitation and for theft of money or property whether by fraud, deceit, coercion or otherwise. Those covered…
Truck drivers who text while on the road are now violating federal law. On January 26, 2010, the federal Transportation Department said it is prohibiting truck and bus drivers from sending text messages on hand-held devices while operating commercial vehicles. Tennessee banned texting while driving effective July 1, 2009. The Transportation…