One medical malpractice insurer, The Doctors Company, has an interesting article on medical malpractice claims concerning pap smears. Here is a excerpt from the article that discusses the scope of the problem: To put the potential magnitude of this problem in perspective, a College of American Pathologists (CAP) study of…
Ms. Arizona was asked a question about universal health care during her Miss USA pageant interview Her response reminded me of the frequent, mindless sound bites offered by the 2008 GOP candidate for Vice President of the United States. Watch the video clip here. Universal health care – I can see it…
Public Citizen ranks Tennessee 40th in its 2008 ranking of serious doctor disciplinary actions taken by state medical licensing boards. The Tennessee board took a total of 40 serious disciplinary actions against the 18,137 doctors in Tennessee, or a total of 2.44 actions per 1000 physicians. The total leading states were Alaska…
The Wall Street Journal has been writing a series of articles about crashes of medical helicopters. A total of 13 crashes took 29 lives in 2008. This crashes can give rise to several potential types of claims. The patient has a potential claim, assuming he or she can prove that…
Many of us know that doctors prescribe drugs for uses other than those approved by the FDA. This article discusses off-label drug prescribing and suggests that physicians who prescribe a drug for an off-label use follow the following steps to obtain informed consent: a statement that the off-label use is…
The Idaho Supreme Court has permitted an expert to opine that two defendants in a medical negligence case engaged in not just negligent but reckless conduct. In Jones v. Crawford, 2009 Opinion 53 (Idaho S. Ct. April 8, 2009), a defendant appealed from an adverse jury verdict in a wrongful…
Evan Schaeffer at The Trial Practice Tips Weblog tracked down an article titled "Preparing A Witness for a Successful Deposition" written by Matt Keenan, a defense lawyer with Shook, Hardy and Bacon in Kansas City. An excerpt: In my 20-some years of working with company witnesses as part of the discovery process, I’ve…
Yesterday I mentioned that James Publishing Company’s website includes excerpts of certain of its books. I thought that the excerpt I referred to yesterday was so valuable that it was worth another post, so here is an excerpt from Section 439 of "How to Prepare for, Take and Use a Deposition" by Daniel…
James Publishing Company’s website includes excerpts of certain of its books. Here is an excerpt from Section 433 of "How to Prepare for, Take and Use a Deposition" by Daniel P. Dain. §433 Using a Checklist for Witness Preparation Some lawyers prefer to go through an extensive checklist of points for discussion…
David Mills, lawyer and cartoonist, held a contest to determine the best caption for this cartoon. The winning caption appears below. I submitted several entries, including "“Yes, I made $4M last year testifying for Ford, but that does not influence my professional judgment," and "demonstrative evidence is essential when…