Medicare is no longer going to pay hospitals from costs arising from "preventable errors" and "serious preventable events." What are preventable errors? The Washington Post story on the subject says this: "bedsores, or pressure ulcers; injuries caused by falls; and infections resulting from the prolonged use of catheters in blood…
Pharmacist persuades a female customer to stay over night at his house. When his wife is gone. Girlfriend is unaware he has a wife and, indeed, is told to the contrary. Wife appears at an inopportune time. Fight ensues. Girlfriend gets hurt. Lawsuit follows. Girlfriend seeks to hold wife and husband responsible…
Here is a handy little decision that reminds of the existence and limits of the suspension statute. You know the suspension statute. It tells us that "[i]f at any time any cause of action shall accrue against any person who shall be out of this state, the action may be…
From a full-page ad in yesterday’s Knoxville’s Sunday News Sentinel: Last year, Covenant Health hospitals saved the lives of 752 people who would not have lived at average hospitals. According to U.S. government data, quality care makes a life-saving difference for patients at Covenant Health hospitals. By being far better…
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office has just released on opinion on the issue of the ability of non-physician health care professionals to own and operate a medical practice and to employee physicians. Here are the two specific issues addressed: "1. Considering the provisions of Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 63-6-204(b), 68-11-205(a),…
My wife Joy and I are pleased to announce the birth of our daughter, Kaitlin Irene Day, yesterday at 2:41 p.m. at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. Kate weighed in at an unbelievable 10 pounds, 9 1/2 ounces and is 21 an 3/4 inches long. She began riding a tricycle last…
How much transparency should there be in health care? In commerce in general? Senator Grassley wants transparency in medicine – he has introduced legislation that is designed to require drug companies to disclose what they pay doctors. Read about the legislation in this article from the New York Times. The…
I wrote on July 30 about a decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that addressed the issue of the effect of the failure of a plaintiff in a personal injury action to disclose the existence of the claim on a bankruptcy petition and the failure to disclose the claim during…
A complaint against the State of Tennessee has just been dismissed because the plaintiff alleged that a state trooper may have committed negligence but did not affirmatively allege that the trooper was negligent. The Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal stating that it did not state a cause of action. The…
Judge Keeton, co-author of Prosser and Keeton on Torts, died July 1, 2007 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Keeton was a professor at Harvard and later became a federal district judge. He was 87.