Lawyer blogs are boring. I chalk this problem up to an understandable but flawed perception of the two privileges that lawyers are taught to honor: 1) attorney-client privilege and 2) work-product privilege. The attorney-client privilege protects private communications between a client and a lawyer. This sensible rule promotes a full and frank discussion so that […]
Punitive damage claims are heavily regulated. Your lawyer needs to understand how to plead them and how to prove them. Much of the law restricting punitive damages comes out of all the tobacco litigation that has been in the court system for decades. A new tobacco case on appeal further restricts punitive damage remedies against […]
I was trying a Georgia med-mal case involving an infant with injuries caused by hydrocephaly when a juror brought a medical textbook into the jury room on the first day of trial. The Court discharged that juror the day it happened. This Tennessee case is like that except nobody noticed until it was too late. […]
I successfully litigated a product liability case involving a Depuy knee implant and the surgeon who placed it. This recent verdict involves a different type of defect and a slightly different model. But the lesson remains true as always: medical malpractice cases are difficult, especially when mixed with product liability issues. Choose your lawyer carefully. […]
I have litigated similar issues regarding the duty a hospital owes to relatives of a patient, intentional infliction of emotional distress, wrongful death, and immunity. Here is a link to the reported appeals decision in my case. These are difficult cases, trying for all involved. Press attention can help but can also add to the […]
After forty years, Florida courts and the legislature still can’t decide exactly what the rules for medical malpractice should be. Your lawyer needs to appreciate all the potential pitfalls. “We acknowledged that ‘the Medical Malpractice Act changed the law such that an interlocutory remedy for parties facing claims that fail to satisfy its pre-suit requirements […]
FDA’s black box drug warnings can be powerful evidence in medical malpractice cases. But in Florida, they probably aren’t enough to relieve the requirement to have expert witness testimony. An Arizona appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit alleging a urologist negligently prescribed an antibiotic that caused harmful side effects to a patient, saying medical […]
An Illinois court ruled that a defendant doctor’s legal team could not have access to the plaintiff’s mental health records because they were not relevant to the claims. “From the limited record, Dr. Rao practices at a clinic that specialized in lung issues. Plaintiff was there presumably seeking treatment for lung issues. Nowhere in the […]
The 11th Circuit (Atlanta) just created conflict with other jurisdictions in ruling that federal law “preempts” or blows up negligence claims against brokers. Preemption is the legal rationale that courts use to block victims of torts from suing rental car companies and other large corporate interests that successfully lobby Congress for special protection. In Aspen Amer., […]
This takes unlicensed practice to another, putting it on steroids. Unanswered in this story is how many patients were harmed by these unscrupulous academics and the fraudsters they set loose. Two nursing school operators in the Fort Lauderdale area have fessed up to peddling fake diplomas to thousands of students who could then avoid completing […]
