February 15, 2005 Recent Legal News
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Tenn. v District Court
Filed 6th Circ.
A District Court judge has ruled that the State of Tennessee can not drop 320,000 people from the TennCare rolls without his consent. Tennessee is appealing to the 6th Circuit stating that the feds don't have the power to dictate the fiscal policy of a State.
Barnhill v Baptist St. Anthony
Texas Court
Barnhill and his fellow Orthopod Higgins sued the health system for removing them from the PPO panel. They won a temporary restraining order that allows them to remain in the PPO until the trial on the merits, now scheduled for July. The reason the hospital wanted them off is economic credentialing. the two are part owners of a competing entity, a 20 bed hospital. Top
The feds have allowed a gainsharing arrangement between a group of cardiac surgeons and a hospital. The gainsharing means that for the one year contract length the medical group and the hospital will share any saving generated by the physicians use of less blood, less equipment and standardization. The physicians would share the money evenly. Top
Knapp v NY Court
NY Supreme Ct.
The court allowed the defendants in a medical malpractice case to obtain a HIPAA compliant authorization to interview the plaintiff's treating physicians. They could not be authorized to interview the non sued physicians of the defense. This is different than in California. The court stated that the defendants would need (1) s separate HIPAA authorization (2) the authorization must state in bold that the authorization is not at the plaintiff's request but is to be used by the defense in a lawsuit initiated by the plaintiff (3) the name and address of the person that will interview the physician (4) each interview must be separately authorized and cannot be combined with a subpoena. Top
Willis v Wu
SC Supreme Ct.
South Carolina has become the 20th state whose Supreme court has denied the availability of a "wrongful life" suit. In this case an eight year old sued since the physician did not see that the fetus had no cerebral hemispheres on an ultrasound. Therefore his parents were denied the ability to terminate the pregnancy. The court stated that wrongful life is a philosophical argument and not a legal one.
Patients v Stanford University
To Be Filed
Stanford University has broken sterility procedures in multiple patients with poor sterilization technique for three endoscopes that help intubate patients. The patients have been notified at are being screened for no charge by the University for possible TB exposure. Top
Harrison
v Hayes
Penn. Superior Ct.
In a malpractice case the plaintiff in discovery asked for the physician's application and reapplication documents. The Court said that's okay since they were not generated by a peer review organization. I wonder why this state has such problems with their med mal premiums.
Rusiecki
v Jackson-Curtis
Fla Dist. Ct.
The plaintiff wanted the hospital peer review records from the hospital on the defendant physician as was passed by the voters of the state under "Amendment 7". The court refused to allow it stating the amendment is not self enacting and needs futher legislative work to put into motion. the court also stated that after the enabling legislation is enacted that no prior peer review information can be discovered, only prospective. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the information presented.