Articles Tagged With: appeals
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Defendants Prevail Against Malpractice Claims Related to Hernia Surgery and Medication List
This case has many lessons to learn from the multiple defendants, multiple theories of malpractice liability, and multiple defenses. Perhaps one of the more interesting aspects of this case relates to the patient’s primary care physician, who was one of the two remaining defendants when the matter proceeded to trial.
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Failure to Diagnose and Treat Post-Surgery Infection Leads to $1.18 Million Verdict
One of the primary takeaways from this case is the importance of keeping thorough and accurate records. Keeping thorough and accurate records is important given the length of time that lapses between the underlying medical services and the potential for legal action, particularly trials.
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Defense Decision Reinstated for Patient’s Failure to Provide Expert Testimony
An important lesson from this case focuses on a critical aspect of medical malpractice cases: causation. Generally, the legal standard is that the care provider’s conduct must have been a substantial factor in causing harm such that a reasonable person would consider the conduct to have contributed to the harm.
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Mixed Defense Rulings Related to Patient’s Death Yield Lessons Regarding Experts
Factually, there was no dispute about the patient’s cause of death — it resulted from an infection. Legally, the defendant physician’s initial challenge to the plaintiff’s case was not to directly attack that factual premise itself, but to instead challenge the plaintiff’s experts.
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Jury’s Defense Verdict Upheld for Physician Accused of Improper Treatment of Bone Infection
There are multiple avenues for defendants to prevail and secure a defense verdict. In this case, the defense experts showed that the treatment provided for osteomyelitis met care standards and that the progression of osteomyelitis in the lower extremities of certain patients, especially with certain comorbidities, is not always preventable despite the efforts of providers.
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Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Dismissed for Failing to Provide Expert
Medical malpractice litigation often revolves around the reports and/or testimony from experts, and this case is no different. In fact, this case highlights just how important expert reports and testimony are: The case was dismissed based on the plaintiffs’ failure to provide any such expert support.
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Appellate Court Affirms $42 Million Award for Medical Negligence Despite Evidentiary Errors
For medical professionals and the broader healthcare community, this case highlights several interesting issues.
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Appellate Court Rules Affidavit of Merit Statute Does Not Cover LPNs
One obvious lesson here is in the use of appeals. The appellate division found “[t]he AOM statute was enacted in 1995 as part of a tort reform package,” but ultimately concluded the tort reform did not extend to LPNs. While the appeal affirmed the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss, the opposite easily could have occurred whereby a more liberal panel could have interpreted the statute to include LPNs.
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Physician Phone Consultation Leads to Potential Liability
This case is an example of how a physician-patient relationship can be formed, even when no direct contact occurs between the physician and patient, or even when the physician is informally consulted by phone.
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Denial Prevention Tactics Are Front End-Focused
Revenue cycle departments spend lots of time and money appealing denied claims. However, some hospitals are diverting resources to the front end instead.