Tag Archives: medical malpractice

It’s called “tort reform.” The state of Mississippi limits the amount juries can award people for pain and suffering in personal injuries to $1 million. A federal appeals court recently upheld this cap. Lisa Learmonth was injured in a car crash with a Sears Roebuck van. A trial judge lowered the jury’s damages, limiting her non-economic losses (those beyond hospital bills and lost earning capacity) to $1 million, based on Mississippi’s cap on damages. On appeal to the 5th Circuit, …

Attorneys for a Catholic health care organization are defending against a wrongful death lawsuit by making an unexpected argument: A fetus is not a person. Jeremy Stodghill brought the suit two years after his wife, Lori, died in St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City, Col. Lori was seven months pregnant with twin boys when she began vomiting and struggling to breathe on New Years Day in 2006. Jeremy drove her to the hospital emergency room, where she suffered a …

  Lawyers.com Editor-in-Chief Larry Bodine broadcasts today’s Newsbreak, a round-up of legal news you can use. Why did the Indiana Supreme Court cut $7 million out of a jury award? You’ll find out as Larry reports on an Indiana man whose wife died a painful death due to medical malpractice. You’ll learn about the effects of tort reform, an anti-consumer law. You be the judge of whether the outcome was unfair. The Newsbreak also visits a wild party in Ohio. …

At least 80,000 medical “never events” have occurred during hospital surgeries over the past two decades, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins University. A “never event” is defined as a mistake that should be preventable by basic procedural diligence, such as leaving a surgical implement inside a patient, performing the wrong procedure, operating on the wrong part of the body or even operating on the wrong patient altogether. The numbers are disturbing for anyone who has an upcoming …

Dr. David Chao, the head physician for the San Diego Chargers, lost a $7.5 million medical malpractice suit in August based on his prescription of a faulty cold-therapy medical device to a knee surgery patient. Chao operated on Whitney Engler’s knee in 2003 and then directed her to use the Polar Care 500. After she developed frostbite on her knee and suffered permanent damage, she sued Chao, his medical practice, and Breg, Inc. – the manufacturer of the device.   …