Publications for Medical / Professional Malpractice Defense
In re-credentialing and granting staff privileges to a surgeon with a history of 17 medical malpractice suits, a hospital, through its credentialing committee, could not be found to have proximately caused a patient’s claimed injuries.
In a recent published opinion, the Michigan Court of Appeals emphatically confirmed the protection against disclosure for credentialing and privileging files maintained by hospitals.
It is improper and an abuse of a trial court's discretion to require that a plaintiff or his/her attorneys be notified and allowed to attend a defense attorney's meeting with a plaintiff's treating healthcare providers during personal injury litigation.
In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals held that a deficient notice of intent, filed before the 2004 amendment of MCL 600.5856, may be amended.
In a recent decision, the Michigan Supreme Court held that the federal HIPAA medical privacy law does not prohibit ex parte interviews of treating physicians by defense counsel as long as reasonable efforts have been made to secure a qualified protective order.
On March 30, 2010 the Michigan Court of Appeals held that a medical malpractice Notice of Intent ("NOI"), which is mandated by statute as a means to encourage pre-litigation settlement, need not be as detailed and specific as the allegations in the complaint.
On December 1, 2009, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury's conviction of anesthesiologist Dr. Jorge A. Martinez for mail fraud, wire fraud, health care fraud (including two counts that resulted in the death of patients), and illegally distributing controlled substances.
One of the "high cap" exceptions to the non-economic damage limitations in medical malpractice cases...was recently explained by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
On July 29, 2009 the Michigan Supreme Court overruled portions of previous rulings in Roberts v Mecosta County General Hospital and Boodt v Borgess Medical Center...
Claims for breach of confidence arising when a healthcare provider discloses confidential patient information without consent or other authority, are medical malpractice claims, not independent causes of action in Michigan.
The economic value of household services provided by a decedent to her minor children is an allowable element of damages under Michigan's Wrongful Death Act...
In a published opinion, the Michigan Court of Appeals enforced the pre-filing requirement of a sufficient notice of intent in medical malpractice cases.
In a much-anticipated case, the Michigan Supreme Court issued a decision with three separate opinions that does not clearly define the legal standards governing "lost-opportunity" medical malpractice cases.
The Michigan Supreme Court held that the location where the "original injury" occurs for purposes of determining venue under MCL 600.1629(1)(a) and (b) is "where the first actual injury occurs that results from an act or omission of another, not where a plaintiff contends that it first relied on the act or omission that caused the injury."
On July 2, 2008, the Michigan Supreme Court held that a Plaintiff’s Notice of Intent (NOI) to sue for medical malpractice was insufficient under MCL 600.2912b(4)(e)...