This article describes some common misperceptions about medical malpractice cases, the lawyers that file them and the expert witnesses who participate in them. It is written from my perspective as an attorney for both the patients and health care providers. Representing patients in medical malpractice cases has never been the path to easy riches it is portrayed to be in
Imagine you are the representative of an insurance company handling a bodily injury claim. The injured plaintiff has $25,000 in medical expenses. Your insured’s policy has a limit of $30,000. The plaintiff makes a settlement demand for the policy limits. Because you know that $30,000 represents the extent of your company’s liability, you decide that you have nothing to lose
Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran
A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,
In the 27 years since switching from representing health care providers to injured patients I have reviewed over 20,000 adverse medical events. I have reviewed reports of injuries to nearly every major body part and organ; operations on the wrong foot, leg and organ; wrong-sided cranial and hernia procedures; premature deaths from delays in diagnosing and treating cancers and heart
This past year, the United States experienced a multistate measles outbreak raising the question: can parents be held liable for electing not to vaccinate their children? Vaccination is a widely debated issue in the United States with more and more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. Most vaccination series cannot be completed until a child is nearly 2 years
Future medical expenses often represent a significant portion of damage awards in medical malpractice and personal injury actions. Often, following trial, the injured party will require medical care and treatment into the foreseeable future. Consequently, medical experts and life care planners attempt to quantify the medical needs and associated costs in a line item fashion as an element of economic
The short answer is – it depends. Utah case law has established what is commonly referred to as the passive retailer doctrine. This doctrine creates an exception to Utah’s Product Liability Act, which states that a manufacturer or seller of a product may be held liable for injury caused by the product if found to be defective and unreasonably dangerous.
In 1979, the Utah Supreme Court in Ernest W. Hahn, Inc. v. Armco Steel Co., 601 P.2d 152 (1979) adopted the doctrine of strict liability as set out in the Restatement of Torts 2d, Section 402A. This section imposes liability in tort without proof of negligence upon “one who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the
Patient falls in nursing homes and hospitals may no longer be afforded the legal protections of medical claims after a recent appellate court decision. In December, the Tenth District Court of Appeals issued an opinion which further eroded the medical claim protection by holding that a fall in a nursing home unrelated to medical care or treatment is an ordinary
This article describes some common misperceptions about medical malpractice cases, the lawyers that file them and the expert witnesses who participate in them. It is written from my perspective as an attorney for both the patients and health care providers. Representing patients in medical malpractice cases has never been the path to easy riches it is portrayed to be in
Imagine you are the representative of an insurance company handling a bodily injury claim. The injured plaintiff has $25,000 in medical expenses. Your insured’s policy has a limit of $30,000. The plaintiff makes a settlement demand for the policy limits. Because you know that $30,000 represents the extent of your company’s liability, you decide that you have nothing to lose
Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran
A potential client appears in your office with a familiar story… An aging, but relatively healthy mother lived with her daughter when she had to be admitted into the hospital for an illness. Her daughter remained by her side 24/7. Her mother was due to be released soon and the nurses encouraged the daughter to go home, take a shower,
In the 27 years since switching from representing health care providers to injured patients I have reviewed over 20,000 adverse medical events. I have reviewed reports of injuries to nearly every major body part and organ; operations on the wrong foot, leg and organ; wrong-sided cranial and hernia procedures; premature deaths from delays in diagnosing and treating cancers and heart
This past year, the United States experienced a multistate measles outbreak raising the question: can parents be held liable for electing not to vaccinate their children? Vaccination is a widely debated issue in the United States with more and more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children. Most vaccination series cannot be completed until a child is nearly 2 years
Future medical expenses often represent a significant portion of damage awards in medical malpractice and personal injury actions. Often, following trial, the injured party will require medical care and treatment into the foreseeable future. Consequently, medical experts and life care planners attempt to quantify the medical needs and associated costs in a line item fashion as an element of economic
The short answer is – it depends. Utah case law has established what is commonly referred to as the passive retailer doctrine. This doctrine creates an exception to Utah’s Product Liability Act, which states that a manufacturer or seller of a product may be held liable for injury caused by the product if found to be defective and unreasonably dangerous.
In 1979, the Utah Supreme Court in Ernest W. Hahn, Inc. v. Armco Steel Co., 601 P.2d 152 (1979) adopted the doctrine of strict liability as set out in the Restatement of Torts 2d, Section 402A. This section imposes liability in tort without proof of negligence upon “one who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the
Patient falls in nursing homes and hospitals may no longer be afforded the legal protections of medical claims after a recent appellate court decision. In December, the Tenth District Court of Appeals issued an opinion which further eroded the medical claim protection by holding that a fall in a nursing home unrelated to medical care or treatment is an ordinary
