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Glori Anne Scott of the Examiner.com wrote an excellent piece in support of the Colorado Legislature’s recent attempts to raise statutory caps on medical malpractice cases in that state.

Her explanation applies to counter the arguments of tort reformers everywhere.  While it will likely be a long and difficult battle to educate the Colorado legislature on the benefits of allowing a jury to fairly and accurately adjudicate medical malpractice cases on their merits without artificial limits on liability, the fact that the issue is even on the agenda is a positive steps for consumers and patients nationwide.

Here is an excerpt from her excellent piece:

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The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered litigants in medical malpractice cases to take steps to resolve those matters in order to decrease the court’s backlog.  Two senior judges have been assigned in Clark County to conduct a settlement marathon in May in the hopes of resolving the 216 oldest cases on the court’s docket.  The Judges plan to hold up to eighteen settlement conferences a week.

Apparently Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, has more then 400 medical malpractice cases pending statewide.  This number seems relatively small in comparison to the number of cases we have pending in Cook County, Illinois.

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Alex Parker of the Chi-Town Daily News is reporting that according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the University of Chicago Medical Center is guilty of violating a federal law by not giving an elderly patient who later died adequate medical treatment.  The University of Chicago’s own internal investigation demonstrated that its staff did not follow the U of C’s own policies and procedures when caring for the patient.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that requires every emergency room to offer stabilizing treatment to any patient who comes to the emergency room for treatment, regardless of ability to pay.

Anyone who meeds medical care at an emergency room is absolutely entitled to be triaged and monitored regardless of the circumstances.  EMTALA absolutely forbids hospitals from engaging in the practice of patient “dumping” including outright denials of treatment or a referral to another ER.  This practice often occurs when a low income or senior citizen appears at an ER facility and does not appear to be able to pay for care.

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The United States Department of Health And Human Services has offered the public some advice on how to protect themselves against unintended medical errors.  According to the Department of Health and Human Services medical errors are one of the nations leading causes of death.  Here are 20 tips to help avoid unintended medical consequences:

1. The single most important way you can help to prevent errors is to be an active member of your health care team.

That means taking part in every decision about your health care. Research shows that patients who are more involved with their care tend to get better results. Some specific tips, based on the latest scientific evidence about what works best, follow.

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In what is being reported as a Chicago example of a growing trend nationwide, a 77 year old man south-side nursing home resident was killed by his 50 year-old mentally ill roommate.  Over the past several years nursing homes have become common places to put mentally ill adults who have nowhere else to go.  The unfortunate problem is that most nursing home facilities are not staffed with care givers who have the appropriate skill sets necessary to deal with mentally ill, and often violent, patients.

Illinois ranks first nationwide in the number of mentally ill patients under the age of 65 who live in nursing or assisted care facilities.

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When a nursing home assumes the care of an elderly or infirm patient they owe him or her the obligation to provide a safe and nurturing living environment.  We have seen an uptick in these types of cases in our own practice and are concerned that this is a growing trend that will effect Chicago’s elderly as the projected elderly population in america grows over the next many years.

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corruption.jpgJessica Fargen reported in today’s Boston Herald that a Boston Medical Malpractice defense attorney hired by one of the area’s largest malpractice insurance companies advised a doctor that he could avoid being served with a summons in a major medical malpractice lawsuit if he left the country.

Dr. Eran Bar-Mer finished his fellowship at Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center and was travelling cross-country with the intention to emmigrate to Israel.  Allegedly his insurance company appointed lawyer advised him that he was “lucky” to be leaving the country and the jurisdiction of the court.  He was ultimately served with the lawsuit when he returned to Boston on business two months later.

Legal proceedings are adversarial in nature.  Most lawyers believe in punching hard but punching fair.  When a member of the bar advises a defendant whom he represents to leave the jurisdiction of the court to avoid service things have gone a little too far.  Hopefully this lawyer has simply lost his way.  It is sad when the greed and corruption that has become pervasive in corporate america taints the legal profession.

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We like to take note of outstanding verdicts and settlements from around the country on our blog.  Today an Arizona jury awarded $11 million to the widow of a 36 year old victim of a traumatic brain injury that occured at an assisted living facility.

While a resident at the facility his caregivers force fed him plastic bags, catsup packets, paper towels and candy wrappers which caused an obstruction of his GI tract.  These foreign body obstructions directly caused the patients death.

Every patient at every facility deserves to be cared for in a humane and dignified way. 

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Yesterday 45 year-old actress Natasha Richardson died tragically after she sustained a brain injury in what has been reported as a minor fall on a Quebec ski slope.  It has been reported in some media outlets that her brain become swollen after she sustained a shearing injury caused by whiplash type forces during her fall down.

While her autopsy has not been made public and we have no direct knowledge of the facts surrounding her death, the fact that what at first seemed to be a relatively minor injury resulted in tragedy is not an unfamiliar circumstance.  We have represented many brain injured clients who have suffered their injuries as a result of what at first seemed like mundane every day trauma.

In 2005 Goldberg & Goldberg, LLC hired a world renowned expert on vestibular function to measure shearing forces on the brain and theorize on how they translate to brain injuries..  Our expert’s reseach compared the relatively mundane forces that the brain experiences daily during activities of normal living to excessive forces on the brain that occur in activities like roller coaster riding or piloting a jet fighter.  What we learned was extraordinary.  Force on the brain cannot be measured on a linear axis.  The head and brain moves rotationally on a 360 degress plane.  The body cannot compensate for some of these more unusual head movements that at first glance seem ordinary.  As a result tremendous shearing forces can injury the brain.  This research has really helped us learn and understand the mechanisms of head injuries. 

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There is little doubt that technology has changed the way we communicate with each other. In the past several years social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter have allowed ordinary citizens to connect with one another in extraordinary ways. Trial Lawyers have always been concerned with influence outside information might have on jurors who are actively deliberating important matters in trial courts. At the intersection of the courtroom and technology we are confronted with an Interesting phenomenon. Facebook musings and tweets are now coming to you straight from inside the jury room.

In Philadelphia a juror on a major capitol murder case announced to Facebook that everyone “should stay tuned for a big announcement” before a verdict was announced in a trial that lasted more then five months. This is not an isolated incident. Apparently people are tweeting and facebooking live from the courthouse everyday.

Technology is a part of everyone’s life. People feel compelled to share the most intimate details of their personal lives with people they hardly know over the internet. It should come as no suprise that jurors are sharing the details of the courtroom online. The question for judges and lawyers is how do we deal with this. We live in interesting times.

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President Obama has nominated Indiana judge, David F. Hamilton, to an opening on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.  This is our new presidents first appointment to the bench.  Hamilton is currently a federal district judge in Indianapolis. He previously served as counsel to U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) when Bayh was governor of Indiana.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is the federal appellate court that has jurisdiction over appeals of matters that occur in the federal courts of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.  The court is located in The Everett Dirkson Federal Building and is composed of eleven judges.  The current Chief Judge is Frank H. Easterbrook who was appointed by Pres. Ronald Reagan.

Hamilton’s nomination was praised by consumer advocates.  “David Hamilton is an ideal choice for this seat,” said Kathryn Kolbert, president of People for the American Way. “Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a willingness to put principle ahead of politics and bring an open mind to every case.”

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