Tennessee: Lawsuits Could Force Hospitals To Disclose Doctors’ Status

Two recent Tennessee Supreme Court cases could affect the way local hospitals handle their admissions procedures, said local attorney Barry Shanker of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC. The cases allege medical negligence and malpractice by physician contractors and have been sent back to the trial courts. They might proceed to trial or be settled out of court. The state’s high court said the hospitals involved had not done enough to let patients know the accused doctors were contractors instead of employees. Therefore the hospitals should be held accountable. “This ruling ultimately is important because plaintiffs’ lawyers are trying to hold the hospitals liable for any type of negligence or malpractice by a physician and that imposes additional, essentially unknown, amounts of liability on the hospital,” Shanker said. At most local hospitals, patients may sign a paper informing them of the relationship, but some may not even realize how important it is. And the basis of the hospital/physician relationship is vital in case something goes wrong and a lawsuit is filed later.

Please click on the link below to read the Memphis Daily News article:

http://www.memphisdailynews.com/editorial/Article.aspx?id=38517

For more information on defending medical malpractice and nursing home matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at The Citron Law Firm, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.

Texas Licenses a Record Number of Doctors

After facing a statewide doctor shortage for years, the Texas Medical Board said Monday it issued a record number of medical licenses this past fiscal year. The 3,621 doctors licensed in fiscal 2008 beat last year’s record-setting 3,324. The number of licenses issued in the state has jumped almost 44 percent in two years, according to the medical board. The board had grappled with a surge in applications that created a backlog of more than 2,000 applicants seeking a medical license to practice here. But the board said it changed its rules to speed up the process and got state funding to hire six extra workers. There’s debate on what ignited the surge in applications. In a report to be released today, the Texas Medical Association makes the case that the surge can be attributed to the medical malpractice lawsuit limits passed by the Legislature in 2003. The Texas Alliance for Patient Access, a nonprofit coalition of health care workers, found that 21 rural Texas counties have added at least one obstetrician – including 12 counties that previously had none – since passage of the law.

Please click on the link below to read the Dallas News article:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/090908dnbusdocapplications.1839664.html

For more information on defending medical malpractice and nursing home matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at The Citron Law Firm, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.