February 16, 2011 by matray

side note: No shocker here. None of the $250 million can be used for implementing damage caps (like the Republican HEALTH Act seeks), but the President is in favor of states implementing ideas like health courts. WASHINGTON (AP) - Putting his own stamp on a long-standing Republican priority, President Barack… Continue reading...

February 10, 2011 by matray

side note: Wow! Here is an interesting case where the Tea Party philosophy clashes with the Republican agenda. The HEALTH Act (proposed federal tort reform) was set to be "marked up" yesterday by the House Judicial Committee, but had to be postponed because Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), a member of… Continue reading...

February 7, 2011 by matray

side note: Here is the lead story in the February 2011 issue of Medical Liability Monitor. MLM is a must-read for those in the medical professional liability insurance industry. Wisconsin could be the best barometer of a reshaped political landscape following the Nov. 2, 2010, elections—the only state in the… Continue reading...

January 27, 2011 by matray

In his recent, Jan. 25, State of the Union address, President Barack Obama indicated that he is “willing to look at other ideas to bring down [healthcare] costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits.” Shortly after the State of the Union,… Continue reading...

January 25, 2011 by matray

side note: I find this very interesting. In today's partisan political climate, can Sens. Daschle and Frist find common ground to the nation's healthcare ailments? Calling “constructive engagement on health reform vital to our nation’s future,” the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) launched its Health Project on Jan. 18, led by… Continue reading...

January 25, 2011 by matray

side note: While Ohio's closed medical professional liability claims experience an uptick in 2009, the total is still down 33 percent from the 5,051 claims that closed cataloged in the report's inaugural edition from 2005. The Ohio Department of Insurance recently issued its fifth annual Ohio Medical Professional Liability Closed… Continue reading...

January 24, 2011 by matray

side note: Here is an interesting wrinkle in the Kansas Supreme Court's hearing on the constitutionality of the state's cap on non-economic damages. It is quite unusual for a court to order a re-argument of a case before it. TOPEKA — In a rare move, a highly watched medical malpractice… Continue reading...

January 19, 2011 by matray

side note: Here is some interesting tort refrom legislation winding its way through the New Jersey state assembly. With newly elected Gov. Chris Christie at the helm, I wouldn't be surprised to see this bill get renewed attention. A longstanding bill slowly making its way through the New Jersey legislature… Continue reading...

January 17, 2011 by matray

side note: If you're looking for a silver lining to the economic downturn, a new report from Towers Watson indicates the economy has had a shrinking effect on our nation's tort costs. A decline in both real and nominal GDP, a rising unemployment rate and decreasing tort activity as a… Continue reading...

January 13, 2011 by matray

The American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) recently released its 2010/2011 Judicial Hellholes report, which annually names what it considers some of the nation’s “most unfair civil court jurisdictions.” The ATRF is a branch of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), an umbrella organization exclusively dedicated to reforming the civil justice… Continue reading...