May 1, 2023 by matray

The Medical Professional Liability (MPL) Association has awarded its 2023 MPL Industry Defender Award to Alan K. Breaud, Peter T. Dazzio, JD, Anne M. Oldenburg, JD, Gordon Slemko, LLB, and Jeffrey R. Street. This award is presented to defense attorneys in recognition for their exceptional and outstanding lifelong contributions to defending physicians, other healthcare professionals, and institutions while supporting medical professional liability insurers.

Alan K. Breaud

Breaud is an attorney at Breaud & Meyers in Lafayette, Louisiana, and has served as a defense counsel for LAMMICO for more than thirty years. He devotes a large part of his practice to the defense of medical malpractice claims, having defended approximately 320 LAMMICO claims before Medical Review Panels and winning 90% of those claims. Breaud practiced for a short time in public finance and thereafter joined the staff of the District Attorney’s Office in New Orleans. Since 1981 he has practiced primarily in the litigation field. In addition, Breaud has served on the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, which is tasked with the responsibility of investigating all allegations of lawyer misconduct.

Peter T. Dazzio, JD

Dazzio is a partner at the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, law firm Watson, Blanche, Wilson and Posner. He has represented physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers to the highest level of excellence in his 50 years of practice. His areas of practice include medical malpractice defense, hospital general liability defense, insurance defense, hospital regulatory, staff privileges, medical executive committee hearings, and hospital policies. Dazzio was instrumental in creating the Louisiana Hospital Association Self-Insurance Medical Malpractice Trust Fund and the Louisiana Physicians Trust. He was also a long-term member of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board.

Anne M. Oldenburg, JD

Oldenburg, a partner at HeplerBroom LLC in Chicago, represents doctors, dentists, and other healthcare providers for several MPL insurance companies. She has devoted her career to the defense of medical professionals and has tried numerous cases to verdict and handled cases on appeal. She also represents professionals before state licensing boards. Oldenburg has a record of achieving numerous favorable outcomes, including defense verdicts and many dismissals. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Illinois Association of Defense Trial Attorneys and previously served as an Illinois State Representative for the Defense Research Institute.

Gordon Slemko, LLB

Slemko, General Counsel at HIROC (Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada), defends the organization’s subscribers and their employees in a variety of medical malpractice actions, up to and including trial. Slemko provides internal corporate advice and manages an internal legal department of nine lawyers, law clerks, and administrative assistants. He also liaises and co-leads negotiation of retainer arrangements with HIROC’s external legal providers. He is the chair of the Outreach Committee of the Medico-Legal Society of Toronto and is a member of the Advocate’s Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association, and the Canadian Bar Association.

Jeffrey R. Street

Street is co-managing partner at Hodgkinson, Street, Mepham in Portland, Oregon, and specializes in the defense of physicians and healthcare professionals in Oregon and Washington. Throughout his career, Street has taken hundreds of cases to trial or arbitration. For Physician’s Insurance alone, he has taken 39 cases to trial including complex, high severity cases such as birth and neurological injury. Street is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and has been recognized as an Advocate member in the American Board of Trial Advocates.

“These outstanding defense attorneys have served as important partners with medical professional liability organizations,” said Brian K. Atchinson, president and CEO, MPL Association. “Their successful representation of healthcare professionals and institutions embodies excellence in the claims defense field. On behalf of our members and those they insure, the MPL Association is pleased to honor their work.”