New Hampshire: Supreme Court Finds Negligence Is Jury's To Decide in Med-Mal Trial

CONCORD, NH — Via NH Medical Malpractice News: The New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned the trial court's decision in a medical malpractice lawsuit, Beckles v. Madden, agreeing with Lubin & Meyer attorneys for the plaintiff in finding that the burden of proof for negligence in a med mal trial should be left for the jury to decide. Attorney Benjamin Novotny, argued the case before the court. Click here for more information and for a link to read the full opinion, issued April 9, 2010.

New York Considers Change in Statute of Limitations for Medical Negligence Lawsuits

ALBANY, NY — A group of cancer patients and victims families in New York is pressing the legislature there to revise the malpractice laws to change the start date of the 2 1/2-year statute of limitations on medical negligence lawsuits from the date of discovery instead of from the time the medical mistake is made.

Read more on the Legislative Gazette: Patients should have more time to file malpractice suits, say advocates.

Rhode Island Jury Awards $4 Million for Medical Negligence

PROVIDENCE, RI — The Providence Journal reports that a Superior Court jury awarded a man $4 million for a doctor's negligence.

The jury awarded "$1.5 million for physical pain, $1.5 million for mental suffering, $500,000 for disfigurement and $500,000 for lost wages..." related to a case of misdiagnosed Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome, a chronic neurological disorder that causes severe pain.

Read full article at: Rhode Island verdict.

Trial Report for $13.5 Million Dana-Farber Medical Malpractice Verdict Now Online

Boston medical malpractice law firm Lubin & Meyer has just posted to its web site, the trial report for its recent $13.5 million jury verdict in a medical negligence lawsuit against doctors at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The news of the verdict was announced in a Boston Globe article, previously reported on by this news blog (here), but the trial report offers much more detail on the case involving a woman who developed an infection that went undiagnosed or treated while she was being treated with chemotherapy for a rare form of cancer.

For those interested in learning more about this significant 2008 Massachusetts medical malpractice verdict, click on: med mal verdict.

To read the Globe article click here.

New Hampshire's Malpractice Screening Law and How it Works

This Boston Globe article looks at New Hampshire's medical malpractice screening panels and how they work.

"Medical malpractice screening panels were developed in the 1970s in response to complaints that claims were driving up insurance rates, forcing some doctors to give up their practices. Supporters hoped the panels would help contain costs by screening out weak cases and resolving the rest as early and inexpensively as possible.

New Hampshire set up screening panels in 2005 based on a 1987 Maine law."

Related links provided by the article include:

American Medical Association article

Maine Supreme Judicial Court opinion

2005 NH law

Another view on the same story offered by Maine's Portland Herald: N.H. law backfires, slows malpractice suits. The law, based on one in Maine aimed at lowering malpractice rates, is having growing pains, supporters say. Break: Social Security Disability Claims Lawyer