A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but tort reform still smells bad to traditional opponents despite an attractive title. That’s why most observers believe that the House-passed “Protecting Access to Care Act,” H.R. 1215, is going nowhere. Opponents don’t oppose the goal of protecting access …
Ambulance Service Declared a Learned Profession in NJ
July 26, 2017 Leave a Comment
Who knew? In New Jersey ambulance service is considered a “learned profession,” up there with medicine and law. And that classification provides more than prestige. It means exemption from the state’s Consumer Fraud Act (CFA). That was the ruling of the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division on June 29 …
Admissibility of Insurance Coverage: Sauce for the Goose
July 24, 2017 Leave a Comment
When Kerrie Evans’s child was born with cystic fibrosis, she sued her nurse practitioner and doctor for failure to adequately inform her about prenatal testing for CF, making concerns about cost the centerpiece of her case. Her complaint stated that genetic counseling was covered by her insurance (to rebut …
Nebraska Med Mal Cap Survives 7th, 5th & 14th Amendment Attacks
July 21, 2017 Leave a Comment
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has upheld Nebraska’s statutory medical malpractice limit, rejecting attacks that were based on the Seventh, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. After a federal court jury awarded $17 million to a child born with severe brain damage, the …
Indiana Relaxes Telemedicine Rules as of July 1
July 20, 2017 Leave a Comment
Indiana’s relaxed telemedicine rules went into effect July 1. Generally, under the new rules a prescriber (defined as a physician, physician assistant, advanced practice nurse, optometrist, or podiatrist) may prescribe non-controlled drugs by telemedicine without an in-person exam, with the exception of …