Recently in Malpractice News in Other States Category
Two of the most famous medical malpractice cases - at least potentially - in history have occurred in the last year: Joe Murtha and Michael Jackson. In Maryland, we also recently had the St. Joseph's stent debacle which may go down in Maryland history as its most famous medical malpractice cases.
What has surprised a lot of medical malpractice lawyers is how little these cases have reflected the public mood on malpractice. People who learn of these cases simply process them consistent with the world view they already had on the topic of whether malpractice cases are largely meritorious and whether the system needs to be changed.
The statute of limitations in New York for medical malpractice is two and one-half years from the date of injury. The New York medical malpractice statute may be extended in cases where there is continuous treatment by the doctor who committed the malpractice, or when the medical provider has left a foreign object in your body.
In Maryland, to overrsimplify at bit, he medical malpractice statute limitations is three years which, in some case can be extended to five if the Plaintiff could not have known of the connection of the injuries and the malpractice. Arguably, Maryland medical malpractice law imposes a statute of repose which means that five years is an absolutely cutoff.
Geri Barish, the president of 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Coalition, said she supports a bill in the New York legislature extending the amount of time one could file a lawsuit from 2.5 years after a medical malpractice mistake is made to 2.5 years after the link between the malpractice and the injury is discovered.
Obviously, this rule is supported by Maryland malpractice lawyers in Maryland as well for a simple reason: it creates less frequently results that offend everyday notions of justice. It you can never bring a malpractice lawsuit because you just didn't know your doctor's careless caused your injury, that is just not fair.
In Maryland, to overrsimplify at bit, he medical malpractice statute limitations is three years which, in some case can be extended to five if the Plaintiff could not have known of the connection of the injuries and the malpractice. Arguably, Maryland medical malpractice law imposes a statute of repose which means that five years is an absolutely cutoff.
Geri Barish, the president of 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Coalition, said she supports a bill in the New York legislature extending the amount of time one could file a lawsuit from 2.5 years after a medical malpractice mistake is made to 2.5 years after the link between the malpractice and the injury is discovered.
Obviously, this rule is supported by Maryland malpractice lawyers in Maryland as well for a simple reason: it creates less frequently results that offend everyday notions of justice. It you can never bring a malpractice lawsuit because you just didn't know your doctor's careless caused your injury, that is just not fair.
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania joins Nevada, Maryland and Oregon as states in recent days reporting a decline in medical malpractice lawsuits. The number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed against Lancaster County doctors fell last year to 2003 levels. Lancaster County did not have a single medial malpractice jury trial against a healthcare provider in 2008.
According to ABC News, an doctor representing the AMA told President Obama that one reason doctors order so many unnecessary tests is because they fear malpractice lawsuits and are practicing "defensive medicine." The doctor asked the president if medical malpractice reform would be part of the solution; the president said he'd keep an open mind. The article notes the obvious: Democrats are in control and have historically opposed such efforts.
Still, this kind of talk - linking health care reform to malpractice tort reform - would impact not just Maryland malpractice lawsuits but the entire country.
There is an editorial in the Denver Legal News Examiner titled "Why Medical Malpractice Caps Should be Raised in Colorado." One brutal thing malpractice lawyers in Colorado face that we thankfully don't have in Maryland: caps on economic damages. Apparently, a judge has the discretion to award more in Colorado but I don't exactly understand how that works.