Latest Medical Professional Liability Headlines

All the headlines from our Medical Professional Liability Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Beecher Carlson Appoints Schmidt to Healthcare Practice in San Francisco

Nov 20 2008 // Beecher Carlson, a commercial insurance brokerage and risk management consultancy, has expanded its National Healthcare practice with the appointment of Daniel H. Schmidt as managing director. Schmidt brings 20 years...

Supporters Ask Illinois Supeme Court to Uphold Malpractice Caps

Nov 17 2008 // A 2005 law limiting the amount of money juries may award in medical malpractice cases unfairly targets those most seriously injured who deserve the most compensation, lawyers told the Illinois Supreme Court on Nov....

Lockton Insurance Brokers Names Baker Health Risk Management Director

Nov 7 2008 // Jesica Baker has joined Lockton Insurance Brokers LLC, the Southern California subsidiary of Lockton Companies, as director of health risk management. Baker’s expertise in the healthcare industry spans more than 20...

Medicus OK’d to Provide Medical Professional Liability Coverage in Ark.

Nov 5 2008 // Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Julie Benfield Bowman and Medicus Insurance Company Chairman Howard Lamb announced that Medicus Insurance Company has been approved to write medical professional liability insurance in...

New Jersey Eyes Help for Patients after Medical Errors

Nov 3 2008 // New Jersey hospital patients and the companies insuring them would no longer be on the hook to pay for care after a serious medical error occurs, under legislation introduced this month by a New Jersey assemblyman. The...

Nevada Cap on Medical Damage Awards Draws Criticism

Oct 31 2008 // As 59-year-old Richard Krikalo lumbers through the office of a junkyard he helps manage, he bumps into a desk and clips a wastebasket with his right leg. Krikalo is almost blind in his right eye and has trouble with depth...

South Dakota Supreme Court Allows New Medical Malpractice Trial

Oct 31 2008 // The South Dakota Supreme Court has upheld a circuit judge’s decision to grant a new trial in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a Huron doctor. The lawsuit arose out of complications suffered by Lillian Glanzer...

Wisconsin Parents Win $11.4 Million in Malpractice Suit

Oct 27 2008 // A Wisconsin jury has awarded the parents of a brain-damaged boy $11.4 million in a medical malpractice case. Chad and Amy Jelinek of Eastman claimed in a 2006 lawsuit that negligent care by a nurse and nurse midwife at...

The Truth About AIG and Pennsylvania’s P/C Markets

Oct 20 2008 // As problems began unfolding at American International Group last month, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario was tapped to be the vice chairman of a special task force of the National Association of Insurance...

Medical Professional Liability Insurer Drops Rates by 6.2% in Texas

Oct 17 2008 // Medical professional liability insurer Medical Protective announced a 6.2 percent average rate decrease for physicians in Texas, effective Jan. 1, 2009. The rate change represents the sixth rate reduction for the insurer...

Mo. Docs Move to Kan. Citing Lower Malpractice Costs

Oct 6 2008 // A Missouri physicians’ group plans to build a new medical office building in Galena, Kan., citing lower malpractice insurance costs across the state line. Dr. Christopher Banwart, a member of Orthopedic Specialists...

Real Estate Lawyers Face Rising Malpractice Claims

Oct 1 2008 // Legal malpractice claims related to real estate are up approximately four percentage points according to the just-released American Bar Association study of legal malpractice claims for 2004-2007 compared to the previous...

Medical Malpractice Insurer Lowers Mass. Rates 2.7%

Sep 25 2008 // CMIC, a doctor-owned medical malpractice insurer, announced a 2.7 percent overall rate reduction in its claims made rates for Massachusetts doctors effective Oct. 1, 2008. Denise Funk, CEO of CMIC, credited the continued...

Docs Tout Lower Malpractice Costs as Impetus to Move to Kansas

Sep 19 2008 // A Missouri physicians’ group plans to build a new medical office building in Galena, Kan., citing lower malpractice insurance costs across the state line. Dr. Christopher Banwart, a member of Orthopedic Specialists...

Van Gilder Adds Healthcare Practice

Sep 16 2008 // Denver-based Van Gilder Insurance Corp. has announced the creation of a new business unit to meet the risk management needs of the healthcare industry. The new unit will be called the Healthcare Specialty Business...

Washington Jury Awards $14.8M Dental Malpractice Verdict

Sep 2 2008 // A former cheerleader has been awarded $14.8 million by a Spokane County, Wash., Superior Court jury after a series of dental surgeries left her disabled and disfigured with her jaw fused shut. The jury decided that Dr....

West Virginia Malpractice Cases Rising

Aug 26 2008 // The West Virginia Medical Association says the number of medical malpractice lawsuits against West Virginia doctors and hospitals is going back up. But recent claims are still below the totals reported earlier this decade,...

South Dakota Neurosurgeon Loses 2 Malpractice Appeals

Aug 25 2008 // A Rapid City neurosurgeon who said he had been sued more than 30 times for malpractice lost two appeals on August 21 in the South Dakota Supreme Court. The court upheld a jury verdict awarding a woman nearly $552,000 in...

New York Freezes Malpractice Insurance Rates

Aug 25 2008 // Gov. David Paterson is freezing medical malpractice insurance rates for a year as he seeks a broader solution to high business costs doctors claim are driving them out of New York. The freeze heads off a scheduled...

Lawsuit Challenges South Dakota’s Malpractice Cap

Aug 25 2008 // A medical malpractice complaint filed this month in Sioux Falls seeks to challenge the constitutionality of South Dakota’s cap on non-economic damages. South Dakota limits the amount of such damages to $500,000. That...