Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq. Recently, Texas House Bill 300 was signed into law by Texas Governor Rick Perry.  The new law, which will become effective on September 1, 2012, expands privacy rights of patients beyond those contained in the HIPAA privacy standards. The law was created in order to better secure patients’ protected health information [...]

Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS Imagine telling your patient the success rate of a surgical procedure you were planning was 20%.  year after year. Most patients would hit the door. Unless the only other option – doing nothing – was far worse. That’s precisely the conclusion drawn from Jena, et al. in a New England [...]

Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS Affidavits of merit, are they worthless? Probably. Ohio provides but one example of how well intended legislation can be diluted by judges. Ohio introduced tort reforms in 2005. Among the reforms, plaintiffs were now required to prove they had done some homework before filing. The plaintiffs had to assert that [...]

Jeff Segal, MD, JD, FACS An article in the July issue of Health Affairs detailed the natural history of malpractice claims in Massachusetts. Approximately 60% of these claims were abandoned by the plaintiff. But, this news came slowly to the doctor – who waited an average of 3 years after the claim was filed. During [...]

Michael J. Sacopulos, Esq. Earlier this month a Galveston County Texas Judge dismissed a medical malpractice claim against Mainland Center Hospital.  The malpractice action had been brought by Jim Howard, III.  Howard alleged that the emergency room staff at Mainland Center Hospital broke his femur in March of 2009.  Howard’s action was originally filed on [...]