Latest Medical Professional Liability Headlines

Wis. Legislature Passes Medical Malpractice Cap Bill

Nov 9 2005 // The Wisconsin legislature passed Assembly Bill 766, which restores caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. “The recent Supreme Court ruling invalidating caps on non-economic damages was troubling...

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE MEASURE DEBATED

Nov 7 2005 // Washingtonians are debating a measure that seeks to lower liability costs and could drastically affect the state’s medical and insurance communities. I-336 is on the state’s November ballot and would establish...

News Briefs

Nov 6 2005 // MASSACHUSETTS Sprinkler Opposition: Dozens of Massachusetts restaurants and private clubs are appealing a state mandate in that they install sprinkler systems, arguing that they are being misclassified as nightclubs. The...

Nov 6 2005 // Wholesaler AVRECO has added Charles Becker as assistant vice president on its health care staff at its Chicago location. Becker is responsible for the marketing and sales of AVRECO’s specialty health care...

News Briefs

Nov 6 2005 // California CDI Amends Proposed “Action Notice” Filing Regulations The California Department of In-surance has deleted a section of proposed regulations that would have required insurers to notify CDI when a...

Rutecky Named Willis Senior Vice President in Atlanta

Oct 26 2005 // Jennifer Rutecky has been named senior vice president, Healthcare Practice principal, by Willis Group Holdings Ltd. In New York. Rutecky will be based in Atlanta. Rutecky is charged with regional growth and developing...

N.J. Issues First Subsidies to Doctors for Malpractice Premiums

Oct 25 2005 // New Jersey Banking and Insurance Acting Commissioner Donald Bryan announced that the first checks to help doctors pay high malpractice insurance premiums are in the mail. The subsidies are being distributed to eligible...

Pa. Governor Hails Improvements in Med-Mal Insurance Market

Oct 24 2005 // Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell said that his state has turned the corner on improving its medical malpractice insurance market thanks in part to recent legislative and court reforms and he urged legislators to...

Weak Competition Drives N.H. to Require Prior OK of Med-Mal Rates

Oct 20 2005 // Medical malpractice insurers writing in New Hampshire will be required to get advance approval of any rate changes during the next year following an order by Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny. The switch to prior...

Study Finds Fewer Med-Mal Claims Against Hospitals and Physicians

Oct 18 2005 // While the severity of malpractice claims continues to rise – growing at a rate of 7.5 percent annually – the frequency of malpractice claims has decreased by 1 percent over the past year, according to the 2005...

ProMutual Stays on Course as Medical Liability Market Starts Moving Again

Oct 17 2005 // Richard Brewer likens the medical liability business to a barge floating down the Mississippi. “You’re never quite sure what it’s going to look like around the bend,” he explained. As president and...

People

Oct 17 2005 // Nancy C. Gates was honored by the Professional Insurance Agents of Georgia as its 2005 Outstanding Certified Insurance Service Representative. Since 1996, Gates has been a commercial lines, large account representative...

Miss. Medical Assurance Co. Announces 5 Percent Decrease in Medical Malpractice Rates

Oct 14 2005 // Medical Assurance Co. of Mississippi, a physician owned provider which covers about 70 percent of the state’s physicians, has announced a 5 percent decrease in its 2006 malpractice rates and a 10 percent refund on...

Gay Partner Can’t Sue Hospital for Malpractice, N.Y. Appeals Court Rules

Oct 13 2005 // A New York Appeals Court has ruled that the same sex partner of a man who died after surgery related to injuries suffered in a car accident does not have standing to sue the hospital for malpractice under state law. The...

Miss. Medical Liability Rates to Drop 5 Percent in 2006

Oct 11 2005 // Medical liability insurance rates in Mississippi will be reduced in 2006 by 5 percent according to a proposal submitted by the Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi to Insurance Commissioner George Dale. The reduction...

R.I. Governor Proposes Plan for Better Health System By 2010

Oct 4 2005 // Saying that affordable health care should be within the reach for all Rhode Islanders, Governor Donald L. Carcieri this week laid out a series of five initiatives to improve the state’s system of care by the eyar...

R.I. Grants 2.3% Hike in ProSelect’s Rates for Physicians

Oct 4 2005 // Medical insurer ProSelect has received approval for an average 2.3 percent increase in physicians’ and surgeons’ medical malpractice insurance rates in Rhode Island. However, the insurer lost its bid for an...

Med-Mal Rate Increases Slow Down in Arkansas

Oct 3 2005 // The cost of malpractice insurance for Arkansas doctors didn’t rise as much this year, but a new law limiting damages in liability suits isn’t getting the credit, according to the Associated Press and the...

Pa. Hospital Risk Manager Says Malpractice Documents Were Altered

Sep 28 2005 // The chief executive officer and another top official of a city hospital knowingly gave dozens of altered documents to plaintiffs’ attorneys in a medical malpractice case, according to recent testimony in a...

Pa. Insurer Will Not Raise Medical Malpractice Rates for 2006

Sep 28 2005 // Physicians in Pennsylvania will get a break from rising malpractice insurance premiums next year, as the Pennsylvania Medical Society Liability Insurance Company has indicated it will not seek a rate hike in 2006. The...