Bucking tradition, a Lackawanna County, Pa., judge has ruled against a doctor who sought to keep the details of a medical malpractice settlement under wraps, saying that taxpayers have a right to know because they are picking up part of the tab. Common Pleas Judge Terrance R. Nealon refused to seal the case of an obstetrician-gynecologist sued for failing to diagnose a Lackawanna County woman who later died. Her husband, James, sued her doctor, Jung Jang Hwan of Clarks Green. The doctor’s insurance company, the Pennsylvania Medical Society Liability Insurance Co., offered to settle the case for $725,000 after court-ordered mediation. The judge was then asked to seal the terms of the settlement, as has been customary in cases for the last 20 years. Nealon refused, saying that because 70 percent of the settlement in Korczakowski’s death is being paid from the MCare fund—the state-run insurance fund that covers catastrophic malpractice claims—the terms can’t be allowed to remain secret.
Topics Pennsylvania
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