DTCI: Medical malpractice and summary judgment
Are recent appellate court decisions raising the evidentiary threshold for health care defendants?
Medical malpractice
Articles
COA considers new allegations in medical malpractice cases
Can parties present evidence or theories at trial that were not presented to the medical review panel?
COA: Malpractice claim barred by statute of limitations
The Indiana Court of Appeals has rejected a woman’s malpractice claim after holding that the claim was barred by a two-year statute of limitations.
Statute of limitations bars medical negligence case
After a dermatology appointment left a Marion County woman with facial discoloration that never went away as her doctor said it would, the woman sought damages in a negligence complaint. However, because she failed to prove that she “later learned” that her injury was worse than she thought, the Indiana Court of Appeals held that the woman’s claim cannot proceed in court because it was not timely filed.
Judges decline to consider mother’s actions in med-mal case
The Indiana Court of Appeals has rejected a doctor’s argument that a patient’s mother served as an intervening cause to the loss of the patient’s kidney and instead upheld the rule that a parent’s alleged contributory negligence may not be imputed to a child’s medical malpractice claim.
COA: Clinics that gave tainted steroid must face suit
After a widespread fungal meningitis outbreak killed nearly a dozen Hoosiers, the Indiana Court of Appeals decided Monday that the providers who injected the injured parties with a contaminated steroid that was purchased from a third party can be found to be negligent under the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act.
COA upholds denial of motion to strike expert medical testimony in malpractice suit
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed Tuesday a trial court’s decision to deny a motion to strike expert witness testimony after finding that a man could present certain evidence to prove medical malpractice against his now-deceased wife’s former physician.
Reversal: Kroger must face claim for filling script in wrongful death case
Kroger must face a claim that its potential negligence in filling a prescription contributed to the death of a woman after she sought treatment for acute bronchitis, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a reversal.
Elkhart County judgment exceeds med-mal cap
A northern Indiana judgment in favor of a man ruled to have suffered a catastrophic medical malpractice injury that left him paralyzed is the latest case challenging the state’s cap on malpractice damages.
Schocke: The future of the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act
With the advent of the new medical malpractice caps, what will be the effect on the volume of malpractice claims? Moreover, will the cap alterations sufficiently protect the act from constitutional challenges?
COA affirms excess damages award in med-mal case
Based on the evidence before it, a trial court correctly awarded a man $300,000 in excess damages from the Indiana Patient’s Compensation Fund after an Indianapolis hospital missed the signs he was having a stroke, the Indiana Court of Appeals held Tuesday.
COA: Minors’ malpractice suit can continue
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by minor children can continue after it found the suit was not untimely filed. The children were in the correct age range to trigger an exception in the Medical Malpractice Act.
Hospitals that mess up are urged to confess
A new approach promoted by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is explicitly aimed at saving hospitals money on malpractice litigation while encouraging more robust scrutiny of what went wrong.
COA clarifies confusion around judicial admissions
The Indiana Court of Appeals noted in its decision Thursday in a medical malpractice lawsuit that the line of authority that has developed on judicial admissions is based on an error made in a 1990 case. The judges used their opinion to affirm the jury verdict in favor of the defendant doctor and to clarify that judicial admissions are conclusive and binding.
Supreme Court reverses summary judgment in malpractice case
The Indiana Supreme Court reversed summary judgment for a hospital and doctor after it found the doctor’s own evidence creates issues of material fact that need to be settled at trial.
COA: Patient not notified doctor was independent contractor
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled a man was never notified that the doctor treating him was an independent contractor and not an employee and therefore reversed summary judgment to the hospital and remanded the man’s vicarious liability case to the trial court.
Pence signs med-mal cap increase on final day
Medical malpractice victims will be eligible for more compensation after Gov. Mike Pence signed into law a bill increasing the payment cap for the first time since the 1990s. The cap would increase from the current $1.25 million limit to $1.65 million next year and then to $1.8 million in 2019.
Abortion, med-mal, private university police bills await Pence’s decision
High-profile bills involving restrictions on abortion, increasing the caps on medical malpractice damages and slightly lifting the secrecy of police units at Notre Dame and other private universities are among the unsigned bills remaining on the final day for Gov. Mike Pence to act.
Senate votes to raise medical malpractice payment cap
Medical malpractices victims may be able to receive more money now that the Indiana Senate has passed a proposal to increase the compensation cap for the first time in nearly 18 years.
House panel OKs medical malpractice cap increase
Medical malpractice victims would be able to receive more compensation under a measure an Indiana House committee approved Monday that would update the payment cap for the first time in nearly 18 years.