Articles related to LEGAL MATTERS

Defamation lawsuits were brought into the limelight with the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard lawsuit, and physicians can learn a lot from the questions brought into the case, and most importantly, that even if you win the courtroom case, as Depp did, it can represent a loss in your real life.

The No Surprises Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2022, serves patients by legally protecting them from unexpected bills after receiving “emergency care, non-emergency care from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities, and air ambulance services from out-of-network providers.” But there are some doctors, like this acute-care surgeon, who believes the act is unconstitutional and is taking the federal government to court.

The story of “Dr. H,” an up-and-coming physician who was charged with 14 counts of murder in June 2019 after prescribing patients extremely high doses of fentanyl. The prosecution said Dr. H had intended to hasten or cause the deaths of the 14 patients, and it did not matter whether they were severely ill or close to dying. The defense argued the physician was merely relieving the patients’ suffering and that they died from their underlying diseases or being removed from ventilators. Who did the jury agree with?

“There have been a handful of cases which have now held, for one reason or another, that a third party can pursue a claim against a health care practitioner if they were injured as a result of that health care practitioner’s negligence to his or her own patient. What does this mean practically speaking? It opens the door for more lawsuits, lawsuits from people who were never your patient, but who may be impacted by a prescribing decision you make for your patient.”

The plaintiff, an emergency medicine physician, filed the lawsuit for wrongful termination against EmCare’s Kansas and Missouri subsidiaries, alleging that he was terminated because he complained about dangerous and illegal understaffing at the Overland Park emergency department. On March 2, 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case, finalizing the judgment in the plaintiff’s favor.

That’s the question in this highly unusual case, in which the plaintiff made an emergency motion for a mistrial, arguing that the jury witnessing the defendant coming to the aid of one of their fellow jurors may have prejudiced the jury. Read this fascinating story from MPR and ask yourself whether the situation had influenced the verdict in any way or resulted in a denial of a fair trial.