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Showing 6 posts in Medical Malpractice.
Peer Review Privilege in Kentucky: A Revolution in Public Policy
KRS 311.377 grants broad privilege protections to peer review proceedings and documentation. As effective on July 14, 2018, this statute extends privilege and confidentiality protections to “the proceedings, records, opinions, conclusions, and recommendations of any committee, board, commission, medical staff, professional standards review organization, or other entity” engaged in performing a designated professional review function. This grant of privilege was enacted, and is effective, in extending statutory protections for nearly all information arising from the retrospective review and evaluation of the competency of professional acts or conduct of healthcare personnel. The 2018 amendments legislatively overrule a long history of Kentucky law that denied privilege protections to healthcare peer review proceedings. More >
ALERT: Medical Review Panel Act Dead; No Rehearing in Claycomb v. Commonwealth
Yesterday the Kentucky Supreme Court DENIED the petition for rehearing in the Medical Review Panel Act case, Claycomb v. Commonwealth. This means several things moving forward: More >
Trends in Malpractice Litigation
For providers who are trying to forecast the future of the medical malpractice landscape, the outlook is hazy. On one hand, Kentucky recently implemented medical review panels, which may ultimately impact the number of malpractice claims that reach the settlement or trial phase. On the other hand, malpractice payouts are again on the rise; reliance on new technology has the potential to push malpractice rates; and the medical review panels mentioned at the outset of this article continue to face legal obstacles moving forward. More >
Kentucky Supreme Court Addresses Negligent Credentialing
2017 has been a banner year for developments in healthcare litigation in Kentucky. While the focus has largely been on medical review panels, another issue of importance has been that of negligent credentialing claims brought against hospitals. Nationwide, states have been split on whether this cause of action is recognized. Lost in the recent rulings regarding medical review panels was the Kentucky Supreme Court’s quiet release of its opinion on November 2, 2017 striking down negligent credentialing as a separate and new cause of action against hospitals. This opinion provides clarity for hospitals facing claims of negligence related to physicians with staff privileges at their facilities and also provides guidance for counsel to properly defend cases with credentialing allegations. More >
A PSA Regarding the PSA: Patient Safety Work Product and Privilege
Much has been made of the efforts to increase the quality of patient safety and healthcare in recent years. To further this goal, Congress passed the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (“PSA”), which provides the protection of privilege to documents created as part of patient safety efforts in patient safety organizations. These organizations are defined as private, certified organizations that operate within larger healthcare organizations to improve care and reduce medical errors. The purpose behind this protection is to encourage healthcare providers to share information enabling evaluation of healthcare treatment, including failures, to improve patient safety and quality of care without fear of liability. More >
EHR-Related Claims on the Rise for Healthcare Providers
Since the federal mandate requiring healthcare providers to implement electronic health records went into effect, medical malpractice claims involving their use are on the rise. These claims involve allegations that use of electronic health records (“EHR”) is contributing to patient injury. Earlier this week, The Doctor’s Company (“TDC”) released a study examining factors surrounding the rise of these claims. More >
