Non-Compliant HIPAA Release Prejudiced Only One Defendant
Where plaintiff gave pre-suit notice of an HCLA suit to two defendants related by employment, but her HIPAA authorization failed to identify to whom medical records could be disclosed, the Court of...
View ArticleNo Standard of Care Expert? No Case.
Where a plaintiff in an Tennessee HCLA (medical malpractice) case “failed to obtain a competent expert witness to testify on the applicable standard of care,” summary judgment as to all of her claims...
View ArticleCertificate of Good Faith Required for Negligent Supervision Claim
When a plaintiff filed suit against a massage therapist and his employer alleging various claims based on an intentional sexual assault, the requirements of the HCLA did not apply to the intentional...
View ArticleRule 59.04 Motion Does Not to Save Medical Malpractice Case
A nurse who worked in an administrative capacity in the year preceding an incident underlying an HCLA claim may not be qualified to give expert testimony in the case. A Rule 59.04 motion did not cure...
View ArticlePre-Suit Notice by Personal Delivery Must Actually Be Delivered to Comply...
When an HCLA plaintiff decides to serve pre-suit notice via personal service, such service must actually be completed in accordance with the statute in order for the plaintiff to take advantage of the...
View ArticleNeurosurgery Consultant Not Qualified As Expert Against Urgent Care Center...
Where plaintiff could only show that his expert in an HCLA case was a neurosurgeon consultant during the year prior to the incident, yet the alleged negligence was committed by a medical assistant and...
View ArticleDefective Pre-Suit Notice In Case 1 Bars Use of Savings Statute in Case 2
In order to take advantage of the 120-day extension of the Tennessee HCLA provided by giving pre-suit notice, a plaintiff must have provided a HIPAA-compliant medical authorization with the notice....
View ArticleHIPAA Authorizations that Allowed Disclosure of Records Deemed Compliant
Where plaintiff sent a HIPAA authorization with his pre-suit notice that was HIPAA compliant but authorized the disclosure of records, rather than the obtaining of records, the Court of Appeals ruled...
View ArticleTennessee HCLA defendants required to identify other potential defendants.
Where HCLA (Tennessee medical malpractice) defendants knew that their hospital employer was a necessary party under the GTLA yet failed to identify them to plaintiff pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann....
View ArticleHCLA Statute of Limitations Started Before Plaintiff Consulted Expert
Where an HCLA plaintiff was aware of injuries suffered by a decedent and had been told by a nurse that she should look into the decedent’s care at the hospital, the statute of limitations began running...
View ArticleHCLA certificate of good faith must be separate from complaint
In a Tennessee HCLA case, the statutorily required certificate of faith must be a separate document and cannot simply be contained within the complaint. In Dotson v. State, No. E2019-00325-COA-R9-CV...
View ArticleHIPAA authorization required after plaintiff sent HCLA notice to multiple...
Where plaintiff only named one provider as a defendant in an HCLA case, but sent pre-suit notice to forty healthcare providers, a HIPAA-compliant medical authorization was required to be sent with her...
View ArticleDefense Claims Counsel Interfered With Ex Parte Interviews of Health Care...
An order awarding sanctions to defendants after plaintiffs sent a letter to healthcare providers allegedly interfering with ex parte interviews between defense counsel and the deceased’s patients...
View ArticleNursing Home Agreement to Arbitrate – Who Can Bind Patient?
Where a nursing home patient’s daughter executed the admission paperwork and arbitration agreement, but the power of attorney the patient had previously executed in favor of her daughter specifically...
View ArticleInconclusive Causation Testimony Insufficient – Case Dismissed
Where a plaintiff’s expert testimony in an HCLA (formerly known as medical malpractice) case was deemed to be “ambiguous and inconclusive” regarding causation, summary judgment for defendant was...
View ArticleOmission in Appellate Filings Result In Loss
Where the trial court granted summary judgment on two grounds in a Tennessee medical malpractice case, but plaintiff only raised one of the grounds in her appeal, summary judgment was affirmed. In...
View ArticleDay on Torts Nugget: Tennessee Medical Malpractice Filings and Trials
Data has been released that shows the number of Tennessee medical malpractice (now called health care liability actions) filed and disposed of for the year ending June 30, 2019. A total of 422 claims...
View ArticleCourt: No Fraudulent Concealment Present
Where an HCLA plaintiff sought to add a nurse practitioner’s supervising doctor and employer more than three years after the negligent act occurred, and plaintiff could not show that the new defendants...
View ArticleFall Off Examination Table Within Health Care Liability Act
Plaintiff’s allegation that the examination table provided during a doctor’s appointment was unsafe fell under the Health Care Liability Act (HCLA) and was thus subject to dismissal due to plaintiff’s...
View ArticlePharmacy cannot use seller shield defense in health care liability case.
When a complaint asserts a health care liability (formerly known as “medical malpractice”) claim against a pharmacy and/or pharmacist, the pharmacist defendants are “barred from asserting the...
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