Medical Malpractice

CLARIFICATION: During a Sept. 1 town hall meeting about health care, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer said that Congress would look "very seriously" at curbing medical malpractice lawsuits in order to "prevent specious suits," and pointed out that states have addressed the issue by adopting a "cap" on pain and suffering awards, but he did not specifically say that health care legislation now under consideration would include such caps. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error. WALDORF - -House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday night that Congress is likely to consider caps on medical lawsuits as part of its health care overhaul deliberations, but stopped short of assuring his Southern Maryland constituents that he would push for changes in malpractice awards.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- St. Paul Cos.' first-quarter earnings fell 3.7 percent, as the property and casualty insurer suffered an increase in weather-related and malpractice insurance claims.Profit excluding gains from investment sales fell to $125.4 million, or $1.36 a share, from $130.2 million, or $1.43, a year earlier, the company said yesterday.The latest quarterly earnings were below the $1.48 expected by analysts surveyed by IBES International Inc.The insurer said claims against its medical malpractice policies were more costly than expected during the quarter.

LOS ANGELES -- William H. Ginsburg's specialty is medical malpractice, not criminal defense, and he became Monica Lewinsky's lawyer because of old family friendship, not professional expertise. But he is no stranger to high-profile cases and tense depositions."People who feel obliged to share everything they know in answer to a question really are poor witnesses," Ginsburg wrote in a 1990 article, "Preparing Depositions," for a legal publication called For the Defense."A technique sometimes used by plaintiffs' lawyers to attempt to prod a witness to volunteer information is the 'pregnant pause,' " Ginsburg wrote.

Attorneys in a Howard County courtroom are battling over a question that medical and educational professionals wrestle with: how best to rear a mentally impaired child.The issue is central to a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the Hagerstown parents of a 3-year-old child with Down syndrome who are asking that a doctor and a Columbia medical practice pay the costs of raising the boy. Joyce and Dan Shull, former Savage residents, allege they were never told she faced a high risk of having a child with the genetic defect and would have aborted the fetus had they known.

Attorneys in a Howard County courtroom are battling over a question that medical and educational professionals wrestle with: how best to rear a mentally impaired child.The issue is central to a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the Hagerstown parents of a 3-year-old child with Down syndrome who are asking that a doctor and a Columbia medical practice pay the costs of raising the boy. Joyce and Dan Shull, former Savage residents, allege they were never told she faced a high risk of having a child with the genetic defect and would have aborted the fetus had they known.

A baby who became ill after it was mistakenly given morphine at Anne Arundel Medical Center was sent home during the weekend, leaving one of the three newborns from the Jan. 31 incident in the critical-care nursery.The baby went home Saturday and is "A-OK," said Carolyn Shenk, a spokeswoman for the Annapolis hospital. The newborn, which the hospital has declined to identify in any way, had been hospitalized in stable condition since the incident.The first baby was sent home Feb. 6. The third baby remains in stable condition and will be hospitalized for several more months because it was premature and below normal birth weight, Ms. Shenk said.

A baby who became ill after it was mistakenly given morphine at Anne Arundel Medical Center was sent home during the weekend, leaving one of the three newborns from the Jan. 31 incident in the critical-care nursery.The baby went home Saturday and is "A-OK," said Carolyn Shenk, a spokeswoman for the Annapolis hospital.The newborn, which the hospital has declined to identify in any way, had been hospitalized in stable condition since the incident.The first baby was sent home Feb. 6. The third baby remains in stable condition and will be hospitalized for several more months because it was premature and below normal birth weight, Ms. Shenk said.

WASHINGTON -- After two weeks of contentious negotiations to fashion a measure intended to limit the number of civil lawsuits in the nation, the Senate settled yesterday on a bill remarkably like the relatively narrow measure it took up when the process began.In a voice vote, the Senate approved an amendment that would limit the amount of punitive damages that juries may award, but only in cases involving faulty products. The Senate is expected to pass the measure today.If the Senate bill passes, it would mean that for the first time both houses of Congress have agreed to set nationwide standards in some lawsuits brought to recover damages for civil wrongs.

Marvin Ellin, one of Baltimore's most visible medical malpractice lawyers, finds himself on the other end of a malpractice lawsuit in Baltimore County Circuit Court.The civil suit against Mr. Ellin was filed by the husband and four children of Cherie M. Bishop, 53, of Middle River, who died 24 hours after entering a Delaware hospital in June 1986.The family accuses Mr. Ellin of legal malpractice for not filing a claim against the hospital within Delaware's two-year time limit.In pretrial rulings Monday, Judge Thomas J. Bollinger said the jury first must decide whether the family has a valid claim for medical malpractice against the hospital.

Poor RecordPeter A. Jay's illogical Aug. 21 column notwithstanding, a vote for a Republican candidate for governor this year should not be construed in any way as an act of environmentalism.Mr. Jay's credentials as a protector of the earth simply do not automatically credential his attack on fellow columnist Tom Horton's previous well-reasoned analysis of gubernatorial candidates.Mr. Jay offers no facts -- because indeed there are none -- that would substantiate any claim to serious environmentalism by any of the potential Republican nominees.

The cancer that would eventually claim the life of Richard H. Semsker might have been excised more than a decade ago when it was only a small mole growing on his back. But for various reasons, the melanoma was left untouched by his doctors for years, and the cancer eventually spread to his brain. The 47-year-old Montgomery County attorney died two years ago this week. Next month, oral arguments in the appeal of the $5.8 million malpractice verdict that arose from Mr. Semsker's death will be heard the Maryland Court of Appeals, and the outcome of the case could rock the medical malpractice insurance industry in this state.

CLARIFICATION: During a Sept. 1 town hall meeting about health care, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer said that Congress would look "very seriously" at curbing medical malpractice lawsuits in order to "prevent specious suits," and pointed out that states have addressed the issue by adopting a "cap" on pain and suffering awards, but he did not specifically say that health care legislation now under consideration would include such caps. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error. WALDORF - -House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday night that Congress is likely to consider caps on medical lawsuits as part of its health care overhaul deliberations, but stopped short of assuring his Southern Maryland constituents that he would push for changes in malpractice awards.

Damage caps protect payers I oppose the bills before the Assembly that would eliminate the cap on "pain and suffering" awards in medical malpractice lawsuits ("Attack of the trial lawyers," editorial, Feb. 17). I am a small business owner who provides my employees complete health care insurance. That's a significant cost, but it's important to provide good benefits to attract and keep quality employees. I have looked closely at these bills, and I don't see how they would reduce my costs or improve the quality of care for my employees.

Just because medical malpractice insurance rates have stabilized - and even gone down a bit for many doctors - doesn't mean it's time for Maryland to roll back hard-fought caps on noneconomic damages. But that's exactly what a group of lawmakers is attempting to do. After all, it was just five years ago that rising malpractice costs were thought to be a crisis for the state, forcing doctors out of business and limiting access to quality medical care, especially in rural areas. Late in 2004, the General Assembly approved a package of reforms that included limiting how much plaintiffs and their lawyers could receive for what is often referred to as pain and suffering.

Maryland Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler would like to see the amount that doctors pay out of pocket for medical malpractice insurance kept as low as possible. So would Medical Mutual, the physician-owned company that is by far the state's largest malpractice insurer. But somehow the two are deeply at odds over how to accomplish this. At stake is $68.6 million that Medical Mutual wants to declare as a dividend. The company's proposal calls for $24 million to be distributed to current policyholders as a credit against their 2008 renewal, with the balance returned to the state to offset a taxpayer-financed premium subsidy.

The Maryland Insurance Administration blocked yesterday plans by the state's largest medical malpractice insurer to pay a nearly $69 million dividend, declaring that it will hold a hearing to decide how much money the state - as opposed to doctors - should get. The order thrusts medical malpractice insurance back into the spotlight less than three years after a special, and contentious, legislative session was called to address skyrocketing premiums, which...

While Gov. Martin O'Malley says he'd like to solve Maryland's budget problems in a special General Assembly session this fall, he appears to have learned a lesson from his predecessor's term: Don't do it unless you've got a solid deal in place first. The idea that a special session is not the place to hash out details or come to a compromise is an Annapolis cliche, but it was proved when then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. called lawmakers back to work on medical malpractice reform and to protect customers from BGE electric rate increases.

John Francis King Sr., a retired Baltimore medical malpractice defense lawyer, died Wednesday of Alzheimer's disease at College Manor nursing home in Lutherville. The former Federal Hill and Ruxton resident was 82. Mr. King was born and raised in Waynesboro, Pa., and graduated in 1943 from Mercersburg Academy. He served as a signalman in the Navy in the Atlantic from 1943 until 1945. After the war, he earned his bachelor's degree from Dickinson College and his law degree in 1950 from Georgetown University.

In one of the key political races in Maryland this fall, House Speaker Michael E. Busch and two other Democrats face a challenge from three upstart Republicans looking to topple one of the state's most powerful -- and polarizing -- political leaders. Hard-charging newcomers Ron George, an Annapolis jeweler and Innkeeper; Dr. Ron Elfenbein, a doctor practicing in Baltimore; and Andy Smarick, head of a Washington nonprofit that promotes charter schools, technically are running for any of the three House of Delegates seats in District 30. But, saying they sense Busch is vulnerable, the Republican candidates are knocking on thousands of voters' doors -- accompanied last weekend by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. -- trying to knock down a giant in state politics.

Conflict of interest blocks tort reform The Sun's article "Governor's supporters cool their heels in Annapolis" (March 2) notes that state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chairman Brian E. Frosh "questioned whether Maryland is really in a medical malpractice crisis." That observation was made by a legislator with an obvious conflict of interest - as a plaintiff's trial lawyer whose law firm conducts medical malpractice lawsuits. For years, Mr. Frosh and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller have blocked oversight and action by the General Assembly on litigation reform in the medical malpractice insurance crisis that is driving competent, dedicated physicians out of practice.