A patient who goes to the emergency room, if conscious, is mostly concerned with getting care, not with untangling the contractual relationship between the hospital and the doctors who work there. And yet the characterization of the hospital-doctor relationship has profound implications for a patient’s ability to recover against the hospital for negligent treatment. This case asks us to decide when a hospital may be liable for the negligence of a doctor working in, but not as an employee of, a hospital in its emergency room.
Patents are governed by a unique, highly specialized body of law. Patent attorneys must pass a special patent bar exam and register with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and patent appeals are handled almost exclusively by a specialized court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On top of that, “The U.S.
“[N]early half of primary care physicians in group practices and more than a third of physicians employed at hospitals or free-standing clinics [are] bound by a noncompete agreement. The prevalence of noncompete agreements has increased as more doctors are now employed by hospitals or large health systems, which have been steadily buying up group medical practices . . . .”
Radiology is the branch of medicine that uses imaging technology to diagnose (diagnostic radiology) and treat (interventional radiology) diseases and conditions.
Diagnostic radiology encompasses several subspecialties, each focusing on specific imaging techniques or areas of the body. Some common subspecialties include:
Neuroradiology: Neuroradiologists focus on imaging the brain, spinal cord, head and neck. They interpret images from techniques such as MRI, CT and angiography to diagnose conditions like strokes, tumors, cerebral trauma and degenerative diseases.
In a recent post, https://www.videntpartners.com/blog/2023/medical-institutional-standard-care-and-liability-breach-independent-respondeat-superior, I discussed a case involving the death of a prisoner for lack of timely emergency treatment. Windhurst v.
A forensic engineer is a professional who applies engineering principles and expertise to investigate and analyze a wide variety of incidents, accidents and failures. The goal of forensic engineering is to determine the root cause of an event, often for legal or insurance purposes. Forensic engineers may work on cases involving structural failures, industrial accidents, transportation accidents, product defects, fires, and many more.
The responsibilities of a forensic engineer include:
This case is interesting for three reasons: The plaintiff engaged the wrong kind of expert; despite that fact, the jury returned a plaintiff’s verdict, which was reversed on appeal; and the opinion provides a useful explanation, which I have not seen before, of what makes an expert’s opinion “speculative, conclusory, and without a proper evidentiary foundation.”
You can’t make this stuff up. From The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/12/emoji-corporate-lawsuits-court/676967/, 12/30/2023.
A comprehensive suicide prevention program for schools has three components: prevention, intervention, and postvention. My posts about the first two are at https://www.videntpartners.com/blog/2023/youth-suicide-prevention-and-competent-school-community and https://www.videntpartners.com/blog/2023/suicide-intervention-schools. Postvention refers to responding or being prepared to respond to suicid
Human factors experts can play a valuable role in personal injury lawsuits by explaining how a wide variety of factors may have contributed to an injury-causing incident. Here are some ways a human factors expert can assist trial attorneys:
1. Incident Reconstruction: Human factors experts can analyze the circumstances surrounding the incident and reconstruct how the injury occurred. They may consider factors such as environmental conditions, user or driver behavior, and product or road design to determine if any design flaws or human errors played a role.
