CRNA independent practice upheld: Montana Supreme Court affirms physician supervision not required for CRNAs.
In a Nov. 6, 2007 opinion, the Supreme Court of the State of Montana affirmed that Montana state law does not require nurse anesthetists to be supervised by physicians. This confirmed the validity of Montana's opt-out of the federal Medicare and Medicaid supervision requirement in 2004. One of the...

Different standards in med. mal. cases unconstitutional.
CASE ON POINT: Seisinger v. Siebel, 2008 AZ (06/17/2008) -AZ CASE FACTS: In August 2004, Laura Seisinger filed a complaint against Dr. Scott Siebel alleging that he committed medical malpractice when he administered a spinal epidural to her. Thereafter, Dr. Seisinger disclosed in discovery that his expert...

Theobald v. University of Cincinnati - reforming medical malpractice in Ohio: a survey of state laws and policy impacts.
I. INTRODUCTION II. THEOBALD V. UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI A. Theobald's Facts B. Theobald's Posture C. Theobald's Opinion and Holding III. HISTORY OF MEDICAL PRACTITIONER-STATE EMPLOYEE IMMUNITY CASE LAW IV. COMPARING THEOBALD TO OTHER JURISDICTIONS A. Comparing Ohio and Other "General Statute" States. B. Comparing Ohio and Common Law States...

Aiming for fair and accurate: a conflict of interest must be considered in judicial review. But how?
Most group disability policies are governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Although ERISA does not prescribe a standard of judicial review for benefits decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed this issue almost 20 years ago in Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Bruch. ...

Business briefs.
COLUMN: Business briefs Telegram & Gazette Bloomberg Index Central Massachusetts -8.59 139.56 Volume: 83,501,271 Up: 4 Down: 20 Unchanged: 5 Gainer: Caliper Life Sciences Inc. $2.41 +$.30 (volume of...

Opioid analgesic, respiratory depression: court upholds nursing negligence lawsuit.
The Court of Appeals of Texas ruled the parents had grounds to sue the hospital and eight nurses named individually in the lawsuit for the death of their sixteen year-old daughter. Sequence of Events The patient was seen in her primary care physician's office for...

Epidural morphine: wrongful death lawsuit faults early discharge from the hospital.
The forty-nine year-old male patient was sent home from the hospital the same evening after umbilical hernia repair, abdominoplasty and liposuction. He suffered a fat embolism that night and died at home. His family sued the surgeon, the certified registered nurse anesthetist, two staff nurses and the...

Insurers seek credit-score OK.
Insurers are preparing to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court after a state appellate court ruled to prohibit credit-based insurance scoring in underwriting. The appellate decision reversed a lower court ruling allowing the use of what the industry calls a valuable and accurate underwriting tool. ...

EWEB, employees settle lawsuits.
Byline: Karen McCowan The Register-Guard The Eugene Water & Electric Board will pay more than $3 million in retirement benefits to hundreds of current and former employees under a settlement of two lawsuits approved Tuesday by Lane Circuit Court Judge Charles Carlson. Six EWEB retirees...

Consumer ability to skip ads could get easier.
NEW YORK --A recent decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for New York could make it easier for viewers to skip ads on television, reported AdAge.com. The court overturned a ruling that had blocked Cablevision--and by extension, other cable providers--from making use of a network DVR...