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In a series of articles, the Irish Independent underscores that the varying quality of radiologists in detecting breast cancer varies wildly from hospital to hospital is not a uniquely Maryland or American phenomenon. A radiologist investing what appears to be a breast cancer misdiagnosis epidemic in some hospitals in Ireland found after reviewing 3,000 mammograms that the breast cancer misdiagnosis rate at Portlaoise Hospital was six times higher than in the best hospitals in Ireland. Apparently, the breast cancer misdiagnosis rate at this hospital was 6% which is ridiculously high.

This underscores how important it is to have radiologists who know how to properly read mammograms and have equipment that gives you the best possible reading.

The following are a few breast cancer misdiagnosis verdicts and settlements:

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Sometimes medical malpractice clients assume that they have a “slam dunk case” when they learn that there has been disciplinary action by the Maryland Board of Physicians.

But under Maryland law, specifically § 14-410(a) of the Maryland Health Occupations Article, minutes or notes taken in the course of determining the denial, limitation, reduction, or termination of the employment contract of any physician in an alternative health system are not subject to review or discovery by any person nor are any finding made by the Board subject to subpoena or discovery.

In other words, these documents or findings from the medical board are not only inadmissible but are not even discoverable. This may seem unfair from the patient’s perspective. For good reason, the findings of the medical board and the doctor’s statements or omissions might apply to the patient’s medical malpractice lawyer’s effort to support the claim against a negligent doctor.

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USA Today has a good article about a nurse who was fired because her husband is a medical malpractice lawyer in Texas. Wait, strike that, the hospital she worked for assumed he was a medical malpractice lawyer. He is not.

Many are surprised to hear such a species still exists in Texas anyway, given its Draconian medical malpractice damage caps. But this story highlights a new trend of many doctors refusing care to medical malpractice lawyers, their families, and employees.

Some medical malpractice lawyers – and many doctors – see the refusal of doctors to provide medical treatment to patients seeking care as contrary to the Hippocratic oath, in which new doctors vow to appreciate “special obligations to all my fellow human beings.”

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The president of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association, Wayne M. Willoughby, writes an excellent response in the Baltimore Sun to a Maryland doctor’s editorial arguing that we have a problem with frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits in Maryland.

Take whatever side you want on the medical malpractice tort reform issues, but it is impossible to argue that we have a problem with frivolous malpractice cases in Maryland. The Certificate of Merit requirement coupled with the financial cost of bringing a malpractice case does away with 99% of cases that should not be filed. I’m not saying that every malpractice case in Maryland should be won by the plaintiffs. That is simply not true. But tort reform advocates use “frivolous” frivolously because they know it is a good buzz word. But it is simply not a problem in Maryland.

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I saw California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Meet the Press shortly after Tim Russert’s death. I’ve never been a huge fan but his moderate views and understanding of the complexity of the issues facing California were fairly impressive. (Was the bar set low?)

Anyway, the Terminator is on the wrong side of insurance reimbursements for doctors in California. His administration intends to appeal an appeals court ruling from last week, halting a 10% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursement rates to doctors.

I realize that we have a problem with this country with entitlements. But if you are of the mindset that we have to reduce entitlements, we have to do it head-on as opposed to nickel and diming doctors.

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I found a Maryland Law Review article today that discusses what precipitated the birth Medical Mutual, the insurance company that insurers most Maryland doctors.

In 1974, the malpractice carrier for eighty-five percent was not Medical Mutual but St. Paul who informed doctors that because the Insurance Commissioner had refused the commissioner’s request to increase medical malpractice insurance rates, it would stop selling new malpractice policies in Maryland.

In response, the General Assembly created the Medical Mutual to provide malpractice insurance to Maryland health care providers. I had no idea that a previous “malpractice crisis” (in quotes because I’m always skeptical) spawned Medical Mutual while I was in elementary school.

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One question you will hear Maryland medical malpractice lawyers asking each other is: do you need to file in health claims arbitration if the case if you filed in federal court? It is a good question because it is a tough question whether under the Erie Doctrine, Maryland’s health claims arbitration is “substantive” or “procedural.”

While the analysis is tricky, the answer is clear. In Davison v. Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Inc., 462 F. Supp. 778 (1978), the court found that District Court for the District of Maryland held that mandatory arbitration of Maryland medical malpractice lawsuits is a prerequisite to trial.

So if you have a federal medical malpractice case – usually a diversity case in a jurisdiction where you are not excited about the potential jurors – you still need to begin down the Maryland Health Claims Arbitration path.

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More evidence doctors are focusing on insurance companies instead of medical malpractice lawyers. The American Medical Association has a new campaign called “the Cure for Claims.” Their mission: to force/encourage health insurers to pay claims quickly.

The AMA claims that $210 billion is added to the cost of health care because insurance companies do not pay claims in a timely manner. I’m doubting the $210 billion but I get the point. Look, medical malpractice lawyers in Maryland and around the country are nodding their heads because they know how difficult insurance companies can be. They business goal is to take in premiums and deny claims. (That line is flip and at times unfair but you get the point.)

For all of the nonsense about medical malpractice tort reform, doctors are now realizing that the real way to increase their profits and their salaries is to take on the insurance companies.

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As the Internet is cluttered with personal information, there is increasing talk in legal journals about using blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking Web sites, to learn more about potential jurors. The Internet provides such a rich resource of information about potential and even already seated jurors.

The problem in Maryland medical malpractice lawyers using this kind of resource is that it is very difficult logistically. Once the jury walks into the room, your computer is facing the jurors. There really is no time under Maryland’s quick voir dire selection to pass the juror’s information along. Once a jury is already seated, I think it is really hard to find information about that juror to tailor your opening or closing statements around a particular juror.