Deposition Tip

When taking an expert's deposition, consider using actual video clips from other witnesses, instead of merely reading or paraphrasing those witnesses' testimony. For example, if you are deposing a nursing expert, play clips of the actual nurses describing their care and interactions with the patient. The expert can then comment on the testimony. This allows the jurors to see the connection between the fact witness and the expert witness. You can easily make these clips with litigation software and set up a monitor in the deposition room.

Is Laser Hair Removal Health Care? We’ll Have to Wait and See…

From Don Cruse's Supreme Court of Texas blog:

The Ghazali laser-hair-removal case is done

The Court had set Basith Ghazali, M.D. v. Brown, No. 10-0232 for oral argument in September. The case asked how the Texas medical-malpractice statute applied to laser hair removal — an issue on which the Dallas Court has also weighed in.

When argument day came, the parties asked the Court to postpone the argument pending a possible settlement. Today, the Court granted the parties' joint request to dismiss the case.

New Rules for Permissive Interlocutory Appeals; MSJ on Statute of Limitations?

Don Cruse, who writes the SCOTX blog, has a good discussion of the new rules for permissive interlocutory appeals.

I don't know how often we will have occasion to use this procedure in medical malpractice cases. One scenario that comes to mind is a Motion for Summary Judgment based on the statute of limitations. It's a question of law and early resolution of the issue could result in termination of the litigation. It seems that you could make a case that resolving whether the SOL had lapsed was an issue that should be decided on an interlocutory basis, possibly avoiding preparing and trying an entire case only to have the whole thing reversed on appeal.

Supreme Court Rules
SCOTX blog entry

HB 274 signed into law

Here's a link to the final version of the new laws on expedited dismissals, loser pays, and designation of responsible third parties.

HB 274.

Texas Physicians Urge Governor to Sign Medical Board Changes

Texas Physicians Urge Governor to Sign Medical Board Changes

Important changes included in the three bills do the following:

• Prohibit the filing of all anonymous complaints;
• Require the board to notify the physician when insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, or third-party administrators file a complaint;
• Increase the time for a physician to respond to a complaint notice from 30 days to 45 days;
• Allow TMB to require a remedial action plan rather than impose a fine for a minor administrative violation;
• Allow physicians to tape the proceedings of a TMB informal settlement conference;
• Institute a seven-year statute of limitations on bringing a disciplinary action, mirroring the TMB rule on how long doctors need to keep a patient’s medical record; and
• Bind TMB to the ruling of an administrative law judge in a proceeding supervised by the State Office of Administrative Hearings.