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News in brief - April 28, 2003

AAMC sues test-prep company

The Assn. of American Medical Colleges is suing the Princeton Review for copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets and fraud.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in March, accuses the Princeton Review of sending its employees to take the MCAT with the intent of memorizing test questions and passing them on to company instructors. According to the lawsuit, the company then passes that information on to students, who pay $1,400 for help preparing for the exam.

The Princeton Review responded, saying its employees take the MCAT only to learn what they can to be better instructors, not to memorize the exam's content.

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Pa. liability task force makes recommendations

A task force formed by Gov. Edward G. Rendell to look at Pennsylvania's medical liability insurance problem has recommended that the state's trauma centers should have qualified immunity from medical malpractice lawsuits and that the state's catastrophic fund should be required to participate in mediation when claims are mediated instead of litigated.

The task force didn't recommend limits on noneconomic damage caps, however. Instead, it said that damage caps should be studied, and it laid out arguments for and against them.

The report also called for the immediate study of creating a medical liability court and limiting attorney fees.

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ACP officers installed

New officers of the American College of Physicians were installed for 2003-04 during the group's annual session in San Diego this month.

They are:

• President, Munsey S. Wheby, MD, professor of medicine and senior associate dean at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Va.
• President-elect, Charles K. Francis, MD, president of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles.
• Chair, board of regents, Mary T. Herald, MD, a Westfield, N.J., internist and endocrinologist.
• Chair-elect, board of regents, Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH, director of the Center for Health Studies at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle.
• Chair, board of governors, Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, of Winchester, Va.
• Chair-elect, board of governors, Frederick E. Turton, MD, a Sarasota, Fla., internist.

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