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Tort reforms facing legal challenges in three states
In contrast with the federal government—where a House-passed medical liability reform bill languishes in the Senate—many states have found success enacting tort reforms that better serve patients and physicians. But court cases are challenging reforms in place in at least three states.
In Maryland and Michigan, plaintiffs' attorneys are using what is described as "artful pleading" to skirt pre-trial measures that assess the merits of a complaint and its worthiness for going to court. And in Kentucky, a suit has challenged the constitutionality of its new law authorizing medical review boards to assess the merits of a complaint.
The Litigation Center of the American Medical Association has filed amicus briefs in the Maryland and Michigan cases in which patients sued for injuries incurred after falling. By claiming ordinary negligence instead of medical malpractice, the plaintiffs bypassed review processes.
The cases have gone through the trial and appellate courts and are now before the high court in both states.
Read more at AMA Wire.
Suit seeks full VA coverage of transgender vets' gender dysphoria
President Donald Trump last month directed the Pentagon to stop recruiting openly transgender people to serve in the military, and Defense Secretary James Mattis today said he will appoint an expert panel to determine whether to allow trans members currently enlisted to continue their service. Already, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit challenging the president's memorandum on equal-protection and substantive due process grounds.
After the president initially tweeted his intention to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military, the AMA issued a statement saying "there is no medically valid reason" for such action.
Similarly, the AMA has joined an amicus brief with several other health care-related organizations in support of transgender veterans seeking a rule change that would amend or repeal the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) policy of not covering sex-reassignment surgery (SRS) for veterans with gender dysphoria.
"AMA policy also supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria as recommended by the patient's physician," AMA President David O. Barbe, MD, said in the Association's response to the president's tweets. "According to the Rand study on the impact of transgender individuals in the military, the financial cost is a rounding error in the defense budget and should not be used as an excuse to deny patriotic Americans an opportunity to serve their country. We should be honoring their service—not trying to end it."
Another AMA policy affirms that "transgender service members be provided care as determined by patient and physician according to the same medical standards that apply to non-transgender personnel." Together, these policies were included in the amicus brief the AMA joined in the case seeking the VA rule change.
The plaintiffs in the case are transgender veterans Dee Fulcher, a former Marine sergeant, and Giuliano Silva, a former member of the Army, and the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA), an organization formed in 2003 that now has some 2,200 members.
Read more at AMA Wire.
