Take it up with the legislature.

Are you arguing that the loophole should remain?

I would think the best course of action would be to correct the loophole and maybe extend the statute of limitations.

I guess thats because, “they can.”

Do you really think 1 year is appropriate? Considering the time it takes to figure out if you were injured in the first place, the time to find an attorney, request the records, and then find an expert to review it?

“Second, I have to pay malpractice insurance premiums. As long as a case hangs over my head, I will be paying higher rates.”

So your insurer charges you more regardless of how much they earned on your premiums previously, or how much they spend on defending this particular case? What insurer do you use? Sounds like your problem is with how your rates are determined.

“Pending complaints cost docs money. Lots and lots of it. And guess what, to pay the cost I jack the price of an office visit on you. Think about that next time you pay a medical bill, hot shot.”

Only if I’m private pay. And as the incessant posts indicate here, you don’t really set the charges for office visits – those were set when you signed your contract with my insurer. Hot shot.

” Civil court doesn’t even do patients justice. If it takes an injured patient 10 years to get his money, who is going to pay the bills in the meantime? I can’t believe patients put up with the slowness of the system either, which seems to serve the purposes of attorneys and no one else.”

Your 10 years is clearly an exaggeration, but 2-4 is probably accurate. Of course, your complaint here is false, because you’re not proposing to pay anyone quicker, nor is your insurer. Have you ever pushed your insurer to move a case faster?

If you think about it, that would serve YOUR INSURER more than anyone because they still have the money. The plaintiff’s attorney is not being compensated for his time, and is actually out money. The defense attorney gets paid monthly. Again, the beneficiary is YOUR INSURER, who continues to make money on your premium. Think about it, hot shot.

“And one last thing, in Louisiana there is no need to do pre-suit discovery. Discovery is carried out by a panel of medical experts appointed by the legal system to determine if the case has merit.”

The defense and plaintiff don’t hire their own experts? They don’t review the medical records themselves? Don’t take physician depositions? I’ll confess to not being knowledgeable about Louisiana law, as it is based on the Napoleonic Code, rather than English Common Law like the rest of the states. I strongly doubt that the case just goes away – I would bet that it’s loser pays from there on out. But I could be wrong on that point.

If I really, truly have hurt a patient, I want that patient to get some kind of compensation. If I do wrong, I am willing to own up to it.

The statute of limitations exists for two reasons. First, it helps guarantee a fair trial because, as time goes on, eyewitnesses age, die, move on, or forget. Records are thrown away or lost. The time to hash out a problem is right after it happened. The longer we wait the fewer facts will be in evidence. It is entirely fair for me to insist that if I am accused of wrongdoing, that the accusers come out of the shadows and present their case. If you have a complaint, out with it. If not, go away. But don’t tell me I have to wait 5 years for you to make up your mind.

Second, I have to pay malpractice insurance premiums. As long as a case hangs over my head, I will be paying higher rates. I can assure you that this case is bogus — if it were not, they would have me in court already. But I am paying a higher cost of insurance as long as this hangs around.

Somehow I bet that if you had a bogus traffic charge on your driving record that was doubling your insurance payments, you would be pretty hot to get it off.

Pending complaints cost docs money. Lots and lots of it. And guess what, to pay the cost I jack the price of an office visit on you. Think about that next time you pay a medical bill, hot shot.

If it is true there is no such thing as a speedy trial right in civil law, that is all the more reason to get rid of civil courts altogether. If a court system can’t render a fair judgment in 2 years, why would it be able to do so in 10? Civil court doesn’t even do patients justice. If it takes an injured patient 10 years to get his money, who is going to pay the bills in the meantime? I can’t believe patients put up with the slowness of the system either, which seems to serve the purposes of attorneys and no one else.

As for due process, maybe I do not undertand the term legally, but I think it means that if a legal action has been brought against me that it will be taken up by the courts. Here, a legal complaint has been brought against me, but I am advised by my attorney that I can do nothing about it until the complaintant pays the court fee. In other words, I am legally accused, but an disallowed from defending myself.

And one last thing, in Louisiana there is no need to do pre-suit discovery. Discovery is carried out by a panel of medical experts appointed by the legal system to determine if the case has merit. In Louisiana, the cost of this review panel is borne by the defendant. In other words, all the attorney has to do is type up a complaint, and the medical review panel handles all the discovery for him. That is why there are so many medmal cases in Louisiana. It costs almost nothing to file one, and no pre-filing discovery is required. None at all.

If the medical review panel finds that case has no merit, the case is dropped by the plaintiff, again at no cost.

Do you think that a dr. should worry forever about someone he treated years ago may one day sue him? it’s ridiculous for these Drs. to have to go through this.

Good luck and god bless.

I’ll give you a hint: loophole.

Good luck and god bless.

What’s his bitch? It’s already the shortest statute of limitations of all civil cases, which severely limits the amount of time to do pre-suit discovery.