Earlier this week a jury awarded $15.8 million dollars against Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) in a wrongful death action for negligently misreading two pap smear slides that showed evidence of cervical cancer. The award was made to the family of a 37 year-old woman who died of cervical cancer after the misreads leaving behind her husband and two daughters.
Saving Lives, Saving Costs Act
Earlier last month, United States Representatives Andy Barr of Kentucky and Ami Bera, MD, of California introduced legislation they entitled "Saving Lives, Saving Costs Act." Supporters of this measure have packaged it as a tool to protect patient safety. In fact, the proposed law is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to prevent Georgia residents from using the Georgia court system to seek damages when injured as a result of medical malpractice. The proposed legislation would also allow the medical community to act as the ultimate fox guarding the hen house.
