By the middle of the first decade of this century, Tennessee was declared a medical liability "crisis state" by the American Medical Association.

Lawyers and legislators are anxiously awaiting decisions on two cases in Georgia that may affect the state's tort reforms.

According to the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF), a "judicial hellhole" is a place where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, gen­erally against defendants in civil lawsuits.

The American Association for Justice, a trial lawyers group, has launched a grass roots campaign to highlight the issue of medical errors and the importance of malpractice litigation.

Ninety-four percent of medical liability insurance premiums remained the same or dropped in price in 2009, according to the annual Medical Liability Monitor survey, which polls insurance companies to track this information.

An Arizona medical malpractice reform bill, which was signed into law last summer and went into effect recently, makes it harder for patients to sue hospitals, emergency room physicians, on-call specialists, and other hospital personnel involved in providing emergency treatment.

Internal medicine residents who report higher levels of fatigue and emotional distress also report higher levels of major medical errors, according to a recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, (2009;302:1294-1300).

Four state supreme courts are set to decide whether to do away with caps on non-economic damages in malpractice cases.

The Washington State Supreme Court has overturned the state's certificate of merit requirement for malpractice suits.

Honesty really is the best policy, especially when it comes to taking responsibility and avoiding lawsuits. That is what the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) discovered after it launched an innovative program in 2002.