Ann W. Latner, JD

Medical costs continue to rise even though records show that both the frequency of malpractice payments and the amounts paid out have dropped every single year for the past decade.

A husband and wife were ordered to pay the money to cover a defendant hospital’s legal fees, transportation expenses, and other costs.

Medical associations claimed that from 2009 to 2011, their members were overcharged because state officials did not calculate assessments properly.

A surgeon told a jury that he was on staff at Barnes-Jewish Hospital without restrictions despite the fact that his surgical privileges had been revoked.

Non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases were capped at $250,000 in 1975, and it has not been raised since.

Panel of a retired judge, a physician, and a lawyer had sided with the defendant physician, but a jury, after hearing all the evidence, found for the plaintiff.

Their lawsuits are based on a provision in the law that allows defense attorneys to obtain information about a plaintiff patient from subsequent healthcare providers.

Medical experts who testify in medical malpractice cases will now need to be the same specialty as the physician who is the defendant in the case.