Professional Liability

Hospitals, long-term care facilities, medical groups and corporations as well as physicians and their insurers require timely, aggressive and thoughtful representation when claims are presented for health care related professional liability (medical malpractice). The 2003 tort reform initiative provided some level of protection to the health care industry in the form of statutory caps on damages in certain cases, inadmissibility of certain state investigation materials and assurances that claims are presented by plaintiffs and their counsel with appropriate expert witness support.

Attorneys at Ulmer & Berne LLP have been involved in the defense and risk management of medical and long-term care claims and lawsuits on behalf of self-insured hospitals, long-term care facilities and consortiums, physicians and insurers of physicians for more than 20 years. We provide a wide array of services in this field ranging from pre-suit consultation and risk management, to litigation management of lawsuits through trial and appeal. In the past several years, attorneys in this practice group have tried dozens of jury trials on behalf of hospitals, physicians and long-term care facilities and have also managed claims where a client is more risk-averse. Our attorneys have established a reputation in the legal and medical communities as providing diverse and client-need based services throughout the Northern and Central counties in Ohio.

In addition, the Firm has represented a number of physicians and health care facilities in connection with medical staff disputes arising out of the revocation or limitation of privileges to practice medicine as a result of allegations of inability to cooperate with others and quality of care concerns.  This rather specialized practice has included representation through the peer review process, internal appeals and preliminary and permanent injunction proceedings in several courts throughout the State of Ohio and the federal system through the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

We have also represented physicians, private practice groups and hospitals in connection with unfair competition disputes and alleged violations of covenants not to compete. Furthermore, we have been requested to defend a number of attorneys and law firms in connection with legal malpractice claims.

Finally, our extensive and very experienced construction litigation group has successfully represented owners, architects, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers in a multitude of construction disputes.  Representative examples of matters recently handled by the Firm include:

  • RTA Rail Rehabilitation and Rapid Transit Stations (public owner)
  • ASHTA Chemicals Potcarb Plant (private owner)
  • Cleveland Hopkins Airport Garage (engineer) and Deicing Facility (general contractor)
  • Cuyahoga County Jail II (architect)
  • Winner Steel New Galvanizing Line No. 2 (owner)
  • Severance Hall Renovation (design team)
  • Dayton Daily News Production Facility (design team)
  • U.S. District Courthouse (Cleveland) (electrical prime)
  • Ohio Turnpike Service Plazas (design team)
  • ODOT Bridge Construction (architect/structural engineer)
  • Cleveland Metroparks Retaining Walls (geotechnical engineer/architect)
  • School Construction (public owners and architects)
  • Hospital buildings (nonprofit owner and architects)
  • Wall and pile foundation failures (structural and geotechnical engineers)
Attorneys
Paul R. Harris
Elizabeth A. Harvey
Jennifer Snyder Heis
Elise Balkin Ice
Jessica K. Iwler
Marvin L. Karp
Murray K. Lenson
Stephen C. Merriam
Cash H. Mischka
Lawrence D. Pollack
F. Thomas Vickers

 

Clients

 

Representative Experience
Obtained unanimous defense verdict after trial of wrongful death lawsuit against Family Practice physician where plaintiff alleged failure to timely diagnose, work-up and treat unstable angina and severe coronary artery disease leading to the death of the decedent within six hours of his office visit with the physician.  The decedent presented to his primary care provider with complaints of crescendo chest pain with exertion, shortness of breath and with an acceleration of symptoms over the previous three weeks.  Patient had a history of GERD and had some vague symptoms by history consistent with GERD allowing the physician to consider a GI etiology as his number one differential diagnosis. 

Prevailed in the Court of Appeals and retained summary judgment disposition of a products liability case involving a defendant which manufactured industrial window shade systems.  Plaintiff/appellant alleged that the phenol in the shade system off-gassed into a confined work area causing serious and permanent neurological injury and dysfunction; plaintiff incurred in excess of $100,000 in medical bills and was unable to return to work.  Summary judgment was obtained on the theory that although plaintiff/appellant could establish the injury and the presence of phenol in the material; the evidence as to the neurotoxicity of phenol in this setting was too speculative.

Obtained summary judgment dismissal of a medical malpractice lawsuit against a major health care facility where plaintiff alleged that complications ensued and resulting life saving surgery was necessary following a routine medical procedure.  Summary judgment was granted on the theories that the injuries were inherent risks of the procedure for which informed consent had been obtained and because plaintiff failed to demonstrate in opposition to the motion a causal nexus between the procedure and the scope and extent of his injuries and damages.

During 2004, achieved a voluntary dismissal rate of 30% in professional liability cases where dispositive motions had not been filed and thus fees to the client, on average, were less than $7,500 per matter.

Participated in three events (retreats, presentations and seminars) in which risk management, litigation management and progressive planning of institutional changes were the subject of discussion and didactic presentation.  These events were for health care institutions and for executive and administrators of health care institutions.  Representative topics were (a) managing the birth trauma case, (b) converting intensive care units from an “open” to a “mixed” model and, (c) risk management in the long term and sub-acute care setting.

Successfully defended a large health care facility in a medical malpractice case involving allegations of brain injury to an infant secondary to misidentification of an anomalous pulmonary artery during open heart surgery which was necessary to correct a congenital malformation.  Plaintiffs’ contention in the lawsuit was that the surgery needed to correct the problem created during the first surgery was unjustifiably delayed and this delay resulted in a chronic hypoxemia of the infant with sequelae of intellectual, fine and gross motor skill impairment.

 

Related Practice Areas

Litigation
Complex Business
Construction Litigation
Insurance Coverage
Product Liability
Trade Secrets/Unfair Competition/Non-Competes

Life Science
Risk Management

 

Case Studies

 

Publications

 

News