In Morgan v. Hartford Hospital, SC 18469, released July 12, 2011(2011), the Supreme Court ruled that the certificate of good faith and the opinion letter of a similar health care provider are statutory prerequisites to the filing of an action for medical malpractice...
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Medical Malpractice
Court Abuses Discretion in Failing to Poll Jury Regarding Newspaper Article
In Kervick v. Silver Hill Hospital, 128 Conn. App. 341 (2011), the Appellate Court held that the existence of an inflammatory newspaper article, coupled with the fact that the jury had not previously been instructed by a judge to avoid media coverage, was sufficient...
Court Overrules Defendant’s Objection to Offer of Compromise Filed Under New Statute
In a recent decision, Judge Maronich, of Danbury Superior Court, overruled the defendants' objection to plaintiffs' offers of compromise. See Weth v. New Fairfield Family Practice, et al., D.N. DBDCV095007125S. After the plaintiffs had filed offers of compromise,...
Qualifications of Pre-Suit Opinion Author & Availability of Accidental Failure of Suit
In a pair of soon-to-be released decisions, the Supreme Court decided several significant issues that have arisen under the 2005 amendments to General Statutes § 52-190a, namely: 1) whether a board certified physician who probably would be allowed to testify at...
High Court Analyzes Theory of Differential Diagnosis
In an important medical malpractice decision, the Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Court's finding of harmless error when the trial court (Tobin, J.) precluded plaintiff's expert from testifying that the defense theory of causation was wrong. In other words,...
Defense Expert Not Allowed to Blurt Out Testimony About ‘Malpractice Crisis’
The jury verdict in favor of the defendant was reversed because the trial court failed to give a curative instruction to mitigate the damage likely caused by the defense expert's testimony regarding his concern about malpractice claims, the need to practice "defensive...