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Friday, November 26, 2010

A Wrongful Disclosure of Medical Information Held to Be Actionable

The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently issued its opinion in Doe v. Walgreens Co., No. W2009-02235-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 24, 2010). The case deals with the disclosure a customer's medical information; the customer was also an employee of Walgreens at the time of the wrongful disclosure and HIV positive. Here's the summary from the opinion's syllabus, to wit:

This is an appeal from the grant of Appellees/Defendants’ Tenn. R Civ. P 12.02 motion to dismiss. Appellant Jane Doe, who is HIV positive, was employed by Appellee Walgreens. In an effort to keep her medical condition private, Ms. Doe had her prescriptions filled at a Walgreens location other than the one at which she worked; therefore, Ms. Doe was also a customer of Walgreens. A co-worker of Ms. Doe’s accessed Ms. Doe’s prescription history in the Walgreens’ database, and then disseminated her medical information to other coworkers and to Ms. Doe’s fiancĂ©. Ms. Doe and her fiancĂ© filed suit. The trial court dismissed the lawsuit, finding that the Does’ exclusive remedy was under the workers’ compensation act. Finding that the injuries sustained by Ms. Doe do not arise out of her employment with Walgreens, and that she has sufficiently pled causes of action outside workers’ compensation law, we reverse the order of dismissal and remand.
Here's a link to the opinion:

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Medical Malpractice: Plaintiffs' Claim Dismissed Due to Failure to Comply with New Law on Notice and Certificates of Good Faith

The Tennessee Court of Appeals released its opinion today in Martins v. Williamson Cnty. Med. Ctr., No. M2010-00258-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 22, 2010). Here's a summary of the case from the syllabus, to wit:

Katrina B. Martins and her husband filed suit against Williamson Medical Center for injuries sustained when Ms. Martins fell in her hospital room. The trial court held that the complaint stated a claim based on medical malpractice and dismissed the lawsuit for failure to comply with the Tennessee Medical Malpractice Act. Plaintiffs appeal, asserting that the complaint sounded in common law negligence. We affirm.
Here's a link to the opinion:

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Have a Question About Tennessee Appellate Practice?

This work might help, to wit:

APPELLATE PRACTICE COMM., NASHVILLE BAR ASS’N, APPELLATE ADVOCACY: A HANDBOOK ON APPELLATE PRACTICE IN TENNESSEE (Donald Capparella et al. eds., 4th ed. 2010).

Here's a link to the handbook:

http://www.nashvillebar.org/Publications/AppellateHandbook/Handbook_currentEdition.pdf

Friday, November 12, 2010

Firm News: Tony Duncan Selected to Mid-South Super Lawyers as a "Rising Star"

The firm is pleased to announce that Tony Duncan has been selected as a "Rising Star" as part of the class of 2010 Mid-South Super Lawyers. Here's a link to his profile, to wit:

The selection process for becoming a Mid-South Super Lawyer is explained at the following link:


Congratulations to Tony!


Thursday, November 11, 2010

Veterans Day: Thanks to Vets

To all our veterans, thank you for your service to our country. It is greatly apprecited.

May God bless America.