It is now well beyond standard practice for independent professional practices and healthcare systems to require their employed physicians to execute non-competition provisions as part of their employment relationship.  Enforceability of the “non-competes” has been somewhat of a “mixed bag” and is often very fact specific. There have been a few cases in Pennsylvania that […]

We addressed a similar question in an earlier article.  At that time, we discussed the issue of whether a Medical Staff can have standing to sue its own hospital.  We cautioned in that article to “be careful what you ask for.”  If a Medical Staff asserts autonomy and wishes to sue on its on behalf, […]

The award of punitive damages is a troubling and unpredictable part of the American judicial process. The term “punitive damages” refers to the award of monetary compensation to an injured party that goes beyond what is necessary to compensate the injured party for their actual loss (in other words, these are non-compensatory damages that are […]

Can a Medical Staff sue its own Hospital? Apparently so. In Medical Staff of Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center v. Avera Marshall Regional Medical Center, the Minnesota Supreme Court determined that the Medical Staff had standing to sue the Hospital and that the Medical Staff Bylaws constituted an “enforceable contract” between the Medical Staff and […]