Court Cases

Court Sides With Medical Examiner in Suit Over Autopsy - 08/09/2024

With the Texas Medical Association’s help, a Harris County medical examiner has won the latest battle in a lawsuit over an autopsy he performed following a woman’s 2007 shooting death.

High Court Decision in Nondisclosure Case A Win For Medicine - 07/31/2024

The Texas Supreme Court sided with the Texas Medical Association in a nondisclosure case that TMA warned would have significant, troubling implications had it gone the wrong way.

RICO Settlements: TMA's Leadership Against Payer Abuses Resulted in Relief, Reform - 04/09/2024

Back in 2001, the Texas Medical Association and the other plaintiffs alleged the nation’s major health plans had conspired to delay and reduce payments to clinicians and hospitals; the resulting lawsuits, brought under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), represented a watershed moment in TMA history.

Exceptional Circumstances: TMA Advocates “Legislative Clarity” Amid State Abortion Bans - 03/05/2024

TMA advocates “legislative clarity” amid state abortion bans.

TMA Wins Two More Surprise Billing Lawsuits; CMS Suspends Arbitrations - 10/03/2023

Marking a fourth victory for the Texas Medical Association in as many lawsuits, a court on Aug. 24 struck down a large portion of the regulations setting forth a methodology insurers use to calculate the qualifying payment amount, or QPA, used in surprise-billing disputes – part of a series of federal rules TMA has long argued skew the arbitration process in insurers’ favor.

Fighting Back: Practice Wins Court Battle Over Defamatory Online Reviews - 06/20/2023

One practice’s recent legal battle epitomizes physicians’ worst nightmares when it comes to online reviews. Here’s an extreme but glaring real world example, straight from the documents in a lawsuit that Austin Eye first filed in October 2017 over

Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Packs Face Ongoing Legal Challenge - 09/09/2022

A court order – once again – has upheld enforcement of the Food and Drug Administration’s rule that cigarette packs must contain more colorful and graphic health warnings. The new deadline for implementing the rule, per the court order, is Oct. 6, 2023.

Picking the Right Battles: TMA Stands Up for Medicine in the Courts - 06/29/2022

When a big point of legal contention arises – “big” meaning impactful for Texas physicians and their patients – the Texas Medical Association responds big. That’s been the case for decades, including in the courts. 

Dulling the Pain of Future Damages: High Court Ruling Addresses Periodic Payments - 05/31/2022

Texas Supreme Court decision carries new implications for periodic payment of future medical expenses.

Legal Legacies: TMA General Counsel Rocky Wilcox Retires After 42 Years of Service - 05/01/2022

After nearly five decades of service to organized medicine, Rocky Wilcox, the man behind TMA’s storied history of advocating for physicians and their patients through the legal and legislative systems is retiring. But the legacy he leaves behind has put physicians in Texas – even across the nation – on solid legal ground.

TMA Argues to Overturn Physician Dispensing Ban - 07/15/2021

Two Texas physicians are taking on the state’s general ban on physicians dispensing medications out of their offices, now with support from the Texas Medical Association for their argument that the prohibition does more to protect pharmacies than patient care.

Dispensing With Reason? Overturning State Ban on Providing Drugs From Physician Offices - 07/03/2021

Only a handful of states effectively ban physicians from dispensing medications out of their offices. Texas is one of them. Two Texas physicians have taken their case to the courts, arguing that the ban is unconstitutional because it does more to protect pharmacies than it does to protect patients. And TMA is lending its support to that argument.

Ruling Could Promote Frivolous Lawsuits, TMA Tells Texas Supreme Court - 06/13/2021

A recent appeals court decision could weaken a key piece of Texas’ 2003 medical liability reforms meant to cut frivolous lawsuits off at the head. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed last week, TMA and Texas Alliance for Patient Access (TAPA) tell the Texas Supreme Court that the law narrowly limits the amount of discovery – the exchange of information in a court case – before the person suing must produce an expert report. And there’s good reason for that, the groups say.  

Livelihood on the Line: Surgeon Sues Hospital over Alleged Disparagement, Malicious Peer Review - 06/10/2021

San Antonio cardiothoracic surgeon sues hospital over alleged disparagement, malicious peer. In less than two years, San Antonio cardiothoracic surgeon J. Marvin Smith III, MD, says his distinguished surgical career spanning about five decades was effectively wiped out.

Medicine Trains Its Sight on Scope Expansions - 04/01/2021

A court decision siding with chiropractors is the latest of many scope tests in the legislature and the law.

Outrageous Overreach Medicine Fights Broad Documentation Requests - 02/27/2021

When Andrew Indresano, MD, got a subpoena in January 2019, he found it “a little shocking” and “really invasive.” The Fort Worth orthopedic surgeon wasn’t even part of the personal-injury lawsuit for which he was being asked to produce a backward-looking swath of documents.

Preserving Do No Harm: Supreme Court Tosses Challenge to Medical Ethics Committee Law - 10/13/2020

Twenty years after it took effect, Texas’ medical ethics committee review law has withstood challenge after challenge. The Texas Supreme Court is on the verge of ending the latest high-profile attack on the law that ensures physicians can uphold their professional obligation to “do no harm.” In October 2019, the state’s high court declined to take up Kelly v. Houston Methodist Hospital, in which the mother of a deceased patient attempted to overturn a provision of the Texas Advance Directives Act. Justices’ action leaves intact an appeals court decision that preserves physicians’ ability to use their medical judgment in end-of-life cases.

Some Clarity, Some Fog: AG Opines on Physician-Optometrist Relationship - 07/01/2020

An opinion by the Texas attorney general will keep the Texas Optometry Board (TOB) from exerting influence over the practice of medicine – to a certain point.

“Absurd” Contract Dodge Rejected: Court Lets Cancer Center’s Debt-Collection Suit Proceed - 04/30/2020

Appeals court denies “free speech” challenge to cancer center’s debt-collection suit.

Finally Settled: Hospitals Settle Physician's Anti-Competition Lawsuit - 01/08/2020

A Laredo oncologist confidentially settled a years-long lawsuit involving a pair of hospitals he alleged mischaracterized a past legal misfortune to terminate his privileges and eliminate his clinic from competing with the facilities.

An Injury to Justice: Workers' Comp Disputes Could Tilt in Insurers' Favor - 01/02/2020

Medicine is working to upend a recent appeals court decision that threatens to give health plans an overwhelming advantage in fee disputes in workers compensation cases.

Easing the Pain? Opioid Settlement Brings Valuable Funding to Fight Crisis - 11/01/2019

September 2019 brought what could become a major victory for the state’s handling of opioid addiction. Drug-maker Purdue Pharma – which faced thousands of lawsuits from cities and states, including Texas, for its role in the national opioid crisis – announced it had agreed to a settlement with 24 state attorneys general and other plaintiffs. The maker of OxyContin and other pain drugs says the agreement will provide more than $10 billion to address the epidemic.

No Docs of All Trades: Ruling Reinforces Expert Witness Reforms - 09/26/2019

Before Texas’ landmark liability reforms passed in 2003, gray areas in the law often led to serious green for people who sued physicians.

Medical Futility Law Sustained - 08/02/2019

Court tosses out challenge to ethics committee review of end-of-life care.

Final Verdict? Case Tests Court's Ability to Overturn a Jury Verdict - 08/02/2019

It was an overwhelming, 12-0 verdict – a jury’s unanimous rejection of a negligence case against a Laredo physician. Then, a judge took that decision away and ordered a new trial – not because of jury misconduct, or any procedural stumble that usually negates a court decision. It was taken away, essentially, because the judge said so.