ARCHIVES
Delbert Gee Selected to
State Bar Committee on Health Law
Delbert Gee was recently selected to be a charter
member of the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Law of the Business Law section
of the State Bar of California. The State Bar has previously not had any
organized section or committee on health care law. The Committee will
provide a forum for interested California attorneys and the public and
will be involved in the education of attorneys and the public in health
law, evaluation of health care legislation, and will interface with
other health law organizations.
Phillips
Wins Second Consecutive Hospital Disciplinary Hearing
In the summer of 2001, Brock Phillips won his second consecutive hospital disciplinary hearing on behalf of an individual physician. In the first case, a physician was denied appointment to the active staff of an East Bay hospital for alleged substandard clinical skills. In the second case, a surgeon was denied reappointment by an East Bay hospital on a claim that he failed to accurately complete his reappointment paperwork. In both instances, after a full contested hearing, the hospital hearing committees found in favor of Mr. Phillips' clients. These back-to-back wins are particularly noteworthy because individual physicians lose in the vast majority of hospital disciplinary hearings.
Phillips Lecture on Managed Care Issues for
Employers
Brock Phillips of Pacific West Law Group LLP
spoke on March 1, 2001 at
a conference in San Diego, California sponsored by American Bar
Association Practice Sections on Business Law, Health Law, Labor and
Employment Law, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, Taxation, and Tort
and Insurance Practice Sections, and the ABA Joint Committee on Employee
Benefits, entitled "What Every Employer Needs to Know About Managed
Care Programs". Phillips spoke on "Liability for Coverage
Denials: Plaintiffs' and Defendants' Perspectives" with Mark Hiepler
of Hiepler & Hiepler, and on "Potential Exposure for
Credentialing, Quality Assurance, Utilization Management and Medical
Malpractice"
Gee Interviewed on Managed Care Liability on
Talk Radio
Delbert Gee of Pacific West Law Group LLP
was interviewed February 14,
2001 on WALE-AM's "On Point" legal affairs talk radio show with
Bill Cafaro about managed care and HMO liability. WALE is a 50,000
watt station out of Providence, Rhode Island and is also broadcast over
the Internet. Gee was asked to present the viewpoint of the managed
care industry on liability issues such as ERISA preemption and recent
proposed federal legislation on HMO liability.
Phillips Lecture On Physician Deselection
Brock Phillips of Pacific West Law Group LLP
and Chuck Sweeris,
assistant general counsel for Blue Shield of California, spoke on January
13, 2001 at the National Conference on Health Law on "Physician Deselection
in Managed Care: Balancing the Interests of the Plan, the Physician,
and the Enrollee".
Phillips Elected President-Elect of CSHA
Brock Phillips of Pacific West Law Group LLP
was elected
President-Elect of the California Society of Healthcare Attorneys for the
2001-2002 term. CSHA is an organization of almost 500 California
attorneys who represent health facilities, health systems, physicians and
physician groups, health insurance carriers, governmental agencies and
academia. The objectives of CSHA are to provide a forum and
opportunity for attorneys in the healthcare law to meet and exchange
information and ideas, to provide a central agency for the exchange of
information in the health law arena, provide educational programs on
timely national and state health law matters, and to promote collegiality
amongst healthcare attorneys. Phillips will be President of
the California
Society of Healthcare Attorneys for the 2002-2003 term.
Supreme Court Denies Petition, Upholds Vesting
Decision
The Supreme Court denied appellant’s petition for review which
allowed the Court of Appeal decision entitled Williams v. California
Physicians’ Service (1999) 72 Cal.App.4th 722, to become final.
Delbert Gee was one of the attorneys representing a health plan in the
case which rejected the idea of vested benefits in health care coverage
and allowed plans to modify benefits if the right to modify benefits is
unambiguously stated in the plan language. The Court rejected efforts to
create a common law right to vested health benefits and held that the
right to modify benefits to control costs was not unconscionable. The
opinion seems to suggest that at least one aspect of the use of managed
care to control costs is not against public policy.
Defense Verdict in Insurance Bad Faith Case
Delbert Gee obtained a 10-2 defense verdict in an third party insurance bad faith case
that was tried in April 1999 before a jury in the Santa Clara County Superior Court. An
auto insurer was alleged to have acted in bad faith when it refused to defend and
indemnify an insured who failed to renew her policy. Plaintiff demanded $1.5 million at
the settlement conference a week before trial.
Defense Verdict in Medical Malpractice Death Case
Delbert Gee obtained a 11-1 defense verdict in a month-long jury trial in a medical
malpractice wrongful death case in the San Francisco Superior Court in February 1999. A
physician was alleged to have acted below the standard of care when he decided to intubate
a post-coronary artery bypass graft patient who had suffered a crash in blood pressure.
Plaintiffs had demanded $450,000 from three physicians and a hospital prior to trial.
