Profession
New Jersey society sues over release of malpractice information
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 7, 2004
The Medical Society of New Jersey filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Newark to stop the public release of malpractice settlements and judgments against the state's physicians.
New Jersey planned to release this physician information to The Recordnewspaper in Hackensack, N.J. The state's Division of Consumer Affairs was set to post malpractice histories of doctors on a Web site in June.
The medical society's suit claims the state's 2003 Health Care Consumer Information Act, which will create the physician profile site, is unconstitutional because it permits distribution of retrospective confidential settlement information in malpractice cases. That contradicts federal law prohibiting state legislation from interfering with contracts between private individuals, the society said.
A judge will hear arguments from the society and the state on June 7.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/06/07/prbf0607.htm.