Oak Hill Malpractice Lawyer

Bert Fish officials eye future as hospital returns to public control

EDGEWATER -- Bert Fish Medical Center is back -- under public control.

On Thursday, one year after the New Smyrna Beach hospital became the sixth local hospital under the control of Adventist Health System, it came back to the ones who had owned it since 1966 before last year -- the Southeast Volusia Hospital District and its board.

The sale that was finalized June 30, 2010, triggered a lawsuit claiming the merger between the 112-bed hospital and the nonprofit health care giant was the result of meetings illegally closed to the public and should be thrown out.

After a five-day court proceeding, Circuit Judge Richard Graham ordered the district and Adventist Health to unwind the transaction because of Sunshine Law violations.

After Thursday's meeting, Kelly Sullivan, the lawyer for the district and the hospital, said: "I feel like celebrating."

As of 12:01 Thursday morning, the hospital was returned to public control under a board that has just two of the seven members who approved the merger.

After approving the execution of the transition at Thursday's meeting, the hospital district board also met as the Bert Fish board for the first time in a year. And the new members weren't taking anything for granted.

Patrick Corbett of Port Orange wanted to know whether having the same attorney for the district and the hospital presented a conflict of interest.

"There is no more conflict of interest for me (being the district and hospital attorney) as there is for you serving as a director for both the district and the hospital," Sullivan replied.

The board tabled the action that would formally make her the hospital's attorney.

But the changeover -- with the hospital restored to the same financial state it was in one year ago -- has a few cliffhangers.

Most immediately, the district is trying to recoup some of the legal and administrative expenses -- now at $2.5 million -- in a malpractice suit against Jim Heekin, the former attorney of the district and the hospital who advised the board to close merger talks to the public.

Those fees could harm the district's ability to provide indigent care at the hospital. The district taxes property owners in Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Oak Hill and a portion of Port Orange to pay for indigents' medical care.

Thursday, the board was told the Bert Fish Foundation, the philanthropic organization that sued to stop the merger, had filed for nearly $1 million in legal fees.

Med Mal Caps - Who pays the price? Gainesville Medical Malpractice ...

Med Mal Caps - Who pays the price? Gainesville Medical Malpractice Lawyer Explains the Expense

Who pays the price of capping med mal awards? As an experienced Gainesville medical malpractice lawyer I say, the victims of medical practice do so the insurance companies can get richer!

Florida doctors and physicians praise the cap law for finally bringing some stability to the "malpractice crisis."  In some ways they are correct.  Since the law took effect in 2003, Florida malpractice premiums have remained relatively steady at around $100,000-$150,000 dollars annually.  Consequently, doctors have not evacuated Florida in droves to practice in other states, but, who pays the price?

It is a fairly simple economic equation, actually: smaller non-economic damages awards equate to saving the insurance carriers hundreds of millions of dollars, which in turn equates to keeping malpractice premiums low.  In other words, injured plaintiffs take the economic hit to resolve an issue between doctors and insurance carriers. 

While the cap law equation may be fairly simple, the cap law itself is far from fair.  

Since 1971, we have represented medical malpractice victims from:  Gainesville, Ocala, Lake City, Inverness, Palatka, Inverness, Crystal River, Daytona Beach, Interlachen, Spring Hill, Dunnellon, Bunnell, Live Oak, Starke, Jasper, Cross City, Perry, Trenton, Leesburg, Lake Butler, Tavares, Chiefland, Bronson, Brooksville, The Villages and the counties of Alachua County, Marion County, Columbia County, Citrus County, Volusia County, Sumter County, Levy County, Lake County, Bradford County, Flagler County, Hamilton County, Dixie County, Gilchrist County, Union County, Hernando County, Suwannee County, Union County and Putnam County.

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