Doctors practicing abortion under the umbrella of the Planned Parenthood Federation or other nonprofit organizations may not qualify for the charitable immunity doctrine in Virginia, after an analogous recent state supreme court decision.
The case involved doctors working for the nonprofit University of Virginia Health Services Foundation who argued they should be immune from malpractice suits.
The Court observed that the foundation "operates like a profitable commercial business with extensive revenue and assets." Therefore it is "not immune from tort liability under the doctrine of charitable immunity."
A ruling to the contrary would have permitted doctors and other professionals to escape liability by working under a nominally nonprofit structure, according to one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, quoted below.
Virginia Supreme Court Rules That Nonprofit Charity-Affiliated Doctors Are Not Sued for Malpractice
By Nancy Young
The Virginian-Pilot
Doctors affiliated with charitable foundations are not immune from malpractice suits, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The cases involved the University of Virginia Health Services Foundation, whose lawyers had argued that because its physicians were working for a nonprofit organization they should be immune from malpractice suits.
The state's highest court found that while the foundation's physicians conducted "commendable" charity care for indigent patients, the bulk of its services were not charitable in nature. It sent three malpractice cases back to lower courts to be decided on their merits.
"HSF operates like a profitable commercial business with extensive revenue and assets," the court's opinion said. Therefore it is "not immune from tort liability under the doctrine of charitable immunity."
If the court had ruled that UVA foundation doctors were entitled to charitable immunity, it could potentially have meant "no more medical malpractice litigation in Virginia," said L. Steven Emmert, an appellate lawyer in Virginia Beach who argued before the court on behalf of one of the patients. Such a ruling would have opened the door to doctors and other professionals to escape liability by working under a nominally nonprofit structure, he said.
Eastern Virginia Medical School has an affiliated nonprofit physicians' foundation group similar to UVA's and has claimed charitable immunity for its physicians facing malpractice suits, said Glen Huff, a Virginia Beach lawyer who represents the EVMS Academic and Physicians and Surgeons Health Services Foundation.
While the EVMS group has cases pending before the state Supreme Court, Huff said that there are variations in structure versus the UVA group that could lead to a different outcome.
"We're greatly disappointed with the opinion," Huff said. "But it's not necessarily a death knell for us."
In July, the medical malpractice cap in Virginia will reach $2 million, according to The Medical Society of Virginia.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Planned Parenthood's Potential Problem with African-American Jurors
The Family Research Council (FRC) reported this week on a sub rosa investigation by a UCLA student showing that Planned Parenthood chapters in all seven surveyed states were amenable to accepting donations earmarked for the abortion of Black babies.
Some of the audio is already on Youtube.com, and the FRC is posting transcripts and an audio montage at http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=LK08B57&f=WA08B46.
The implications for defendants who work at Planned Parenthood clinics are ominous. Unless pro-abortion forces can stanch the public dissemination of the UCLA evidence, Black jurors and Black-sympathetic jurors may be more sympathetic to plaintiffs in future litigation against Planned Parenthood-affiliated abortionists, and this sentiment could bleed over to litigation against unaffiliated abortionists.
Here is the FRC's brief article:
Racism Alive and Well at Planned Parenthood
A shocking set of recordings was released this week that could prove disastrous for Planned Parenthood's ties with the African-American community. Lila Rose, a pro-life student and reporter at UCLA, launched an undercover investigation aimed at exposing the racism of the nation's largest abortion merchant. With the help of an actor, she contacted Planned Parenthood clinics in seven states, inquiring if they would be willing to accept a donation earmarked for the abortion of black babies. The results were jaw-dropping.
Rose was appalled to discover that every last clinic agreed. Not one employee objected or questioned the request, even when the actor insisted that the purpose was to "lower the number of black people" in America. When the caller phoned an Ohio branch, he was told that Planned Parenthood "will accept the money for whatever reason."
Students at UCLA are so infuriated by the investigation that they are petitioning the university to cut all affiliation with Planned Parenthood.
What few people realize is that the organization has a history of racism that has been ingrained since Planned Parenthood's earliest days, when founder Margaret Sanger advocated negative eugenics and spoke to a woman's branch of the KKK (Margaret Sanger, An Autobiography, 1938, p. 336-367).
However, as is customary for Planned Parenthood, the organization has managed for decades to cover its tracks--and the facts. That task has just been made monumentally more difficult.
Abortion has taken the innocent lives of over 14 million black children--a national tragedy that has begun uniting and mobilizing African-Americans across party, state, and financial lines.
Today, FRC hosted a press conference to kick off the National Black Pro-Life Gathering in Washington, D.C. which drew pastors, parents, leaders, and activists from across America to commemorate Black History Month by calling on abortion merchants like Planned Parenthood to stop preying on their community.
As these abortion clinics continue to demonstrate that blood money is not colorblind, we call on Congress to de-fund and disavow Planned Parenthood. Taxpayers should not be forced to spend over $300 million on an organization whose scruples are for sale, even to those who seek racial genocide.
Some of the audio is already on Youtube.com, and the FRC is posting transcripts and an audio montage at http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=LK08B57&f=WA08B46.
The implications for defendants who work at Planned Parenthood clinics are ominous. Unless pro-abortion forces can stanch the public dissemination of the UCLA evidence, Black jurors and Black-sympathetic jurors may be more sympathetic to plaintiffs in future litigation against Planned Parenthood-affiliated abortionists, and this sentiment could bleed over to litigation against unaffiliated abortionists.
Here is the FRC's brief article:
Racism Alive and Well at Planned Parenthood
A shocking set of recordings was released this week that could prove disastrous for Planned Parenthood's ties with the African-American community. Lila Rose, a pro-life student and reporter at UCLA, launched an undercover investigation aimed at exposing the racism of the nation's largest abortion merchant. With the help of an actor, she contacted Planned Parenthood clinics in seven states, inquiring if they would be willing to accept a donation earmarked for the abortion of black babies. The results were jaw-dropping.
Rose was appalled to discover that every last clinic agreed. Not one employee objected or questioned the request, even when the actor insisted that the purpose was to "lower the number of black people" in America. When the caller phoned an Ohio branch, he was told that Planned Parenthood "will accept the money for whatever reason."
Actor: ...I really faced trouble with affirmative action, and I don't want my kids to be disadvantaged against black kids.
Planned Parenthood: Yes, absolutely.
Actor: And we don't, you know, we just think the less black kids out there the better.
Planned Parenthood: (Laughs) Understandable, understandable... This is the first time I've had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I'm excited and want to make sure I don't leave anything out.
Students at UCLA are so infuriated by the investigation that they are petitioning the university to cut all affiliation with Planned Parenthood.
What few people realize is that the organization has a history of racism that has been ingrained since Planned Parenthood's earliest days, when founder Margaret Sanger advocated negative eugenics and spoke to a woman's branch of the KKK (Margaret Sanger, An Autobiography, 1938, p. 336-367).
However, as is customary for Planned Parenthood, the organization has managed for decades to cover its tracks--and the facts. That task has just been made monumentally more difficult.
Abortion has taken the innocent lives of over 14 million black children--a national tragedy that has begun uniting and mobilizing African-Americans across party, state, and financial lines.
Today, FRC hosted a press conference to kick off the National Black Pro-Life Gathering in Washington, D.C. which drew pastors, parents, leaders, and activists from across America to commemorate Black History Month by calling on abortion merchants like Planned Parenthood to stop preying on their community.
As these abortion clinics continue to demonstrate that blood money is not colorblind, we call on Congress to de-fund and disavow Planned Parenthood. Taxpayers should not be forced to spend over $300 million on an organization whose scruples are for sale, even to those who seek racial genocide.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
