Physician Law Blog

On Tuesday, March 2, 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court in Rhoden v. Missouri Delta Medical Center upheld a Scott County jury’s award of $300,000 in punitive damages.  The Court held that the facts in the record met the Plaintiff’s burden of proving “defendant[s] showed a complete indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others.”

The Supreme Court of Missouri will have its first opportunity to review the constitutionality of the Missouri Legislature’s abolishment of common law medical negligence claims and their replacement with a statutory cause of action. 

From the inception of an initial pleading until the final word of closing arguments, attorneys constantly assess, reassess, and re-reassess the “value” of their case based on each new piece of information that is introduced. While the term “value” can have any number of meanings (final ownership of a patent, full custody of a child, etc.), attorneys on both sides of a medical malpractice case assess value based on monetary damages.