An article by ProPublica about a $25-million settlement in a class-action suit against the owner of a New Orleans hospital referenced an article in a prominent medical journal by ASU Lincoln Professor of Health Law and Ethics James G. Hodge Jr.  

 

Hodge, with Visiting Assistant Professor Erin Fuse Brown of the College of Law, authored the article, “Assessing Liability for Health Care Entities that Insufficiently Prepare for Catastrophic Emergencies,” which was published in the July 20 edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

 

According to the ProPublica article by Sheri Fink, Tenet Healthcare Corp., owner of Memorial Medical Center, settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of patients and visitors trapped in the facility during Hurricane Katrina. The bodies of 45 patients were recovered there after the 2005 hurricane.

 

Fink referred to Hodge and Fuse Brown’s prediction that health care entities may increasingly face legal action for deficiencies in emergency preparedness and to Hodgetheir call for clearer legal standards for hospitals.

 

To read the article, click here.

To read the JAMA article, click here.