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Article: Supreme Court Ruling Limits Patients' Right to Sue HMOs.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- June 12, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Jun. 13--Patients cannot sue health maintenance organizations under federal law on grounds that HMOs provide inadequate medical care to save money, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The justices, in their 9-0 decision, said HMOs owe no duty to defend their cost-based medical decisions in federal court. Such a demand could place federal judges in the improper position of deciding medical-malpractice cases, the court added.
Legal disputes about the adequacy of medical care are properly resolved at the state level, the high court noted in its first major ruling on patients' rights and HMOs.
The court's decision closed only the federal ...