State Chapters
AAEMLa Update
State Chapter Plays Leading Role in Representing the Interests of Emergency Physicians
by Larry Weiss, MD JD FAAEM
Our chapter continues to play a leading role in representing
the interests of the individual emergency physician and our patients.
On November 27, 2001, we filled the gallery of the Louisiana Supreme Court
with physicians in white coats to hear the oral arguments in Coleman
v. Deno, the case where an appellate court created the "intentional
tort of patient dumping." Almost all of the emergency physicians
present were AAEMLa members. We reached out into the medical community
and recruited other physicians, including about 20 surgeons.
The oral arguments went well. The plaintiff attorneys mainly
argued to protect their $500,000 negligence award. They did not argue
to protect their $4.4 million award for "dumping" until questioned
by the justices. It may take several more months for the Court to release
its opinion.
In the meantime, several other physicians-in-distress have
called our office to seek our assistance. One caller stated that he clearly
considered us as the organization to turn to for emergency physicians
who feel their rights have been compromised.
In an unexpected bonanza, our state Supreme Court recently
banned most restrictive covenants. (See the accompanying article in this
issue of Common Sense.) In a case involving a construction company,
the Court stated that an employer may not prohibit an employee or agent
from working for a competitor after ending his relationship with the employer.
The Court declared such contractual clauses null and void. A contract
may only prohibit the employee/agent from establishing a business to compete
with the employer. Under our state law, such prohibitions may only extend
for a period of two years in a geographically limited area (usually in
a particular parish and the immediately surrounding parishes).
Other states may have restrictive covenant statutes that
courts may interpret in a similar manner. If not, emergency physicians
may lobby their legislatures to amend their statutes to put similar limitations
on restrictive covenants, or to get rid of them altogether. Restrictive
covenants represent one of the most common devices used by some contract
holders to restrict the right of emergency physicians to practice our
profession. Getting rid of restrictive covenants and other common contractual
clauses that attempt to strip emergency physicians of our rights will
go a long way toward our efforts to control and manage our own profession.
I review many contracts every year for our graduating residents.
I am continually distressed to see restrictive covenants, clauses stripping
the physician of her due process rights, and unfair one-way indemnification
clauses. Most contracts I review still have these onerous provisions.
Unfortunately, many of these contracts represent situations where one
emergency physician seeks to exploit or otherwise unfairly treat another
emergency physician.
Unfortunately, the Louisiana Association of Business and
Industry (LABI) already announced their intention of lobbying our legislature
to amend the law in such a way as to overrule the Supreme Court decision.
The legislature may do so, as long as the amended law does not violate
any constitutional right or conflict with our Civil Code. LABI represents
small businessmen, manufacturers, and a variety of professionals. Many
physicians have joined LABI as it serves as the foremost tort reform organization
in our state. Our new political action committee, LEMPAC, will have to
lobby against our LABI friends on this issue. Fortuitously, the unexpected
emergence of this issue has given LEMPAC an urgent issue to work on very
soon after its creation. Our activism on this issue will further serve
to show emergency physicians in Louisiana the vital importance of AAEM
and AAEMLa in their professional lives.
AAEMLa is the Louisiana State Chapter of the American
Academy of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Larry Weiss is the President of AAEMLa
and can be reached at ldweiss@cox.net
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