Florida court upholds medical-errors amendment

The Florida Hospital Association lost a bid to delay implementation of an amendment to the state constitution that increases public access to hospital and physician records related to adverse events. State 2nd Judicial Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom in Tallahassee dismissed the association's lawsuit, which argued that the amendment's requirements were too vague to be implemented without clarification from the state Legislature. Jerome Hoffman, an attorney for the hospital association, said the ruling may mean hospitals will inadvertently fail to comply with the requirements or violate privacy laws in attempting to comply. Hoffman said he did not yet know if the association would appeal the decision. The amendment passed in a ballot initiative in November. -- by Melanie Evans