Law Commons^™

In 2009, interest groups representing both healthcare providers and injured patients worked together to draft and pass several amendments to Tennessee's medical malpractice statute that aimed to improve medical malpractice litigation for all involved. As a result of these reforms, however, the 2009 amendments unexpectedly caused several cases to be dismissed without prejudice on grounds unrelated to the substantive merits of plaintiffs' claims due to their attorneys' technical procedural missteps. What has gone largely unrecognized, however, is a fatal litigation trap lurking beneath the surface of Tennessee's Health Care Liability Act that currently functions to transform even dismissals without prejudice …