Let's Talk… Via List-Serve
I am pleased to announce that another of the long-range goals set by the Medical Malpractice Section has been completed. We now have the capability for all Section members to instantaneously “talk” to one another electronically via a List-Serve. If you consider yourself something less than a computer whiz (and I include myself in that group), a List-Serve is simply an e-mail link between a group of people, all of whom have some shared or common interest, e.g. medical malpractice litigation.
Here is how our new List-Serve will operate. Every Section member who has provided PaTLA with their e-mail address will automatically be on the electronic “list.” If you have not yet given us your e-mail address and you want to be added to the list, or if you have provided an e-mail address and want to be taken off the list, please contact the PaTLA offices at 215-5466451 and speak with Victoria.
Once you are on the list, you can initiate or respond to discussions among Section members about medical malpractice issues. For example, suppose you want to know whether or not any colleagues have had any experience with a particular expert witness. You would type an e-mail message at your computer and send it to our “server” at ________________. The server in turn would then immediately “distribute” the question to all Section members who would receive it through the in-box of their own e-mail. If any recipients of your question have some helpful information, they can type a response and send it back to the server for distribution to you and all others on the list.
Likewise, if you have a substantive question about a particular medical issue or type of medical malpractice case, you can send a message to the server for distribution to all of your colleagues. Anyone who has a response or a helpful hint can respond accordingly. As you can imagine, good questions can lead to good discussion with several different people offering insight.
The List-Serve should prove to be a valuable tool for any lawyer doing medical malpractice work since it provides an instantaneous means to communicate with our brethren throughout the Commonwealth.
In order to kick-off our List-Serve, I will be posting a message on ___________ asking Section members to offer responses to the following question:
What suggestions or helpful hints do you have in trying to settle PIC, PIE or AHERF cases which are subject to PIGA set-offs, e.g. how to negotiate; how to avoid set-offs; how to avoid pitfalls?
I invite you to e-mail a response or comment. Also, I invite any of you to offer your own questions or comments on a different subject in order to generate separate discussions.
Finally, I am proud to note that with the creation of the List-Serve we have now accomplished the last of several initial goals which were set in order to give the Medical Malpractice Section a solid identity and foundation from which to serve its members. If you recall, we wanted to establish a pattern of regular Section meetings, and we have done that. We wanted to create a Section newsletter, and we have done that. We wanted to create an Expert Data Bank, and we have done that. We wanted to offer more specialized medical seminars, and we have done that. We wanted to create an e-mail link among all Section members, and now we have done that as well.
With your help, I look forward to providing future programs and services which will continue to permit this Section to be of day-to-day value to medical malpractice practitioners throughout Pennsylvania.