Medical Justice provides consultations to doctors facing medico-legal obstacles. We have solutions for doctor-patient conflicts, unwarranted demands for refunds, online defamation (patient review mischief), meritless litigation, and a gazillion other issues. We also provide counsel specific to COVID-19. If you are navigating a medico-legal obstacle, visit our booking page to schedule a consultation – or use the tool shared below.
“Can Medical Justice solve my problem?” Click here to review recent consultations…
all. Here’s a sample of typical recent consultation discussions…
- Former employee stole patient list. Now a competitor…
- Patient suing doctor in small claims court…
- Just received board complaint…
- Allegations of sexual harassment by employee…
- Patient filed police complaint doctor inappropriately touched her…
- DEA showed up to my office…
- Patient “extorting” me. “Pay me or I’ll slam you online.”
- My carrier wants me to settle. My case is fully defensible…
- My patient is demanding an unwarranted refund…
- How do I safely terminate doctor-patient relationship?
- How to avoid reporting to Data Bank…
- I want my day in court. But don’t want to risk my nest egg…
- Hospital wants to fire me…
- Sham peer review inappropriately limiting privileges…
- Can I safely use stem cells in my practice?
- Patient’s results are not what was expected…
- Just received request for medical records from an attorney…
- Just received notice of intent to sue…
- Just received summons for meritless case…
- Safely responding to negative online reviews…
We challenge you to supply us with a medico-legal obstacle we haven’t seen before. Know you are in good hands. Schedule your consultation below – or click here to visit our booking page.
It’s not clear who originally said, “As goes California, so goes the rest of the nation…”
For many years, it’s been taken as an article of political and cultural faith. It’s true that many trends that started in California worked their way across the rest of the country. As to whether that maxim still rings today is up for debate.
Which brings us to California’s Silenced No More Act, otherwise known as SB 331.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 331 into law. It takes effect 2022. SB 331 builds on another California law, call the STAND Act.
The STAND Act stands for Stand Together Against Non-Disclosure”. The acronym and its full meaning almost have fractal qualities.[1]
The STAND Act prohibited preventing the disclosure of factual information relating to claims of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or harassment or discrimination based on sex, filed in a civil or administrative action. Such provisions, if included in settlement agreements, are void as a matter of law and against public policy.
SB 331 prohibits non-disclosure provisions in settlement agreements for all workplace discrimination or harassment, not only based on sex. This includes discrimination and harassment based on race, religion, disability, and other protected characteristics described in the Fair Employment and Housing Act. However, a provision to protect the identity of the claimant may be included in the settlement agreement at the request of the claimant.
So, these laws take aim at select non-disclosure or non-disparagement agreements. The laws also prevent employers from pushing employees to sign such agreements as a condition of employment if they “purport to dent the employee’s right to disclose unlawful acts in the workplace.”
By itself, this does not seem to be a particularly challenging term. Employees already had whistleblower and anti-retaliatory protections if they disclosed unlawful acts. The only caveat was such “disclosers” had to follow a protocol – generally running their findings up the flagpole internally before going to the media.
Also, under the new law, employers CAN add non-disparagement provisions related to conditions in the workplace as long as the following carveout is included in the agreement.
“Nothing in this agreement prevents you from discussing or disclosing information about unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination or any other conduct that you have reason to believe is unlawful.”
If employers and employees do come to a negotiated settlement, the dollars paid CAN remain confidential.
summarized the likely effect of the new law(s).
The new legislation means that it will be impossible for employers to prevent employees from disclosing factual information related to what the employee believes are acts of discrimination or harassment, regardless of the actual merit of the claims, and regardless of whether an employer in good faith wishes to resolve those claims as meritless rather than litigate them…
Opponents of the legislation raise concerns that the inability of employers to put to rest claims that in good faith are seen as meritless may now prefer to take such claims all the way through trial in order to obtain vindication.
“As goes California, so goes the rest of the nation…” Will this apply to the STAND Act and SB 331?
Time will tell.
What do you think?
Q. What is Benoit B Mandelbrot’s middle initial stand for?
A. Benoit B Mandelbrot
Medical Justice provides consultations to doctors facing medico-legal obstacles. We have solutions for doctor-patient conflicts, unwarranted demands for refunds, online defamation (patient review mischief), meritless litigation, and a gazillion other issues. We also provide counsel specific to COVID-19. If you are navigating a medico-legal obstacle, visit our booking page to schedule a consultation – or use the tool shared below.
“Can Medical Justice solve my problem?” Click here to review recent consultations…
all. Here’s a sample of typical recent consultation discussions…
- Former employee stole patient list. Now a competitor…
- Patient suing doctor in small claims court…
- Just received board complaint…
- Allegations of sexual harassment by employee…
- Patient filed police complaint doctor inappropriately touched her…
- DEA showed up to my office…
- Patient “extorting” me. “Pay me or I’ll slam you online.”
- My carrier wants me to settle. My case is fully defensible…
- My patient is demanding an unwarranted refund…
- How do I safely terminate doctor-patient relationship?
- How to avoid reporting to Data Bank…
- I want my day in court. But don’t want to risk my nest egg…
- Hospital wants to fire me…
- Sham peer review inappropriately limiting privileges…
- Can I safely use stem cells in my practice?
- Patient’s results are not what was expected…
- Just received request for medical records from an attorney…
- Just received notice of intent to sue…
- Just received summons for meritless case…
- Safely responding to negative online reviews…
We challenge you to supply us with a medico-legal obstacle we haven’t seen before. Know you are in good hands. Schedule your consultation below – or click here to visit our booking page.
Learn how Medical Justice can protect you from medico-legal mayhem…
Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Dr. Jeffrey Segal, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Medical Justice, is a board-certified neurosurgeon. Dr. Segal is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; the American College of Legal Medicine; and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He is also a member of the North American Spine Society. In the process of conceiving, funding, developing, and growing Medical Justice, Dr. Segal has established himself as one of the country’s leading authorities on medical malpractice issues, counterclaims, and internet-based assaults on reputation.
Dr. Segal was a practicing neurosurgeon for approximately ten years, during which time he also played an active role as a participant on various state-sanctioned medical review panels designed to decrease the incidence of meritless medical malpractice cases.
Dr. Segal holds a M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, where he also completed a neurosurgical residency. Dr. Segal served as a Spinal Surgery Fellow at The University of South Florida Medical School. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa as well as the AOA Medical Honor Society. Dr. Segal received his B.A. from the University of Texas and graduated with a J.D. from Concord Law School with highest honors.
In 2000, he co-founded and served as CEO of DarPharma, Inc, a biotechnology company in Chapel Hill, NC, focused on the discovery and development of first-of-class pharmaceuticals for neuropsychiatric disorders.
Dr. Segal is also a partner at Byrd Adatto, a national business and health care law firm. Byrd Adatto was selected as a Best Law Firm in the 2021 edition of the “Best Law Firms” list by U.S. News – Best Lawyers. With decades of combined experience in serving doctors, dentists, and other providers, Byrd Adatto has a national pedigree to address most legal issues that arise in the business and practice of medicine.
Since employees are not lawyers how would they understand the finer points of law? How would they know what is legal and what is not legal. How would they know what is legal but what may or may not be ethical? What about other non disclosure items that employers have reasons to want to protect, and then some employee decides (wrongfully) that that follows under the law and they can disclose it to earn money since the entire non disclosure thing is illegal under California law, or so they believe. There is only one outcome from this, more businesses are going to exit California. This entire law is designed to hurt businesses, reveal intellectual property, and open up more avenues for businesses to be blackmailed by employees. This is the alleged victim’s rights run amok. As such it is designed as part of the socialist attack on all business. When more and more businesses leave California, the state’s tax base will shrink and then they will be left with no jobs, no employees, only entitled people collecting benefits. At that point the economy of California will collapse. As far as the discrimination piece, if you look at someone wrong they will think that you are discriminating against them. This is wokeness run amok. Again it will force more businesses to leave California. Where California is headed only blue states will follow into economic ruin.