Has e-discovery imposed a significant burden on doctors, hospitals and their insurers?
Martin: I haven’t seen it as being a huge issue in Texas state court litigation. One reason is that Texas was the first state, and for a long time the only state, to have an electronic discovery rule. It is a very short and simple rule, but it basically puts the burden on the party requesting the electronically stored information. If the electronically stored documents are not reasonably available, then the requesting party has to pay for discovery. It is a very effective cost-shifting device that stops a lot of the abuse. I wish that the federal rules had incorporated this. I testified before the Federal Rules Advisory Committee, as did the president of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and both of us advocated the Texas rule as the way to go, but the federal committee decided to go in the other direction and not impose cost shifting. Editor: Do you believe that doctors should be protected against malpractice suits if they follow standard medical guidelines or governmental standard
