Scruggs Juggernaut Rolls Into Milwaukee

According to a story in the latest Business Journal of Wilwaukee, plaintiffs' lawyer Richard Scruggs yesterday filed state-court complaints against three Milwaukee-area nonprofit hospitals or health systems: Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care, Glendale-based Covenant Healthcare System Inc., and Wauwatosa-based Froedtert & Community Health .  As with the dozens of other suits filed in the past year around the country, the complaints allege that uninsured patients were overbilled and that the hospitals in question failed to provide minimum levels of charity care that Scruggs says are a prerequisite for maintaining tax-exempt status.  As documented by the American Hospital Association's web site, the claims have met a chilly reception in the federal and state courts that have addressed their merits.  [tm]