Medical Malpractice Cases
The
continuation of the medical malpractice debate has brought to light certain
medical malpractice cases involving severe injuries and limited payments
because of capped awards. The claim by many doctors is that medical malpractice
caps will bring down the skyrocketing insurance premiums, but consumer
groups, families, and patients have argued otherwise. A medical malpractice
bill that would limit damages to patients most severely harmed by medical
errors is being voted on for the fifth time in the last 14 months even though
it has already been rejected by the Senate three times.
Some states have already capped payments on medical malpractice cases and
rulings have limited adequate compensation because of it. While trying to
place blame on legal greed for premium increases, the caps so far instituted
do not allow for consideration of varying levels of medical malpractice
cases. Studies that were conducted in California, Florida, North Carolina,
New York, and Ohio have found there is a lack of evidence that supports
claims that jury verdicts have inconsistent relationships between the severity
of the injury and the monetary verdict.
Consumer groups have instead questioned the failure to more closely scrutinize
the way the system is, meaning focusing more on patient safety and disciplining
the small percentage of doctors that have been found to account for the
majority of medical malpractice cases payouts. As the system is now, less
than 0.5 percent of the nation's doctors will ever be penalized with serious
state sanctions. Making sure the five percent of doctors found to be responsible
for 54 percent of malpractice payouts in the U.S. do not continue to be
responsible for any more instances of malpractice could substantially reduce
any potential medical malpractice cases.
Arguing frivolous lawsuits also appears to be inaccurate for several reasons,
based on some reports and numbers. In addition to the fact that the National
Association of Insurance Commissioners thinks the spike in medical liability
premiums are the result of the insurance cycle and not new medical malpractice
cases or skyrocketed jury verdicts, ten times more claims will be dropped
before they are ever even pursued. Patients abandon about 54 percent of
claims based on estimates from Physician Insurer Association of America
figures. Of those claims that do become medical malpractice cases, classifying
them as frivolous has been disputed.
When researchers at the American Society of Anesthesiologists arranged
for pairs of doctors to review 103 randomly selected medical negligence
claim files, the observations indicated neutral experts commonly disagree
with their reviews when using the accepted standard of reasonable and prudent
care. While instances of medical malpractice are not in the majority of
times an intentional or malicious act, patients have still been harmed and
deserve to be compensated for the tragic occurrence. Some patients will
suffer life-altering injuries, which deserve a fair medical malpractice
case hearing.
Medical malpractice payouts are less than one percent of total U.S. health
care costs.
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