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Medical Malpractice InsuranceMedical malpractice insurance is used to cover doctors and medical professionals for liability claims. Lately, news about medical malpractice insurance can be found daily, as lawmakers have been grappling with how to deal with increasing insurance rates. There have been two sides to the medical malpractice insurance debate; doctors claiming limiting awards will reverse the so-called "frivolous" lawsuits and allow medical malpractice insurance rates to decline and patients and advocacy groups claiming capping awards is a violation of already victimized citizens that does not allow for consideration for the severity of the malpractice injury. As of May 2004, a medical malpractice bill is being voted on for the fifth time in the past year, though it was previously rejected three times by the Senate. The medical malpractice bill would limit damages to medical malpractice victims that have suffered the most severe injuries. Some individual states have already passed medical malpractice caps in attempts to reverse the "crisis" situation doctors have claimed the state has been in and to reduce the medical malpractice insurance rate. Every year, tens of thousands of patients die from preventable medical errors, costing society $17 to $29 billion in hospital medical errors. In the early 90s, a Harvard Medical Practice Study found only a small percentage of medical errors will result in medical malpractice lawsuits. Just one in eight preventable medical errors committed in hospitals developed into a malpractice claim. A similar study, with similar results, was performed years later. The results of the more recent study showed that for every six medical errors just one malpractice claim is filed. The rising medical malpractice insurance costs continue to be blamed on the legal profession and exorbitant payouts, but experts at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission finds medical malpractice insurance costs amount to only 3.2 percent of the average physician's revenues. When looking at numbers based on government data, medical malpractice insurance costs have risen at just half the rate of medical inflation and medical malpractice awards have increased at a much slower pace than claimed by Jury Verdict Research. The Public Citizen consumer group has issued countless reports on the medical malpractice debate. In a March 2003 report, the group found that based on the federal government's National Practitioner Data Bank medical malpractice awards have increased at a slower pace than medical malpractice insurance premiums. In addition, any spikes in medical malpractice insurance premiums were because of the insurance cycle and not because of new claims or skyrocketing jury verdicts. The International Risk Management Institute believes the higher medical malpractice insurance premiums were inevitable after mid to late 90s trends when insurers were more interested in market share and the amount of the premium booked rather than premiums to pay losses. The present shift is just a result of artificially lower premiums that doctors were able to benefit from. The medical malpractice debate has continued to bring strong debate and will continue to. The majority of medical malpractice instances are blamed on repeat offenders, with just five percent of doctors being responsible for 54 percent of malpractice payouts in the U.S. Patients that have been the most severely victimized by instances of malpractice have been limited in awards because of caps, which have only led to more suffering. It has been suggested to instead focus more on patient safety and doctor disciplinary actions. For more information on medical malpractice insurance, please contact us . |
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