Utah Med Law

As the health care debate goes on special interest groups are all trying to get their piece of the pie.  It should not come as any surprise that doctors, health insurance companies, medical malpractice insurance companies, large defense legal firms and health care conglomerates (Intermountain Healthcare (IHC) included) have a lot at stake in the health care debate.  To protect their piece of the pie they have engaged in publicity warfare and have painted trial lawyers, medical malpractice trial lawyers who represent the victims of medical malpractice in particular, as part of the greater health care problem. They paint themselves as the victims.  Let's get one thing straight from the get go - people that are injured as a result of medical malpractice are the victims!

Just one example of heavy publicity and lobbying efforts was reported by yahoo where the Chamber of Commerce was reported to have spent $34.7 million over the course of one quarter.  Other interested groups are also engaged in the publicity war such as the  Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and Pfizer.  

I am a medical malpractice lawyer and I represent people who have been injured as a result of medical malpractice.  I make no apologies and go further to say that I am damn proud to be part of a profession that holds people responsible for their misdeeds.  Depending on your point of view you might think I am representing a special interest group, namely injured victims of medical malpractice and I am trying to get a piece of the health care debate pie.  That is your right but I ask that you simply keep an open mind while reading this post.

I was a registered nurse for years before I became an attorney.  I have seen medical malpractice occur.  There is no malice forethought on the part of the negligent performer.  More often than not the negligence occurs because of system problems.  As a nurse I have been involved in medical malpractice.  I did not mean for it to happen but I was negligent.  That does not mean that the person that was harmed should not get fully compensated.  If you have any doubt that medical malpractice happens and happens on a  grand scale ask any nurse you know.  If they are truthful they will admit that medical malpractice is a big problem.  The safe delivery of health care needs to improve.  We need not restrict access to justice that people so horribly damaged by medical malpractice so desperately need.

MYTHS DEBUNKED

Even if we can agree on all of the foregoing, medical malpractice myths persist.  These myths persist because the stakeholders such as doctors, health insurance companies, medical malpractice insurance companies and health care conglomerates have engaged in that publicity warfare.  Medical malpractice myths are just that, myths. Here is the truth on medical malpractice myths reprinted in part from the American Association of Justice:

• Myth #1: There are too many “frivolous” malpractice lawsuits.

Fact: There’s an epidemic of medical negligence, not lawsuits.  Only one in eight people injured by medical negligence ever file suit.  Civil filings have declined eight percent over the last decade, and are less than one percent of the whole civil docket.  A 2006 Harvard study found that 97 percent of claims were meritorious, stating, “portraits of a malpractice system that is stricken with frivolous litigation are overblown.”

• Myth #2: Malpractice claims drive up health care costs.

Fact: According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the total spent defending claims and compensating victims of medical negligence was just 0.3% of health care costs, and the Congressional Budget Office and Government Accountability Office have made similar findings.

• Myth #3: Doctors are fleeing.

Fact: Then where are they going?  According to the American Medical Association’s own data, the number of practicing physicians in the United States has been growing steadily for decades. Not only are there more doctors, but the number of doctors is increasing faster than population growth.  Despite the cries of physicians fleeing multiple states, the number of physicians increased in every state, and only four states saw growth slower than population growth; these four states all have medical malpractice caps.

• Myth #4: Malpractice claims drive up doctors’ premiums.

Fact: Empirical research has found that there is little correlation between malpractice payouts and malpractice premiums paid by doctors. A study of the leading medical malpractice insurance companies’ financial statements by former Missouri Insurance Commissioner Jay Angoff found that these insurers artificially raised doctors’ premiums and misled the public about the nature of medical negligence claims.  A previous AAJ report on malpractice insurers found they had earnings higher than 99% of Fortune 500 companies.

• Myth #5: Tort reform will lower insurance rates.

Fact:  Tort reforms are passed under the guise that they will lower physicians’ liability premiums. This does not happen. While insurers do pay out less money when damages awards are capped, they do not pass the savings along to doctors by lowering premiums. Even the most ardent tort reformers have been caught stating that tort reform will have no effect on insurance rates.