Two years ago, I posted a link to a report by the Center for Justice and Democracy on medical malpractice called Medical Malpractice by the Numbers. It was a great resource of information and now there is a new expanded edition available here. Or you can downloaded directly to your computer as a pdf file by going here.
In this book you will find a great amount of information on medical malpractice, insurance, litigation, and tort reform that debunks the typical arguments advanced by tort reformers and the medical associations and insurance industry lobbyists. Here are some highlights:
* Medical malpractice insurance companies are making twice the profit of the entire property/casualty insurance industry. In fact, the med mal insurance industry has had seven years of underwriting profit - something completely unheard of in the property/casualty sector. (Page 53.)
* After Texas enacted severe limits on medical malpractice lawsuits, including "caps" on damages, rates of preventable errors rose, "consistent with hospitals gradually relaxing (or doing less to reinforce) patient safety standards." (Page 83.)
* Medical malpractice premiums are not rising; other factors are contributing to the plight of physicians, specifically "health insurers that clamp down on the size of physician fees and deny payment for services that they deem unnecessary." (Page 56.)
* When asked their main reason for leaving New York state, newly trained physicians cited the "Cost of Malpractice Insurance" practically dead last on a list of many factors, the most important of which was "Proximity to Family." Even the general category "Other" outranked "Cost of Malpractice Insurance." Moreover, New York's liability laws were not even mentioned as a factor. (Page 52.)
The TortsProf blog has more highlights.
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