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Medical Malpractice Crisis?

Is There A Medical Malpractice Crisis?

There may be a crisis of poor medical care, but medical malpractice filings have not increased faster than the growth of the population. The medical and insurance industries have claimed that liability claims drive up the cost of medical care. The fact is that medical liability costs amount to less than one percent of the nation's health care budget. This is a small fraction of the costs of administering for-profit health insurance plans, which amount to close to 30% of the money spent on health care in the United States.

Are Liability Costs Driving Doctors Out Of Business?

Individual doctors in certain specialties that are sued the most pay very high premiums for malpractice insurance. At the same time, insurance payments to doctors and hospitals by health insurance companies often fail to cover the health service providers’ costs. Highly compensated doctors who perform expensive operations can absorb the cost of malpractice insurance. Primary care doctors such as internists and pediatricians often experience financial hardship, and medical malpractice premiums certainly contribute to their problems. Some doctors have claimed to be forced out of practice by malpractice premiums, but states like New York with high premiums have no shortage of doctors. Defensive medicine is frequently blamed for inflating health care costs. Undoubtedly some doctors order tests just to be on the safe side, but it is essentially impossible to prove how frequently doctors order tests to protect themselves from liability.

How Common Is Medical Malpractice?

A Harvard University study evaluated thousands of medical records from New York State hospitals and concluded that in 1984 in New York State, alone, there were more than 27,000 negligent "adverse events" including nearly 7,000 deaths and 900 cases of permanent disability. These cases only involved hospital treatment. Cases involving office treatment were not studied. More recent published studies suggest that many more people die each year as a result of medical malpractice than from auto accidents or violent crime.

How Common Are Medical Malpractice Lawsuits?

Only a small fraction of "adverse events" ever result in court cases being filed. There are about 8000 medical malpractice filings in the New York State Supreme Court each year, about 2% of all filings. Studies that have randomly examined medical records to look for malpractice incidents have found that less than one person in seven injured as a result of malpractice ever files a lawsuit. Of the lawsuits that are filed, the majority do not result in any payment to the plaintiff. Most cases in which plaintiffs receive payment are settled; the large majority of cases that are tried to a conclusion result in verdicts in favor of the health service providers.

McCarthy Fingar's Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury lawyers are dedicated to our clients' success. If you have any questions on a medical malpractice issue, please contact Joseph J. Brophy by email (jbrophy@mccarthyfingar.com) or by phone (914-385-1021).