Unfortunately, as we saw during the federal health care reform debates, the powerful insurance lobby has pressed for medical liability “tort reform” — in other words, taking away the right to have a jury award compensation to malpractice victims.  Thankfully, organizations like Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has been combating these scare tactics with actual facts.

The organization recently published a Fact Sheet regarding medical malpractice, and the impact of tort reform:

• In 2009, a study by Hearst newspapers found that approximately 200,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors and hospital acquired infections
• In 1999, the Institute of Medicine estimated that medical malpractice cost $17 billion to $29 billion annually for lost income, lost household production, disability and health care costs
• Medical liability tort reform failed in Texas.  Since enacting in 2003: cost of diagnostic testing grown 50 percent faster than national average; cost of health insurance has more than doubled; growth of doctors per capita has slowed
• Medical malpractice lawsuits are rare:  2008 saw the fewest number of medical malpractice payments since 1990.

Fortunately, medical liability “reform” was not implemented in this year’s federal health care reform law.  Not that this will stop the insurance lobbyists from continuing to push individual states to adopt such reform, or to attempt to re-introduce such measures at the federal level in coming years.

Each Chicago medical malpractice attorney at Passen Law Group understands the devastating impact medical negligence can have on the individual patient, and their families.  We believe malpractice litigation serves as a strong deterrent to the medical profession — to place patient safety at utmost importance — and to implement safe practices in their profession.  We will continue to fight against any efforts to “reform” the way patients seek justice for their injuries.

For a free consultation with a Chicago personal injury lawyer with Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

Medical Negligence Myth #5: Tort Reform Will Lower Insurance Rates

Yesterday’s post, Myth #4 – Medical Malpractice Claims Drive-Up Doctors’ Insurance Premiums, discussed the false correlation between malpractice lawsuits and increases in insurance premiums.  Today’s post, Myth #5, deals with converse theory – whether medical liability reform (a form of “Tort Reform) will result in insurance companies lowering doctors’ insurance premiums.  The evidence shows this will not happen.

The evidence shows that any savings to insurance companies — in the form of lower payouts due to damages caps — are not passed down to doctors in the form of lower premiums. The savings are not passed down at all.

Indeed, this myth is easy to debunk because we can look at states that have adopted medical tort reform to see whether insurance rates have gone down.  Texas, for example, enacted a $500,000 cap on non-economic damages for malpractice claims in 2003, believing such caps would translate into lower insurance premiums and attract more doctors.

As the AAJ report shows, although the number of doctors in Texas slightly increased after caps were imposed (as did all states), the increase was no different than before the caps were in place.  The increase has remained steady, as it has throughout the country.  If malpractice damage caps resulted in significantly lower premiums, the increase in doctors practicing in Texas since 2003 should have been more dramatic.

More importantly, since enacting caps on non-economic damages in Texas, doctors’ premiums have gone up instead of down.  The AAJ report cites GE Medical Protective, the country’s largest medical malpractice insurance provider, that said “caps had a negligible impact on rates” — and proceeded to raise doctor premiums.

The same holds true for California — which is depicted in the chart above.  After California enacted laws capping damages in medical malpractice actions, doctors’ insurance premiums continued to increase even faster than in previous years.  The way California leveled-off premiums was by passing legislation aimed at the insurance industry – by capping their insurance rates.

The AAJ report also cites a number of “pro tort reformers” who admit that, despite what has been argued, tort reform will do little, or nothing, to curb rising premiums. It will only serve to further curb the rights of individuals to seek justice after being wronged.

Those who argue for malpractice reform often cite the five myths discussed this week by our top-rated Chicago personal injury lawyers. Such arguments clearly ignore patient safety, as well as the empirical evidence.  Hopefully, the Senate will debate its health care bill using facts, not myths.

For a Free Consultation with one of our Chicago personal injury and malpractice attorneys, call Passen Law Group at (312) 527-4500.

The article presents findings from a hospital report card from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. The report card shows where mistakes occur, in addition to they types of mistakes made.  The New Jersey Health Commissioner hopes that by making the information public, hospitals will improve care, and cases of medical negligence will decline.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured due to medical error, contact an experienced Chicago personal injury attorney about your case.  There are many factors to be considered in a medical error case, such as negligence, and an experienced malpractice attorney has a thorough understanding of what constitutes medical negligence, and the laws and statutes that apply.

Illinois also created a hospital “report card” pursuant to the Illinois Hospital Report Card Act (Public Act 93-0563) (“the Act”).  Such reports are meant to provide the public “information about the quality of health care provided in Illinois hospitals in order to make better decisions about their choice of health care provider.”  In addition to the hospital report card, Illinois also released reports concerning the Illinois Consumer Guide to Health Care and the Adverse Events report.

Under the Act, hospitals must submit quarterly reports on infection rates and adequacy of hospital nursing staff to the Department of Health.  Each year, the Department of Health is to publish a summary of the quarterly reports.

Although the Act was passed in 2004, to date no hospital report cards have been published. Indeed, none of the three reports listed above have been published.

According to reports this summer from the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois Hospital Association plans to launch a site this month that will publish the Hospital Report Card, along with the Consumer Guide to Health Care and the Adverse Events report.  We will see about that — these reports are long overdue.

It is likely that the medical associations are delaying the release of these reports for at least two political reasons: (1) the Illinois Supreme Court is considering whether caps on “non-economic” damages (i.e. pain and suffering, loss of normal life, etc.) in medical malpractice lawsuits is constitutional; and (2) the federal health care reform debate still includes the possibility of medical malpractice reform as part of a final package.

Should these Illinois reports come out “too soon”, and shed light on the frequency and severity of medical negligence in Illinois, the reports could sway public opinion away from the tort reformists.

Nevertheless, as the country continues to call for health care reform, enforcing the Illinois Hospital Report Card Act will be important.  The public has a right to know whether or not its hospitals are providing quality care.

For a free consultation with one of Passen Law Group’s Chicago medical malpractice and injury lawyers, call us at (312) 527-4500.