Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyers’ Blog

Another Frivilous Lawsuit Myth Debunked

In previous blogs, we have disputed claims by proponents of medical malpractice tort reform that insurance premiums are rising as a result of an increase in medical malpractice claims. A recent study out of the Suffolk University Law School offers further support for our position.

Examining malpractice insurance premiums in the State of Massachusetts from 1975 to 2005, the authors of this study found that medical malpractice premiums have actually declined from 1990 to 2005 for virtually all physicians practicing in Massachusetts. The authors noted that because Massachusetts has the fourth-highest median malpractice payouts of all states, if there was a premium crisis due to the number of lawsuit settlements, it should logically occur in Massachusetts

The authors proved yet again that malpractuce premiums are not higher than ever and that there is no premium crisis. Their study demonstrates the fallacy of such arguments, noting that the proponents of such arguments fail to account for inflation, discounts offered by insurance companies to increase their market share, and the historical rise and fall cycle in insurance underwriting.

Moreover, national figures published by the American Medical Association support the fact that malpractice insurance premiums do not have a significant impact on a physician's ability to practice medicine. These figures show that premiums make up 7 percent of total practice costs for all physicians.

Serious But Preventable Medical Injuries On The Rise

Previously, we have cited the landmark study by the Institute of Medicine published 2001 titled "To Err Is Human: Building A Safer Health System" as proof that preventable medical errors occur at alarming rates.  That study estimated that preventable medical errors caused 98,000 deaths per year.  It did not estimate the number of non-death injuries caused by preventable medical errors.

Today, seven years later, there is evidence that the rate of injury due to preventable medical errors continues to rise.  The Salt Lake Tribune reports that since 2002 the number of preventable serious medical injuries in Utah hospitals has increased by over 50%.   This figure is limited to "never events" which are defined are events that are never suppose to occur.  Such events include surgeries done on the wrong body site, surgeries in which instruments are left inside the patient, blood transfusion using the wrong blood type, and medication errors.

Medicare Stops Paying for Medical Errors

On October 1, 2008, Medicare enacted a new policy concerning its payment of medical care costs caused by hospital errors.  Under this new policy, Medicare will not pay for medical care costs that occur as a result of 10 reasonably preventable events.  These events are often referred to as "never events" because they should never occur.  These never events include complications arising from when patients receive incompatible blood transfusions, second surgeries necessitated by foreign objects left behind in a patient from a prior surgery, second surgeries necessitated by certain infections, surgeries performed on wrong body parts, complications from serious bed sores and falls that occur in the hospital, and urinary tract infections caused by in-hospital use of catheters.  Most importantly from a patient perspective, Medicare's new policy also prevents hospitals from billing patients directly for costs generated by such errors. 

Prior studies have shown that the occurrence of "never events" has huge consequences both financially and for patient well-being.  For example, one study has found that the occurrence of never events account for 2.4 million extra hospital days, $9.3 billion in extra charges, and 32,600 deaths.

An interesting side issue to watch is what effect will Medicare's new policy have in the ability of patients to prove medical malpractice cases when these "never events" occur.