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Caps on Medical Malpractice Cap Citizens Right to Justice

Evan Rosen — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 15:54:59 GMT

A recent study of Medical Malpractice data conducted in California since its enactment of legislation capping awards on "non-economic" damages has shown that a lot of individuals can no longer afford access to the courts. Recently, a doctor found it impossible to find a lawyer to represent him after his mother had died from a medical error despite an exhaustive search of almost two dozen local lawyers.

Florida is experiencing the exact same problem. In Florida, we have very similar caps limiting a person's recovery for pain and suffering type damages which often times can make up the bulk of the award on a catastrophic injury or death case. By capping the awards, attorneys faced with potentially six figure costs to pursue these matters have to not only be much more selective but they must also turn down legitimate cases that for one factor or another don't generate enough potential "economic" damages like medical bills and future lost wages to justify the humongous expense. For example, in cases where a person who is retired passes away or is seriously injured by a physician's malpractice, there are no future lost wages which then makes the pursuit of justice, economically infeasible.

Lawyers who pursue justice in medical malpractice cases in general, do want to help people but most can't afford to do it at a loss nor should they have to. Besides regular business overhead expenses, lawyers who pursue these cases must pay similar competent doctors to be expert witnesses to examine the potential case, provide guidance along the way and testify in court. These fees can range between $500-$1,000 per hour and it wouldn't be unheard of to have $50,000 in expert witness fees on any particular medical malpractice case. Complex matters with multiple defendants, like a few doctors who were involved in a patient's care plus say a hospital could easily cause that figure to triple or quadruple.

Yet, while litigation volume and costs for insurance companies are being cut in half, Doctors still pay extremely high premiums and insurance company profits continue to soar. Medical Malpractice insurance companies used to make @ $.37 per dollar collected in premiums. Because of a severe drop of almost 48% of the number of cases brought to court, insurance companies now have the benefit of retaining $.61 per dollar collected as profit.

The pendulum has swung way too far the other way now....

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Down

Evan Rosen — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:21:26 GMT

All over the country reports are coming in that Medical Malpractice lawsuits are down tremendously, despite the insurance lobby propaganda. In Pennsylvania, for example, medical malpractice lawsuits are down 38% since 2002 and in Philadelphia by 52%. Furthermore, two of the largest insurance carriers in the state for that kind of coverage are decreasing their rates and since 2002, 57 new carriers are offering policies to doctors.

It's a shame that the misinformation about this continues and no one really knows the truth about personal injury or medical malpractice litigation unless they unfortunately have to go through it. It is not a jackpot or lottery system and most insurance defense lawyers will tell you that not only are the great majority of jury verdicts in favor of doctors but both the number of lawsuits and the actual dollar amount of verdicts are down substantially.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Wait Times in Emergency Rooms Lengthen

Evan Rosen — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:22:28 GMT

According to a study, which was conducted by seven doctors affiliated with Harvard University and the Cambridge Health Alliance, a network of nonprofit Massachusetts hospitals, emergency room waiting times rose 36% for all patients and 150% for heart attack patients. An increase in the number of ER visits, plus a decline in the number of emergency rooms, likely has contributed to the wait. However, no one is really sure why heart attack patients have an even longer wait.

Robert A. Lowe, a physician and director of the Oregon Health & Science University's Center for Policy & Research in Emergency Medicine, commented that the study "is not surprising; it's worrisome." "What it reflects is that as access to care outside the emergency department deteriorates, the emergency department is one of the few safety nets through which everyone has access to care."

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Actor Dennis Quaid Sues Drug Maker After Twins Heparin Overdose

Evan Rosen — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:01:41 GMT

Recently, Dennis Quaid's new born twins were mistakenly given 1,000 times the normal dose of the blood-thinning medication Heparin while under treatment for a staph infection. The twins have apparently recovered fully but the Quaid's want Baxter Healthcare Corporation, the maker of Heparin, to fix the packaging so this never happens again and have filed suit to help effectuate that change. Last year three babies died from this same kind of medical malpractice and the Quaid's who say they aren't angry and it's not about the money, really just want to see that this easily preventable form of medical malpractice never happens again.

Children generally are supposed to receive a 10 unit dose of heplock, a diluted version of heparin, but instead the Quaid's twins and others in the past received a whopping 10,000 units of heparin. The mistake is commonly made because the two bottles share remarkably similar blue labels and a common shape.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies, Not Lawsuits Cause High Rates

Evan Rosen — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:24:29 GMT

It seems the Insurance Industry is running out of excuses. They blamed the trial lawyers and so called frivolous lawsuits. They lobbied the legislature to change our "unfair" laws and got those changes passed but after years of change, capping both lawyer fees and pain and suffering damages for injured victims of medical negligence, medical malpractice rates still haven't gone down. This comes as no surprise to all of us in the know. Insurance companies have been making a fortune in medical malpractice and just want to make more and more. The truth is they are the broken part of the system and finally a new insurance investigation in our Florida legislature is under way.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Med Mal Insurance Rates Barely Lowered Despite Billions More in Insurance Company Profits

Evan Rosen — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:11:49 GMT

Despite a 68% increase in profits for Medical Malpractice insurance companies in Florida, up to $2.2 Billion from $700 Million in just one year, there was only a 3% rate reduction for doctors. The number of Medical Malpractice lawsuits have fallen since 2003 when the legislature voted to capped pain and suffering type damages. The only ones who continue to rake in more money than ever are the insurance companies. Is anyone surprised? Doctors, lawyers and most importantly, legitimately injured patients suffer under this Republican led legislation to cap attorney fees a few years back but it has resulted in huge windfall profits for those least deserving in our entire health care system, insurance companies...

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Vioxx Settles for $4.8 Billion

Evan Rosen — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 18:59:12 GMT

On Friday, Merck Corporation, the makers of the anti-inflammatory drug known as Vioxx, settled 45,000- 50,000 outstanding personal injury lawsuits for it's defective and deadly medication. The settlement, after thousands of hours of negotiations with attorneys representing family members of deceased or permanently injured patients from every state in the country, totalled $4.8 billion. It's the largest defective drug settlement in U.S. history to date.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Drugs, Medical Devices and Implants.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Medical Study Reveals Very Disturbing Findings About Doctors

Evan Rosen — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:45:16 GMT

According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, which surveyed more than 1,600 physicians in 2003 and 2004 for their recently published report, 46% of physicians admitted to not reporting serious medical errors that had been made. "There is a measurable disconnect between what physicians say they think is the right thing to do and what they actually do," said Eric Campbell of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who led the survey. Despite the numbers above, 96% of those surveyed said they should report all instances of incompetence or medical errors to the proper authorities. Again showing the disconnect, 93% said they should provide care regardless of a patient's ability to pay, yet only 69% treat uninsured patients.

Perhaps most disturbing, is the fact that only 31% of doctors underwent competency reviews in the past three years despite most agreeing it necessary in order to keep up with the rapid changes in medicine. Dr. James Thompson, CEO of the Federation of State Medical Boards, said there very few places where doctors can go to get updated training. Furthermore, medical boards are limited by their own bylaws from aggressively going after doctors who repeatedly commit malpractice and they do not have their own investigators to look into potential problems. All state medical boards can do is respond after there has already been an error and after it has been reported, which we now know doctors are only reporting errors about half of the time.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Doctor Infects Patients with Hepatitis Again!

Evan Rosen — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:39:38 GMT

Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, of Long Island, New York, has been allegedly misusing syringes which have led to another confirmed report of Hepatitis C in one of his patients. Despite 10 prior medical malpractice settlements and a 34 month investigation following the initial discovery of these safety procedure lapses, letters finally went out to 628 of his patients advising them of this serious health concern. Governor Spitzer found this to delay be "deeply troubling."

Furthermore, it's possible the doctor has been spreading HIV and other forms of blood-borne illnesses as well. To date, no disciplinary action has been taken against this Doctor.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen

Majority of Medical Malpractice Cases Close without Compensation Payments

Evan Rosen — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:46:26 GMT

Contrary to all the hype we hear in the news about a Medical Malpractice crisis, a recent report done by the US Department of Justice found that the majority of medical malpractice cases get resolved without a doctor or insurance company having to pay a dime. In Florida, two-thirds were closed out with a payout of less than $250,000 and only 10% resulted in a payout over one million.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Evan Rosen