This Makes Me Sick : Senate Pleas, Docs Return and A Liability IPO

May 11, 2006

Senate Pleas, Docs Return and A Liability IPO

Medical Liability Linkage
News_3 1) The gloves of the perfectly parted-haired senators are off. In light of the Senate shooting down med-mal caps—the GOP controls the action by the way— Sen. Rick Santorum, R-PA, keeps up the pleas. “Do we serve the patients and the doctors who wish to help them or do we serve the trial lawyers? By preventing debate and an up-or-down vote on these bills Monday evening, the Senate Democrats made their choice abundantly clear.” Read [The Hill]

2) Mississippi Gov. Haley R. Barbour says doctors are coming back to the state because the state’s principal medical liability carrier cut rates 5 percent and gave a 10 percent rebate. Interesting. Read [The Neshoba Democrat]

3) About 40 percent of the medical malpractice cases filed in the United States are groundless, according to a new Harvard analysis. How do you come to such a conclusion, you might ask? Researchers reviewed 1,452 malpractice claims randomly selected from five insurance companies. The cases were resolved between 1984 and 2004. The claims resulted in a combined $449 million in verdicts and settlements. Many of the lawsuits contained no evidence that a medical error was committed or that the patient suffered any injury. The majority of those cases were dismissed without payout. Read [Mercury News]

4) When it rains…. An eye surgeon in Tucson, Arizona convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder now is facing several medical malpractice lawsuits. Read [KPHO]

5) Sound investment? There’s a coming IPO of Darwin Professional Underwriters—they specialize in liability insurance for docs and hospitals. Some 5,217,391 common shares for about $15 are up for grabs. Business must be good. Hedge your bets people. Read [Hartford Courant]

08:43 AM in Frivolous lawsuits, In The News, Insurance Companies, Political Plays | Permalink

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• Fretted over rising malpractice premiums?
• Signed a truly unbelievable medical liability waiver?
• Faced a frivolous lawsuit?

• Dealt with a doctor or a hospital who wouldn't take responsiblity for their actions?
• Practiced defensive medicine?

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You don't say...

"This election destroyed a popular Karl Rove myth. The truth is that trial attorneys are winning, attacks on trial attorneys are backfiring and opponents of the civil justice system are losing."
The CEO of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America said.
"We have discovered that virtually all patients are willing to sign a contract in which they agree not to sue their doctors on frivolous grounds."
Jeffrey Segal, M.D, a board-certified neurosurgeon and the founder and president of Medical Justice Services, Inc., said.
"Low-risk obstetrics has been done here for 60 years, but not anymore."
Carl Hanson, chief operating officer of the county-run Minidoka Memorial Hospital in southern Idaho hospital's, explained as they get out of the baby business. Read
"I have children, and I don't know where they're at."
Rosalinda Elison, a former patient at the UC Irvine Medical Center’s fertility clinic, said after learning that that her eggs and embryos had been stolen and implanted in another woman who then gave birth to twins.

Read more You Don't Say, here.

Crisis by numbers:

$4.6 million
New York state grants available to expand the use of electronic medical records. Such initiatives have been hailed nationally as a way to cut medication errors, save money and improve patient safety. LINK
$700,000
Amount raised by Fairness and Accountability in Insurance Reform to oppose malpractice limits in Arizona. LINK
$450,000
Amount the Arizona Medical Association says Arizonans for Access to Health Care has raised to decide whether to push for montetary limits on lawsuits. LINK

Read more CRISIS BY NUMBERS, here.

This Makes Me Sick

May 11, 2006

Senate Pleas, Docs Return and A Liability IPO

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