Recent News
Medical liability defense costs skyrocket
The average cost of defending a physician against a medical liability claim rose 63% to more than $47,000 from 2001 to 2010, according to a December report from the American Medical Association. That rise came despite the fact that nearly two-thirds of all claims...
Survey: Docs Glum on Healthcare Reform
Most U.S. doctors believe that healthcare reform will increase use of public health insurance programs but will not reduce costs, according to results from a survey of 500 physicians by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. A total of 85% of respondents said they...
Reforming health reform
When President Barack Obama's health care reform was making its way through Congress,Republicans and other opponents registered plenty of criticisms: It was too generous, too inflexible and too centralized. But such concerns were brushed aside in the push to get a...
When the Doctor Faces a Lawsuit
Within months of completing my training, I received the call that every doctor dreads. "You've been named in a malpractice lawsuit," said the hospital administrator on the other end of the line. The family of a patient I had seen briefly a year before believed that a...
Malpractice Suits Cause Psychological Distress and Career Burnout Among U.S. Surgeons
Journal of the American College of Surgeons Study Reveals Malpractice Litigation Drives Profound Personal Implications, Including Depression and Low Career SatisfactionCHICAGO (November 14, 2011) – According to the results of a new study published in...
Medical liability concerns drive hospital admission decisions
Medical liability is a key reason physicians admit more emergency department patients and discharge them less, say two studies in the October Annals of Emergency Medicine. In one study, a survey of 849 emergency physicians and patients in two inner-city emergency...
Indiana doctors face challenge to medical liability cap
Indiana physicians continue to battle a legal challenge over the state's medical liability damages cap.Indiana Court of Appeals judges on Oct. 25 allowed a lawsuit against the cap to move forward, denying a request by Community Hospitals of Indiana to throw out...
Judge devises model for resolving medical malpractice cases more quickly
Medical malpractice lawsuits can be complicated, expensive and emotionally wrenching for patients, doctors and hospital officials alike. Now a program pioneered by a Bronx judge that speeds up the resolution of these cases is expanding into other parts of New York....
LIABILITY CAPS SPECIAL REPORT
Since Texas enacted comprehensive medical liability reform in 2003, including a constitutional amendment ratifying limitations on non-economic damages in medical liability lawsuits against health care providers, Texas has seen significant improvements in access to...
Liability premiums hold steady, but state disparities linger
For the sixth consecutive year, medical liability insurance premiums have eased across the country, with 55% of rates in 2011 holding steady.While most rates remained stable, data from the annual Medical Liability Monitor survey show 30% of premiums dropped -- twice...