Legal File: The Great Malpractice Debate
Cathy A. Klein MSN, MSEd, APN, Esq. Legal File Editor

$3.95 		The Nurse Practitioner: The American Journal of Primary Health Care
September 2004 
Volume 29  Number 9
Pages 53 - 53
 
  PDF Version Available!

ABSTRACT
Outline

  • Finding the Truth

  • What are Premiums For?

  • REFERENCES



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    The rising cost of malpractice insurance is a serious challenge facing today’s clinicians. The insurance industry justifies premium increases, claiming they have to make higher payouts due to the rise in frivolous lawsuits. Is this really the case?

    The Center for Justice and Democracy, a consumer advocacy group, has a different view of the situation: “It may be hard to understand why ‘tort reform’ is even on the national agenda at a time when insurance industry profits are booming and tort filings are declining. Only two percent of injured people actually sue for compensation, punitive damages are rarely awarded, liability insurance costs for businesses are minuscule, medical malpractice insurance and claims are both less than one percent of all healthcare costs in America, and premium-gouging underwriting practices of the insurance industry have been widely exposed.” 1

    Sixty cents of each dollar of premiums is spent on administrative and legal costs—not patient compensation.

    Finding the Truth

    There is no evidence that the increasing malpractice premiums are the result of increases in payments for malpractice claims. Furthermore, there are no representations that there will be a premium reduction if tort reforms are passed. 2

    A 1977 California study showed that 4.6 percent of hospitalizations involved iatrogenic injury. This study also discovered that only one out of 126 admissions involved injuries that could lead to findings of negligence in courts. 3 A mid-1980s study of New York hospitals yielded similar results. 4 The study revealed that while only 2 percent of negligent injuries resulted in claims, 17 percent of claims involved negligent injuries. 5

    What are Premiums For?

    Another question ...

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