The Medical Liability Crisis
Talking Points
from the American Medical Association
THE PROBLEM
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Our nation’s medical liability system is broken.
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Skyrocketing medical liability premiums - $200,000 a year or more in some high-risk specialties – are forcing physicians to limit services, retire early, or move to a state with reforms where premiums are more stable.
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This crisis is threatening access to care for patients in states without liability reforms.
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The AMA has found that our nation has a full-blown crisis in at least a dozen states: Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and West Virginia. A crisis is looming in more than 30 other states.
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In crisis states, some ob-gyns have been forced to stop delivering babies, trauma centers have closed, and physicians are grappling with how they can continue to provide other high-risk procedures.
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Escalating jury awards and the high cost of defending against lawsuits – even frivolous ones – are driving the premium increases, with devastating results for patients.
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According to Jury Verdict Research, the media jury award increased 43 percent in just one year (1999-2000). More than half of all jury awards today top $1 million, and the average jury award has increased to $3.5 million.
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The truth is – every American pays the price for this country’s liability crisis.
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The AMA has always held that those who have been harmed by negligence should be fairly compensated. Unfortunately, the current liability system has failed patients.
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The United States has created a “lawsuit lottery,” where a few patients and their lawyers receive astronomical awards, and many others suffer access to care problems because of it.
THE SOLUTION
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Liability reform is AMA’s top legislative priority for 2003.
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The vast majority of Americans support liability reform. An overwhelming 78% say they are concerned about the impact rising liability costs have on access to care, and 73% support a law that caps ‘pain and suffering’ awards. (Wirthlin Worldwide, 2002)
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The spiraling costs generated by our nation’s dysfunctional liability system are borne by everyone. We need a system that ensures fair compensation and puts an end to the “lawsuit lottery.”
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The common sense reforms we support are not part of some untested theory; they work.
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The California law known as MICRA has worked in that state for more than 25 years. The law has proven fair to patients and effective at stabilizing the medical liability system in California.
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Since 1976 premiums across the nation have increased three times faster than in California. The reforms have saved Californians more than one billion dollars a year.
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For example, an ob-gyn in California (where reforms are in place) pays about $57,000 a year for insurance. That same ob-gyn in Florida (no reforms) pays $210,000 for liability insurance - a dramatic difference.
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In addition to stabilizing out-of-control liability premiums, reforms like those in California will help patients get awards and settlements faster and ensure that patients (not lawyers) receive the more of the awards.
Information compiled from various
sources
by the
Duval
County Medical Society
and North Florida Surgeons
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