United Press International Talks With Trial Lawyer's President on Medical Malpractice Tort Reform
In an article entitled: CostRx: Kill all the tort reformers? United Press International interviewed the president of the Amercian Trial Lawyer's Association, Kenneth Suggs, regarding the so called medical malpractice crisis in this country. In this article, Suggs points out that the medical malpractice reform issue has been heightened by the fact that the head of the Senate, Bill Frist, also a cardiothoracic surgeon, has his sights set on the White House and bringing this issue forward helps his fundraising efforts.
Suggs also points out that for more than 10 years, medical malpractice payouts have remained flat. In other words they have not risen, yet insurance premiums continue to skyrocket out of control.
Suggs states:
medical malpractice premiums are going up, so where is that money going? And the fact is , it's going into insurance companies' pockets. If you read the insurance company newsletters now, you'll see reports of insurance companies--quote and unquote--cannibalizing each other's business to get those (medical malpractice) premium dollars, because the relation between premiums and payouts is so good.
Suggs also dispelled the notion that physicians are leaving states in masses as a result of high premiums and practicing defensive medicine due to fear of lawsuits:
First of all, the difficulty with our position is that it requires people to think and to look at the facts, rather than to react emotionally. It's easy to react emotionally when doctors get together and say, 'Gosh, obstetricians are leaving the state.' Well, they've said that about every single state, so, number one, where is it that they are going? If they're leaving any kind of state, they're going somewhere, because there's more OBGYNs in America now--25 percent more--than there were in 1990.
Finally, Suggs makes the case that the injured victim deserves more than mere payment of his economic expenses associated with the medical mistake.
The person who is hurt, who has had their life changed for the much worse, certainly don't they deserve some kind of compensation for putting up with that? Or are we just going to say, 'No, all we care about is economics and insurance premiums and making insurance executives rich, so that (injured) person is just going to have to suck it up.' That's not the American way. The American way is to make the person who did the harm responsible for all the harm, not just part of the harm.