Medical Malpractice Caps are Unwarranted by the Payout of Claims Data
Each year, the debate in state legislatures around this country regarding the so called need for tort reform and caps on medical malpractice cases intensifies. Big medical corporations and insurance companies, who are only motivated about increasing premium revenue and decreasing payments to victims, lead the fight with big dollar lobbying campaigns. Unfortunately, these lobbying efforts rarely contain accurate facts and figures and in the end, leave innocent victims of malpractice with little or no recourse for even blatent acts of malpractice.
One of the favorite arguments of the proponents of caps of damages is the alleged increased cost of physician premiums which they erroneously suggest are caused by big money payouts. However, published statistics for state health facts and figures debunk this myth. The StateHealthFacts.org website, sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation, reports that in the year 2005, the average medical malpractice payment totalled only $290,982 for the 14,021 reportedly paid claims. Highlights of this state by state breakdown on the number of paid claims showed that New York led the nation with 1,768 paid claims and was followed by California (1,117), Florida (1,095), Pennsylvania (1,061), and Texas (1,018).
Many states were well below the small national $290,000 payout. Louisiana, which had 299 paid claims in 2005, only averaged $185,897 per paid claim. Similarly, Texas only paid an average of $182,795. Michigan, which paid 451 claims averaged $130,412 per payout. South Carolina averaged $161,092 on 171 paid claims.
These documented facts and figures, compiled by an independent and reliable source, certainly dispell the notion that medical malpractice payouts in this country each year are not "runaway verdictsor payments" that require special legislation to "reel in the trial lawyers."