Lawsuits

[SHRED]

The reich-wing is always bashing the ability of us to have judicial redress through the courts.
They believe the msm lies that look at lawsuits as people cashing in on the 'lottery'. I actually had a Libertarian argue that to me.

What I want is some quality links to articles/studies that disprove this. I know the allegedly outlandish lawsuits make it into the msm but, many times, the details are left out along with the outcome.

Any reality check sites?
Thanks

[Jon8503]

1. MALPRACTICE INSURANCE: Study finds payouts rose 5.7%, but rates for doctor

up 120%

Agree with you, here is the latest which I have always believed, it is the insurance companies not the lawyers driving up med costs.

Associated Press
Published July 8, 2005

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The rates insurers charge physicians for medical malpractice coverage rose dramatically over the past five years, but the amount insurers paid out in claims did not, according to a study from a consumer advocacy group.

The study, released Thursday by the Center for Justice & Democracy, found that malpractice rates increased by 120 percent from 2000 through 2004, while the amount of money paid in claims went up by 5.7 percent.

"This is wacky," said Jay Angoff, a former insurance commissioner in Missouri during the 1990s and the primary author of the study. "Now what's the insurance companies' defense to this?"

Insurers criticized the study's methodology, saying it failed to take into account other costs insurance firms face, such as underwriting. Larry Smarr, president of the Maryland-based Physician Insurers Association of America, said if those costs had been included, it would have shown a much different picture.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0507080246jul08,1,1635804.story?coll=chi-business-hed

[DU9598]

2. Try here

<http://www.atla.org/homepage/bizvsbiz03.aspx>

[acmejack]

3. Hopefully, these will help

[SHRED]

4. Thanks all!!

I think I hit him up pretty good here.

-------------------------

Copy of part of my thread on another board:


Quote:

If you think I am going to shed a tear over ANY caps on damages, think again. One of this country's problems is that people think they hit the lottery when they are purposely or indvertantly harmed by someone else. Just look at some of the crackpot cases that make it through our courts. My favorite is still the guy that thought the cruise control on his new RV meant autopilot. He got himself damages and a brand new RV in the lawsuit.

<My response>

uhhh... that never happened.

http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

"Anecdotes of bizarre lawsuits buzzed on the Internet, and major media outlets like U.S. New and World Report picked up on the stories without fact checking. Conservative columnists at smaller papers also ran with these urban legends of runaway jury verdicts. Did you hear the one about the man who sued Winnebago after setting his R.V. on cruise control and going to the back to make some coffee? How was he supposed to know the R.V. would crash? The fact that the incident never happened didn’t stop papers like the Weirton Daily Times in West Virginia from printing the story in a column calling for tort “reform.”"


Facts vs. Myth:

http://www.atla.org/homepage/bizvsbiz03.aspx

http://www.citizen.org/documents/BushDistortionFactSheet12-15-04.pdf

http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF2102/Mencimer/Mencimer.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.mencimer.html

http://reclaimdemocracy.org/articles_2004/study_debunks_lawsuit_explosion.html

http://www.rkmc.com/article.asp?articleId=231

McDonald's Case:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0122-11.htm

http://www.citizen.org/congress/civjus/tort/myths/articles.cfm?ID=785

http://www.atla.org/ActivistCenter/Tier3/TalkingPoints/Issues.aspx#fl

[chicagomd]

5. From a Malpractice perspective-this is long:

Let me give try and give you some "real world" insight on this, at least form the view of a physician. As a practicing Pediatrician in Illinois (one of the "crisis" states) things are not so bad for me. However, I am in a very low liability aspect of medicine. The "value" of my practice is significantly less than other medical fields.

The major issue that doctors face in the "lawsuit" world is the one of malpractice suits, but more burdensom is malpractice insurance. As noted in many of your links, physicians are seeing massive increases in insurance rates that do not seem to correlate to anything at all. I have friends who have been in practice for 20 years, have NEVER been involved in any lawsuits, and see annual increases of 20%-100% in their malpractice rates. (The 100% increase is not a joke. One of my mentors in a Pulmonologist and his malpractice when from $20,000 to $40,000 a year.) Not to mention the fact that many carriers are getting out of the Med/Mal business altogether.

One of the major problems is you cannot just leave your insurance carrier and shop around for better rates. The main barrier to doing this is what is called a "tail" policy. Basically, your new carrier is responsible to cover you for ALL previous patients that MIGHT sue you. This comes from the fact almost all policies are now "claims made", which is a term describing a policy that your CURRENT provider covers you for any lawsuit that is brough against you while you are under their policy, regardlss of the timing of the occurance that prompted the suit. This "tail" policy (for these previous patients) costs around 3 times your anual premium, and usually must be paid within 3 years of taking out a new policy.

In real world terms:
Lets say you are an Ob/Gyn in private practice. You pay, on average, around $120,000 a year in malpractice insurance. You decide, for whatever reason, to move. To get a new insurance policy, in addition to the new preium, you would have to come up with $360,000 in equity to make the move.

Obviously, you have to be careful of everything you read on the internet...no matter if you agree with the politics behind it or not. The statement that in fact most doctors are not "fleeing" certian states is true, but is somewhat misleading. The fact of the matter is that physicians that are in high liability professions ARE leaving those states. Illinois does not have a neurosurgeon downstate. OB/Gyns are leaving to go to Indiana (has caps) and Wisconson (not sure) becuase by crossing the border their malpractice drops by up to 60%. The vast majority of physicians are general practice (Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Practice), do not have deep pockets, do not have a lot of "high risk" procedures, and thus are not as effected by these issues. A population that can support 10-15 general practices, might only be able to support, say, one Cardiologist.

The majority of physicians discuss malpractice caps as the FIRST steps to decreasing malpractice insurance. Why? Becuase that is the line we are fed from the insurance companies that raise our rates, just like the trial lawyers fed everyone the "lawsuits are good" line to anyone that will listen. Because up until recently, no one else was offering any other ideas to help curb a "crisis" that the medical profession has seen coming for the past 4 years. Most importantly from a political prospective, it was what was being offered by the GOP, who also was the only party that was even talking about it in the last election. The Democratic Party in Illinois is so strongly funded by the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the majority of physicians I know do not even consider voting democratic on a local level.

As someone who has voted Democratic at a national level for my entire life, it was very trying for me this past election. Eventually Kerry/Edwards got my vote becuase I feel our President should be able to, at least, carry on a conversation in his native languagge. But to me and many other physicians, Edwards represents everything that is wrong in the legal system: A good attorney with no scientific training that goes after doctors because of the money.

If malpractice attornies were really interested in changing medicine, they would push for regulatory changes, and would never settle a case. And as far as the "there are really not that many lawsuits" claim: 94% of Ob/Gyns get have a lawsuit brought against them on average of every 4 years. Even if it never goes to trial it costs the physician time, money, stress, and often times leads to an increase in malpractice preiums. Do peoople really think 94% of Ob/Gyns are incompetent? Of course not. But a sick kid is a goldmine in front of a jury, and the lawyers know it.

So what is the answer? I am not sure. But at this point, most physicians see ANYTHING, even unproven malpractice caps, as an improvement.

[lonestarnot]

6. Try this

http://www.iatl.net/deans/80_crossroads_1.asp

[chicagomd]

7. old article

Great read, from 1980.

[lonestarnot]

9. old is good! LOL sorry didn't have more time.

[seabeyond]

8. i dont like the outlandish lawsuits. i dont like someone

whining about nothing and suing. i have never liked it. i have never sued someone. i dont like any of it. and i dont validate it. it is an abuse. there are too many people, ect.....being fucked that need the system

it is stupid for the republicans to bitch about it. i hear them trump suing, and watch our republican representitives suing people all over the place. i see lazy republicans lying and whining and suing as much as any lazy ass liberal. i dont like all of the abuse. i equally hear them on all sides.

cut out the frivilous law suits, you are f*in with the repugs too.

on the other hand. to allow corps so much power is going to fuck those dumb shit repugs also. the ones demanding restraints put on consumer, yet abusing the system too.........are going to be fucked by corp grabbing us by the balls cause they have all the power.

they are doing it now. i am listening to my limbaugh brother bitch about it all the way. i tell him to suck it up. he is the one demanding corp get all the power. dumb shit, this is the result

talking to cox yesterday and knowing laws being changed for them. watching as a business and individual, cox's abuse of customer. the employee saying no way we would do this to you. i challenge him, i say, .....i think they did. will you be pissed if your company did

i have the money to bend over and be butt fucked. i can still buy my way out. all the low income repug rootin for bush, are not going to have the cash to buy the jelly.

crude enough. this is the repug language. they understand this crudeness

i am so irrate about this right now. just had huge ass conversation yesterday about this. and wasting my time to prove my innocence,.....here, not worth it. take my credit card

as employee assures me..........fuck the assurance. i dont trust