| You may have seen articles and news stories | | | | "Crisis") include: |
| claiming that "runaway jury awards" and | | | | |
| "greedy trial lawyers" are causing medical | | | | * The number of medical malpractice payments |
| malpractice premiums to skyrocket, thereby | | | | made on behalf of Washington doctors declined |
| driving doctors out of Washington State. | | | | 35.6 percent between 1999 and 2004. |
| Doctors around the state are "demanding" that | | | | |
| our two Senators and state legislators enact | | | | * There was a 42.2 percent drop in the total |
| "caps" on jury verdicts to prevent | | | | value of Washington doctors' medical |
| malpractice relates from rising. THESE CLAIMS | | | | malpractice payments between 1997 and 2004, |
| ARE FALSE. | | | | when adjusted for medical inflation. The |
| | | | inflation-adjusted peak in 1997 was $50.7 |
| A number of studies reveal the truth---that | | | | million, compared with $29.3 million in 2004. |
| caps on damages DO NOT reduce insurance | | | | The drop between 2002 and 2004 was 30.6 |
| premiums. Caps on damages only restrict the | | | | percent. |
| rights of patients who have been seriously | | | | |
| injured at the hands of a negligent | | | | The number of million-dollar payments has |
| physician. Most insurers continue to increase | | | | declined from a high of 10 in 1997 to two in |
| malpractice premiums at a rapid pase, | | | | 2004; jury verdicts have remained flat at |
| regardless of damage caps on medical | | | | about 3.2 percent of all payments since 1991. |
| malpractice lawsuits. | | | | |
| | | | * Rather than providing windfalls to |
| Over the past year and a half, Texas, | | | | patients with minor injuries, Washington |
| Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio, Mississippi and | | | | doctors' malpractice payments overwhelmingly |
| Nevada have tried to solve their state's | | | | benefit those most seriously injured by |
| insurance problems by limiting injured | | | | doctors. The most serious cases account for |
| consumers' right to sue in court (so-called | | | | 84.9 percent of all payments made, compared |
| "tort reform"). It has failed every time. The | | | | to only 15.1 percent of all payments for |
| reason is: the causes and solutions to | | | | minor injuries. |
| insurance problems lie with the insurance | | | | |
| industry, not the legal system. | | | | * The population-adjusted number of |
| | | | malpractice filings is down 23.1 percent |
| The number and value of medical malpractice | | | | since 1995, dropping from 9.41 per 100,000 |
| payments made to patients on behalf of | | | | people in 1995 to 7.24 in 2004. |
| Washington doctors have declined | | | | |
| significantly, according to an analysis of | | | | Malpractice payouts attributable to |
| federal government information released today | | | | obstetrics cases ' doctors say OBs are among |
| by the national consumer group Public | | | | the hardest hit by lawsuits ' are down |
| Citizen. | | | | significantly. The number of payments |
| | | | attributable to OB cases fell 25.4 percent |
| Key findings in the Public Citizen report | | | | between 1994 and 2004, while the value |
| (Fewer Lawsuits and More Doctors: The Myths | | | | plummeted by 65.9 percent. |
| of Washington State's Medical Malpractice | | | | |