Personal Injury Law

Medical Malpractice Caps Won?t Stop Rising Health Spending

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Currently 75% of the country believes that we should have health care reform. Republicans are trying to use this need for change to introduce tort reform and medical malpractice caps. They are using a new Congressional Budget Office report that said tort reform could save $41 billion over the next decade to tout their proposals. However, in the world of health care $41 billion is similar to a tiny drop in a large ocean. In the next decade, heath care spending will increase by $2 trillion. The projected savings from capping malpractice awards only works out to a 2 percent reduction in what the country would otherwise spend.

The GOP is missing the fact that malpractice caps hurt vulnerable victims of medical error. Economic damages represent the largest part of malpractice awards. These damages pay for things such as lost wages and future medical costs. Malpractice awards need to be suited specifically to aide the victim. If there are malpractice caps, patients will never be able to care for themselves and their family members. Republicans believe that malpractice caps would reduce the amount of ?frivolous? malpractice cases. However, a recent Harvard study shows that fewer than half of the patients who suffer physician reviewed medical error. Lawmakers should be concentrating on making the system fairer to doctors and patients. They should look to reducing the 98,000 deaths that occur each year due to medical error.

Illinois recently passed a landmark decision that declared medical malpractice caps unconstitutional. Illinois has upheld the right decision that puts patient?s rights in front of insurance greed.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on February 21, 2010 (boomark / email).