Personal Injury Law

The Truth about Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

President Obama was able to tap into a large vein of public support when he suggested that he is open to reforming medical malpractice laws. Many people believe that medical inflation is the result of doctors needing to practice ?defensive medicine? to avoid medical malpractice lawsuits. However, numerous studies have showed that the costs associated with malpractice lawsuits make up to 1% to 2% of the nation?s $2.5 trillion annual healthcare bill. The authors of a new report released by Northwestern?s Kellogg School of Management concluded that comprehensive, nationwide reforms would lower health-care costs by 2.3% at most. While doctors complain that malpractice premiums can run up to $250,000 a year and that 5% of their costs are directly attributable to malpractice premiums, a study by the Congressional Budget Office estimated that malpractice premiums and awards represent less than 2% of overall health-care spending. Texas has enacted some of the most extensive malpractice reforms. While their number of lawsuits has fallen in half, health-care costs are still among the highest in the country. To read more about the medical malpractice opinion, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on September 26, 2009 (boomark / email).