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Sunday, April 08, 2007

Ind. Law - Monitoring malpractice

Michael Schroeder of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette writes today on Indiana's medical malpractice law. The subhead to the article is "By discouraging lawsuits and capping damages, Indiana’s system either controls costs – or it makes the injured suffer even more." The very long article begins:

Indiana is one of 20 states that use panelists, usually doctors, to judge other doctors and medical professionals accused of malpractice. The panels are not conducted in a public forum. In fact, there’s no requirement that the panelists ever meet.

The panels are part of a system designed to filter out frivolous claims. Filter it does: About two-thirds of panel opinions unanimously find no malpractice. And those decisions are key.

With an adverse panel opinion you can go to court, but you might not find a lawyer to take your case. A favorable ruling might get you a trial or settlement, but you’re entitled to no more than $250,000 from malpractice insurers. For more money you have to go through a special state fund that caps awards at $1.25 million, regardless of your medical bills. You would have no such limit in all but three other states.

For Hoosiers who claim malpractice, the result is a prolonged process – consistently among the longest in the U.S. – that discourages some patients from pursuing malpractice claims while making Indiana an attractive place for doctors to work.

Proponents say the system is doing what it’s designed to do: screening cases and keeping malpractice costs under control.

Between 2003 and 2005, nearly $254.4 million was paid out in malpractice payments in Indiana, according to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which maintains disciplinary and malpractice records for health professionals. That’s about $40.30 per resident, putting Indiana in the middle among all states. Per physician that is $17,550, placing the state 17th highest.

But many patients * * * and their attorneys believe the system favors doctors over patients.

A companion story today, also by Schroeder, begins:
A small percentage of doctors account for the majority of malpractice payments made in the U.S. and many go unpunished by their state medical boards.

While board officials say they take necessary action to protect the public – including emergency license suspensions – consumer group Public Citizen is calling for reform. That includes putting more non-doctors on boards.

In a report published in March, Washington, D.C.-based Public Citizen analyzed malpractice payment and disciplinary action figures from the National Practitioner Data Bank for 1990 to 2005. It found that 5.9 percent of U.S. doctors make 57.8 percent of medical malpractice payments. In addition, two-thirds of doctors who made 10 or more malpractice payments were not disciplined.

The Report referenced was published in January 2007 - access it here. In March, 2007, Public Citizen published a one-page "Quick Facts on Medical Malpractice Issues."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 8, 2007 09:04 AM
Posted to Indiana Law