Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Rounds Up News Related to Malpractice in Five States

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 30 Jul 2005 - 2:00 PDT

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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report rounds up recent developments related to malpractice in five states. Summaries appear below.

• Massachusetts: A group of physicians, patients and executives from Harvard Medical School's major teaching hospitals has begun circulating a 50-page draft of a disclosure policy that includes procedures for how physicians can acknowledge and apologize for medical errors and other results, the Boston Globe reports. Harvard's hospitals already have policies on handling unanticipated medical outcomes, but the policies vary widely, and implementation and training is not consistent. The draft disclosure policy would create a uniform response across the Harvard system to such situations. According to doctors who have seen the draft, the policy states that patients should be compensated for expenses related to medical injuries. Details on how such expenses would be paid have yet to be determined. Lucian Leape, a Harvard professor and national specialist on patient safety who is leading the group, would not disclose other details of the recommendations but said, "I'm trying to get all the Harvard hospitals to adopt the policy. The time has come to be open with our patients" (Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, 7/24).
  


• Missouri: Medical malpractice insurers in Missouri and Illinois raised premiums last year even though they paid out "substantially less in claims on behalf of their physician customers," according to a new report by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The report found that Missouri's malpractice insurers' loss ratio -- the ratio between the amount companies project they will pay out and the amount in premiums they collect -- decreased by nearly 35% last year. In Illinois, the companies' loss ratio decreased more than 14%, according to the report. The report also found that malpractice insurers in Illinois took in 13% more in premiums last year, while direct losses increased only 3%. At the same time, Missouri companies' premiums increased 8.4% while direct losses dropped 26%. Critics of the insurers said the study shows the companies are "gouging doctors," the Post-Dispatch reports. However, industry officials said the report does not include important costs, such as estimated future expenses and hospitals that self-insure (Sorkin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/24).
  


• Virginia: Some Virginia physicians who have lobbied lawmakers for two years to impose caps on noneconomic damage awards in malpractice cases have decided instead to advocate for the creation of special courts that would address only malpractice and medical negligence cases, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. "The votes just aren't there" to pass legislation that would cap noneconomic damages at $250,000, attorney Scott Johnson, who represents physicians in the Medical Society of Virginia, said. MSV President David Ellington said that while premium increases are hurting physicians, the "real need is to develop a (judicial) system that is fair and equitable." He added that physicians "must accept that there is negligence occurring and injured persons deserve compensation." However, according to the Times-Dispatch, Ellington added that the current malpractice system is difficult for many patients to access, gives up to half of award amounts to attorneys and experts and can prolong cases for years (McKelway, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7/23).
  


• Washington, D.C.: Mayor Anthony Williams on Wednesday announced the launch of a citywide advertising campaign that seeks to "educat[e] residents about a looming medical malpractice crisis," the Washington Times reports. The campaign, titled "Keep Your Doctor in D.C.," is funded by America's Health Insurance Plans. It will feature placards in buses and Metro stations and ads in local publications. One of the ads, titled "Busted," says, "With the money D.C. residents will spend this year on the medical liability crisis, the District could hire 3,463 new police officers" (Redding, Washington Times, 7/28). The premise of the ads is that "skyrocketing insurance premiums, jury awards and the practice of 'defensive medicine' add as much as $250 million a year to the health care bills of city residents," the Washington Post reports. Williams "rebuffed suggestions that those claims are misleading because the dollars at issue are not public funds," according to the Post (Washington Post, 7/28). Williams said, "Today marks the beginning of the end of the medical-liability crisis that is gripping the District's patients and doctors." According to the Times, Williams is trying to "garner support" for his malpractice reform bill. The bill, which is unlikely to pass the city council, in most cases would cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits against physicians at $250,000 and would cap noneconomic damages in lawsuits against hospitals at $500,000. The proposal has the support of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia but is opposed by the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington (Washington Times, 7/28).
  


• Wisconsin: It is unclear how many lawsuits will be affected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court's ruling earlier this month that found the state's cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits to be unconstitutional, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. As a result, medical malpractice is expected to "again become an issue" in the state, and some groups that support caps have indicated they will lobby state lawmakers to pass a cap that can "withstand legal challenges," the Journal-Sentinel reports. Theresa Wedekind, director of Wisconsin's Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund -- which pays damage awards in excess of $1 million -- said the only way to determine the effects of the ruling on doctors' malpractice insurance premiums will be "through actuarial projections and time" (Boulton, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 7/23).
  

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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