Several states have recently enacted “medical malpractice reform” which places arbitrary caps on damages awards. Those in favor of such caps argue that doctors will no longer have to worry about “frivolous lawsuits” and “higher malpractice insurance premiums.” This is wrong because arbitrary damages caps will not accomplish either of those goals. Instead, these proposals harm victims who are left with life-changing injuries and shield negligent medical providers for the injuries they cause.

Arbitrary damages caps are easy to believe in when you or a family member have never been a victim, or worked with victims, of medical negligence. The reality is that damage recovery in medical malpractice cases hardly compensates victims for their injuries or even death. Placing limits on these victim’s ability to obtain a “full” recovery (as impossible as that is) lets off the hook the negligent medical providers.
The idea of “reform” begs the question: why focus on limiting the recovery of a victim. The real problem is the huge number of medical negligence victims in the United States each year. True “reform” should address ways to reduce or eliminate medical malpractice victims. These medical mistakes injure and kill thousands of Americans every year. Some shocking statistics reveal the following:

In 1998, the Harvard Medical Practice Study published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that 98,000 people die as a result of malpractice committed in hospitals each year.

In 2000, the Institute of Medicine published an article entitled, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” which stated that in any given year, more people die as a result of medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents (43,458) or breast cancer (42,297) or AIDS (16,516).

In 2003, the Congressional Budget Office found that there were 181,000 severe injuries attributable to medical negligence.
In 2004, HealthGrades, the nation’s leading health care rating organization, found that “The United States loses more American lives to patient safety incidents every six months than it did in the entire Vietnam War. This also equates to three fully loaded jumbo jets crashing every other day for the last five years.”

In November 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported, “An estimated 1.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced an event that contributed to their death, which projects to 15,000 patients in a single month.”

In January of 2011, the obstetrics department of the Cornell Weill/Columbia Presbyterian Obstetrics and Gynecology Department in New York City published a study that showed that they had reduced their malpractice premiums, and more importantly, their malpractice claims by an astounding 99 percent by simply re-examining and redoing their policies and procedures. There was no cap placed on their creativity.
(taken from http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2011/06/medical_profession_at_fault_fo.html)
As the Cornell Weill study demonstrates, reducing malpractice claims and insurance premiums is done most effectively by the medical industry itself. As with attorneys, it only takes a few bad doctors/hospitals/medical boards who allow repeat incidents to drive up insurance costs for everyone else. If lower malpractice claims and insurance premiums are the goal, then stricter self-policing and better medical practices by medical professionals and medical boards is the best way of making sure that costly accidents are reduced or eliminated.

Doctors who cause life-altering injuries or death must be held accountable not off the hook and shielded from their wrongdoing.
“Medical malpractice reform” such as damage caps are not the answer. Medical and insurance costs are more likely to be effectively controlled through reforms and reducing medical mistakes rather than through placing artificial caps on the recovery of the people who did nothing wrong. New Hampshire victims of medical mistakes are at risk now because the issue to impose caps on damages may be brought up in the New Hampshire legislature. The insurance companies and doctors have powerful lobbies at the State House and may try to place caps on a victim’s ability to recover in New Hampshire.

If you or a family member has been harmed by a medical mistake or negligence, please give us a call at 800-240-1988 or fill out on online contact form. We have experienced attorneys who may be able to help you and your family.

It is common knowledge that a driver or passenger of a vehicle that is rear-ended can sustain injuries, such as whiplash, neck pain, or back pain. However the damage to the vehicle may be slight especially depending on what types of vehicles were involved in the crash. Any low impact crash can yield serious injuries without substantial damage to the car. However, the insurance companies do not want you to know that and unless you have been in a low impact crash yourself, you too may think that if the car wasn’t badly damaged, how could its passengers and driver? Simple. You wouldn’t want to put your hand or your head in between two cars in a low impact crash. Would you? The cars may not sustain much damage but your hand or head certainly would.

CNN has done a report on such low impact claims. Their article reports that insurance companies have a strategy to deny, delay and defend. Their objective is to make it so expensive to recover from an accident that lawyers will refuse to take low impact cases.

It is noteworthy that in the age of “Tort Reform,” none of the money saving strategies of the insurance companies have impacted premiums. It would be reasonable to think that if the insurance companies are not paying out on claims then their insureds would not have to pay as much in premiums, but that is not the case. The insurance companies want you to believe that they pass the savings along to you, while they pocket the extra money.

Interestingly enough, you have probably seen a bunch of new auto insurance ads on cable. These ads promote one of two things, either: a) you will get the cheapest deal – and they fail to mention that you get what you pay for and b) their company will take care of you. They even have testimonials from people about how their company helped them. The average person will fail to notice that most of these testimonials are about car repairs, car rentals, and property damage claims. If you have been injured in an accident, and need to make a bodily injury claim and don’t have a good attorney on your side, GOOD LUCK! If you have been injured in any kind of automobile accident, contact Douglas, Leonard & Garvey for a free initial consultation. We will fight for your rights. Call 1-800-240-2988 or fill out on online contact form.