DJP Update 1-20-2011 Medical Liability hearing in Congress – House Judiciary Committee
A tip of the hat to Dr. Peter Lavine and Katie Orrico for these alerts below about the hearing in Congress.
DJP Comment: Imagine if a surgeon who operated for suspected appendicitis had an 82% incidence of normal appendix on pathology report. The surgeon would be brought before the tissue committee for evaluation of privileges.
Yet the plaintiff attorneys nationwide file suits against doctors and 82% are closed without payment. And the doctor wins 87% of the cases that go to trial. How about some peer review for attorneys! And don’t start me on the contingency fee. We don’t charge plaintiff attorneys a percent of their lifetime earnings when we save their lives. We should have the same ethical standards. For clients without money, maybe government legal care would be in order and pay the attorneys a price-fixed amount per hour related to the SGR. Or the attorney could take the case and get paid by the hour if the attorney wins the case. That would bring about some careful evaluation of the case before accepting it. Frivolous suits would drop dramatically. My comments from 1975 about contingency fees can be found on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/IntrepidResources
Here is the documentation for the trial wins and claims closed without payment.
The Doctors Company is the largest national insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability. It is a reciprocal insurance company. Mutual and reciprocal insurance companies are owned by their policyholders and have no stockholders.
The Doctors Company 2008 Annual Report, on page 15, states: -The Doctors Company paid no indemnity on 82 percent of the claims made against its members.-On claims that go to trial, more than 87 percent result in member victory.
The 2008 annual report is at: http://thedoctors.com/ecm/groups/public/@tdc/@web/@co/documents/publication/con_id_002802.pdf
Full disclosure: I am on the Board of Governors of The Doctors Company. One also can get statistics from the government that are in sync with these results.
NOW THE HEARING:
On Thursday, January 20, 2011, the House Judiciary Committee held the first hearing following the PPACA repeal vote dedicated to an element of the “replacement” bill – medical liability reform. The hearing was entitled: “Medical Liability Reform – Cutting Costs, Spurring Investment, Creating Jobs.”
-Health Coalition on Liability and Access witness: Stu Weinstein, MD, a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon from Iowa. Testimony can be downloaded at: http://www.protectpatientsnow.org/weinstein-testimony
-AMA witness: Ardis Hoven, MD, the chair of the AMA Board of Trustees. Testimony at: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/399/ama-statement-medical-liability-reform-2011.pdf
-PIAA: submitted written testimony from Larry Smarr. It is at: http://www.piaa.us/Home/AM/ContentManagerNet/ContentDisplay.aspx?Section=Home&ContentID=7378
-Center for Justice and Democracy testified and opposed medical liability reform. Testimony at: http://www.centerjd.org/archives/issues-facts/CJDJudiciary2011testimonyF.pdf
By the way, their Website is: http://www.centerjd.org/
Webcast was available at: http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/calweek.html but I can’t get any copies to download.
MODERN HEALTHCARE
Posted: January 20, 2011 – 3:00 pm ET
Clash over malpractice reform at hearing
Tags: Associations, Physicians, Policy
While testifying during a medical liability reform hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, American Medical Association Board Chair Dr. Ardis Hoven said the current legal environment (PDF) has become increasingly irrational, is unfair and costly to physicians and patients and has created a “culture of fear” that discounts doctors’ clinical judgment and leads to defensive medicine practices that add between $70 billion and $126 billion to the nation’s annual health bill.
Similarly, Dr. Stuart Weinstein, a professor of pediatrics and orthopedic surgery at the University of Iowa, called defensive medicine the “antithesis of healthcare reform” and argued that it drives up costs while decreasing access to care, resulting in a situation in which half of the country’s counties lack a practicing obstetrician.
Not all who testified echoed Hoven’s and Weinstein’s comments. Joanne Doroshow, executive director of the New York-based Center for Justice & Democracy, said caps on damages lower incentives to provide quality healthcare and that despite an “epidemic” of medical malpractice, malpractice claims are in steep decline.
Some Republican representatives took Doroshow to task for not disclosing where her organization’s funding originates. Hoven was grilled by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) about whether the billions of dollars she cited as the cost of defensive medicine constituted fraud if the tests being ordered were, in fact, medically unnecessary. Hovan replied that the issue was that courts dismiss physicians’ clinical judgments about whether the tests and procedures generating these costs are necessary.
Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va) noted that the military uses modeling and simulations to predict the outcomes of assorted scenarios and said malpractice damage limits in place in California and Texas represent “two monstrous demonstration projects” showing the success of caps.
“I have never had a constituent come to me and say ‘I cannot find a trial lawyer,'” Forbes said.
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), however, cited cases of a woman suffering brain damage after undergoing a partial thyroidectomy and another who was infected with hepatitis C after kidney-stone surgery.
“Is that worth $250,000?” Johnson asked, citing California’s cap on noneconomic damages. “No it’s worth a whole lot more than that.”
Representatives also brought up whether this issue should be left for individual states to settle and if a “loser-pays” provision might deter individuals from filing frivolous lawsuits.
Read more: Clash over malpractice reform at hearing – Modern Physician http://www.modernphysician.com/article/20110120/MODERNPHYSICIAN/301209925/1205#ixzz1BchYHQt1
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Stay well,
Donald
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Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
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