Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

Consumer Health Day wrote last month about the unreliable use of patient death rates as a measure of the quality of a hospital.

The story explained how a new study from researchers a the Harvard Medical School examined varying measurement forms of patient death rates; researchers determined that they presented scattered scores for each individual hospital. Specifically, it was noted that mortality rates are examined in different ways by different hospitals, meaning that their comparison is often unhelpful.

As it now stands different “vendors” crease various measurement tools for hospital-wide death rates. The study used the same hospital and measured its score using different calculations made by each vendor. Over 2.5 million patients were analyzed in the study.

The study’s lead doctor explained, “It’s troubling that four different methods for calculating mortality rates as a measure of quality should yield such different results…common sense suggests that there is a problem.”

Thus, as is now stands there is no “gold standard” measurement upon which all others can be compared. Mortality rates remain a murky, subjective measure that is of little use to the average consumer looking to compare the quality of care provided at different facilities.

Continue reading "Experts Say Hospital Quality Measurements Need Improvement" »

One health authority is proactively taking steps to understand its mistakes of the past to ensure that future patient care is improved. The Winnipeg Free Press reported on the mortality review conducted by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority which examined the recurring themes found in an analysis of deaths in the area. The years-long study ultimately concluded that medical care could have been better in virtually half of the deaths.

Specifically, 44% of deaths resulted from one of 17 identified themes, including severe blood poisoning and procedural complications. The review of nearly 2,900 patient deaths found that nearly 300 resulted from hospital acquired infections (like pneumonia), nearly 200 from failure to promptly identify a patient problem, 188 from complications during patient transfer, and another 126 involving problems like falls and bedsores.

Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers have personally worked with many families who have lost loved ones to problematic medical care leading to just these sorts of issues. It is commendable for a health regulatory body to conduct a systematic analysis of past mistakes in an effort to understand the best ways to improve the quality of care at their facilities. It is the first step in making changes that will save countless lives.

As workers on the study explained, “You could only learn so much by examining one case in detail. There is potential for learning when you have a cluster of cases that come together and you look at them as a whole.”

All of this was sparked by a study which found that hospital deaths at these facilities were slightly above average. Previously, investigations into the causes of death occurred only when it was labeled a “critical incident.” But this latest comprehensive study examined the large swath of cases that are not officially labeled as such but represent similar traces of medical mistakes.

Overall, the study provided many specific examples of patient care that was far below that which any reasonable medical facility would be expected to provide. For example, one patient was transferred within and between hospitals 6 different times in a single day—dying shortly after the 6th transfer. In another case, a patient with signs of an abdomen emergency was required to wait over an hour and fifteen minutes before seeing a physician. The developing complications took his life shortly after.

House Democrats achieved a great feat last night by reshaping the American health care system to extend insurance coverage to almost 32 million people. The 219-212 vote secures a historic win for President Obama. The president stated that this isn’t radical reform but major reform. The president is likely going to sign the bill Tuesday and will try to sell the idea to a skeptical public.

The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys of Levin & Perconti are greatly pleased to report that the bill is free of any provision that would limit a patient’s rights. Many republicans were looking to limit the rights of those who had become victims of medical malpractice. The alternatives to litigation program contained in the current health care bill will provide an absolute opt-out for plaintiffs. President Obama should sign the bill on Tuesday. After he signs it the Senate will begin to debate passing a “reconciliation patch” designed by the House as a condition of passing the health care legislation. During the House debate, there may be amendments introduced demanding tort reform. The GOP once again may attempt to limit the rights of patients. Hopefully, the message of the American Association of Justice is getting through to the members of Congress. The important message they are expressing is that limiting the rights of patients will do little to reduce healthcare costs. More importantly, the government must focus on the 98,000 deaths per year is due to medical errors. The Senate needs to remember this number when they vote on the “reconciliation patch.” To read more about this historic legislation, please click the link.

Many of those opposing President Obama’s health care plan are maintaining that the solution to the health care lies in the inaction of tort reform. Recently, at a health care summit, Representative John Boehner, proclaimed that the costs of malpractice insurance have become the country’s biggest cost driver. Presidents of the American Medical Association have written into newspapers claiming that medical malpractice reform was the “surest and quickest way to slow down the rising cost of health care.”

Yet all of these accusations are false. According to StatesmanJournal.com, the Congressional Budge Office has estimated that malpractice costs account for less than 2 percent of health care spending. They have determined that tort reform would only lower health care costs by 0.5 percent. The Republican leadership is exaggerating the significance that medical malpractice costs have on health care. Also, the frequency of medical malpractice lawsuits has diminished recently. In the mid-1990s there were 15 medical malpractice lawsuits filed to every 100 physicians. In 2008 that number dropped to 8 percent. In the 30 states that have capped medical malpractice damages, there is no empirical evidence that health care costs have decreased. It is obvious that Republicans are overstating their facts.

Most importantly, Republicans are ignoring the many victims of medical negligence who will be unable to be justly compromised if tort reform is imposed. Since tort reform does not equal health care reform, it would be wrong to limit the rights of patients for very little reward. To read more statistics about tort reform, please click the link.

The National Practitioner Data Bank has determined that fewer medical malpractice payments were made on behalf of doctors in 2009 than any year on record. This statistic contradicts the GOP claims that medical malpractice litigation is to blame for rising healthcare costs that the elimination would help save health care. This level of malpractice payments was the lowest since 1999 and the payments were at their lowest since 1992. While healthcare spending rose 83 percent, medical malpractice payments have fallen 8 percent. The figures of medical malpractice payments only equals .14 of 1 percent of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ in the overall of U.S. healthcare spending.

Healthcare Finance News claims that this is the fifth consecutive year that the number of medical malpractice payments has fallen and the sixth straight year in which the value of payments have fallen. This contrasts with healthcare costs that have increased every year since 1965. However, an even more alarming comparison comes when you measure the amount of medical malpractice payments to that of deaths from medical err. The Institute of Medicine found that 44,000 to 98,000 die every year due to avoidable errors. The director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division, David Arkush, calls the recent attacks on medical malpractice ridiculous. He stated that some members of Congress are continuing to obsess and exaggerate one problem. He hopes that they focus on fixing the real problem of diminishing the large numbers of medical errs. To read more about the medical malpractice report, please click the link.

Last month this blog discussed the large number of people that have become victims to medical negligence at long-term health care facilities. This issue had gained national attention due to the increased presence of long-term care facilities nation-wide. The New York Times has reported that the Senate Finance Committee has opened an investigation into the wrongful deaths and allegations of abuse at long-term care hospitals. The Senate investigation will focus on the Select Medical Corporation. This is a for-profit corporation that runs a total of 89-long-term care hospitals throughout the states.

The Senate committee has the power to launch an investigation because it oversees Medicare funds. They decided to investigate the many stories of poor treatment and patient deaths at the long-term care hospitals. These facilities will treat approximately 200,000 seriously ill patients a year nationwide, yet they rarely have full-time physicians on staff. The facility in question allowed a dying patient’s heart alarm to sound for 77 minutes before any nurses responded. While Select stated that they terminated a clinical involved in the incident, others have subsequently ensued.

Long-term hospitals are unique because they do not treat specific types of patients or offer services unavailable in regular medical centers. They have to transfer a patient back to a hospital if they suffer any medical emergencies. One large long-term care conglomerate is Kindred Healthcare. Kindred operates three long-term hospitals in Illinois, including one in Chicago. If you believe that a loved one has fallen victim to poor patient care at a long-term hospital, please consult a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer. To read more about the Senate investigation, please check out the link.

While we all watch the U.S. Congress debate whether or not medical malpractice law needs to be reformed it is important to know the facts when it comes to the insurance industry. For example, do you know that Illinois’ largest malpractice insurer’s payouts have remained flat for over a decade? This has occurred despite the fact that premiums and profits have skyrocketed. Additionally, medical malpractice insurance rate increases between 2000 and 2005 has resulted in insurance company profits that have broken records and left executives with large compensation packages. This all leads to the ultimate fact that medical malpractice claims are not to blame for the increase in insurance rates. Instead we should all be looking to the business conditions and diminished returns on the insurance companies’ financial investments.

The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s White Paper has highlighted all of the myths and facts associated with medical malpractice in Illinois. In reality, court records have shown that medical malpractice lawsuits in Illinois were actually decreasing before the enactment of the damages caps in 2005. Claims, lawsuits and payouts all have been stable or declining. They are not to blame for the increases in doctors’ malpractice insurance rates. Also, claims and lawsuits have not caused an increase in the costs of health care. We need to start focusing on the facts rather than the propaganda. There needs to be true insurance reform that will focus on patient safety. This will be the best and most practical way to decrease insurance costs by reducing medical error.

Recently Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated on Meet the Press that the health care overhaul should reduce the number of medical malpractice lawsuits. He believes that malpractice is an area where Democrats should show more flexibility in the revised health care legislation. However, what Mr. McConnell failed to tell the American public is that every year 98,000 people die as a result of medical error. Additionally, studies show that provisions such as medical malpractice caps do not lower insurance premiums. Republicans and Democrats alike should work towards changing health care in a way that does not limit a patient’s rights. To read more about the health care debate, please click the link.

Despite Republican efforts to enact tort reform, the recent healthcare bills leave the country’s medical malpractice system in tact. This is because medical malpractice lawsuits are often the only recourse for thousands victimized by medical error. Studies show that approximately 98,000 patients are killed each year by medical errors. Forty-six states have passed some sort of tort reform, and these states do not have lower costs or coverage for the uninsured. This proves that attempts to limit patient rights should not be included in the health care bill. By focusing on reducing medical errors, the healthcare system can help avoid the 98,000 wrongful deaths each year. Please contact your congressman and voice your opposition to medical malpractice reform. To read more of the ongoing debate, click the link.

A woman and her fiancé filed a federal medical malpractice lawsuit against two hospitals. They allege that they were ignored in a hospital emergency room so long that they returned home where the woman gave birth to a premature baby. The baby then died. The victims allege that their federal right to emergency medical treatment was violated. They seek unspecified damages for emotional distress. The two did not have medical insurance. There are current investigations as to whether the couple was ignored after the woman entered the hospital with severe abdominal pain. Federal law requires that most hospitals provide emergency attention to patients whether or not they have insurance. To ignore such a patient is medical malpractice. After visiting to two hospitals the couple went home. The mother gave birth to a breach baby and the 1-pound, 6 ounce baby girl was pronounced dead at the scene. This type of medical error goes hand in hand with health care reform. To read more about the birth injury, please click the link.

An analysis of data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and company annual statements shows malpractice insurer profits are 24 percent higher in states with caps. In the cap states, insurers took in 3.5 times more in premiums than they paid out in 2008. However, insurers in states without caps took in just over twice what they paid in claims. The findings show that there is no correlation between the cost of medical malpractice premiums and health insurance premiums. The American Association for Justice President Anthony Tarricone, stated that the data shows that tort reform is just another insurance company handout. While 98,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors, it makes no sense to limit patients’ rights to fill insurance company coffers.

To learn more about the health care debate, and how it affects victims, visit www.98000reasons.org. To take a look at the entire report, please click the link.

In Washington, President Obama stated that he would be open to suggestions about constraining medical malpractice lawsuits. However, repeated studies have shown that approximately 100,000 people die each year due to medical malpractice in our nation’s hospitals. These occur because physicians or hospitals fail to meet the normal standard of care. For example, say a hospital allows an expectant mother to lie in one of its labor rooms, fails to notice for several hours that the fetal monitor shows the fetus in distress, and the child is born severely brain damages. Should that hospital be insulated from a medical malpractice lawsuit? If so, who will pay for the lifetime care of the child? Rumors that medical malpractice lawsuits are consistently rising are completely false. In the state of New York, medical malpractice lawsuits have decreased by 30%. Since plaintiffs lawyers work on a contingent basis, frivolous lawsuits are not filed. If you want to reduce the number of medical malpractice cases, reduce negligent behavior that causes victims to sue. Please click the link to learn more about tort myths.

Recently Illinois Senator Dick Durbin gave a speech on the senate floor in defense of medical malpractice victims. He reminded the Senate that medical malpractice claims and lawsuit payouts are decreasing in America. Only one percent of doctors are being charged with medical malpractice and paying each year. In addition only two to three percent of medical negligence incidents actually lead to malpractice claims. Senator Durbin also cited a study that found that a 10-percent reduction in costs related to medical malpractice liability would increase the nation’s overall death rate by .2 percent. That amounts to 4,853 more American deaths per year. He asked Congress if they were willing to use so many lives to medical mistake in order to save some money. He focused on the fact that 98,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors. In monetary terms, these medical mistakes cost an extra $9.3 billion a year. Durbin spoke candidly that medical malpractice insurance companies are making more and more money each year, yet complaining that malpractice is the reason for high health care costs. He suggested reducing the cost of medical malpractice insurance and most importantly reducing medical errors. The medical malpractice attorneys of Levin & Perconti applaud Senator Durbin’s efforts to protect patient’s rights. Please visit the CSPAN-2 website in order to view the speech.

Tort reform proponents assert that medical malpractice costs are a significant factor in rising health care costs, yet they are clearly wrong. Medical malpractice premiums account for only a tiny fraction of our medical bills and have not risen the way that health care costs have. Also, tort reform advocates tend to disparage the performance of the jury system. Usually juries only compensate patients who are true victims of medical malpractice. Advocates also forget that the right to a jury is a constitutionally protected right. Problems can be addressed with modest changes in the current system. Many victims of medical error feel better with an apology. Also, we need to compensate more victims with less-severe injuries in order to simplify the small claims process. Caps on recoverable damages only punish those who are victims of grave medical errors. To read more about tort reform, please click the link.

While the House passed a sweeping health care overhaul this weekend, opponents of true reform attacked injured patients. They did so despite countless studies that show that tort reform will do little to diminish health care costs in this country. Tort law changes will do practically nothing to lower the costs or cover the uninsured. One patient’s story shows that legislators must consider the injured patients in their discussions. Blake Fought was 19 years old and about to be released from the hospital. Before he left however, the untrained nurse tried to remove his central line IV and did not follow the proper procedures. This caused bubbles to enter Blake’s brain, heart and blood vessels. He became one of the estimated 98,000 patients who die each year from preventable medical errors. Countless more are seriously injured. This is a number far too large for lawmakers to ignore. Tort law changes will not fix America’s broken health care system, but only hurt families fighting to find justice. To read more about tort reform, please click the link.

Five Myths About Medical Negligence, is one in a series of reports from the American Association for Justice on the errors and faults behind the most commonly used talking points of health care reform opponents.

The first myth is that there are too many “frivolous” malpractice lawsuits. The fact is that there is an epidemic of medical negligence, not lawsuits. Only one in eight people injured by medical negligence ever file a lawsuit. Also civil findings have declined eight percent over the past decade. A 2006 Harvard study found that 97 percent of claims were meritorious stating that “portraits of a malpractice system that is stricken with frivolous litigation are overblown.”

The second myth is that malpractice claims drive up health care costs. However reports show that compensating victims of medical negligence was just 0.3% of health care costs.

Supposedly doctors are fleeing due to medical negligence, yet the number of physicians is growing faster than the population. Additionally, research has found that there is little correlation between medical malpractice claims and doctors’ premiums. An AAJ report has found that malpractice insures have earnings higher than 99% of Fortune 500 companies.

Finally, tort reform will not lower insurance rates. Even the most ardent tort reformers know this. To read more about the myths, please visit the AAJ’s website.