Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog

The Republicans have come up with many ways to damage health care debate. They include letting families and business buy health insurance across state lines which would bring extra problems to the health care industry. However the GOP’s worst idea, and yet the one that might actually be implemented, is limiting a victim’s ability to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. This idea, known as “tort reform,” has gained momentum with both President Obama and other Democrats.

The American Prospect reported that Republicans argue that by capping medical malpractice damages, doctors will practice less defensive medicine thus driving down health insurance costs. Yet if you examine states that do cap non-economic damages, you will see that there has not been a decrease in health care spending. In fact, per-patient health-care spending in the state of Texas has actually increased at a rate that is twice the national average. This happened after Texas decided to cap non-economic damages at $250,000.

Another argument posed by Republicans is that tort reform will decrease the amount of frivolous lawsuits. Yet the key question is whether there are that many frivolous lawsuits to begin with. Last year the CBO determined that 181,000 severe injuries or deaths were caused by medical error. Yet only 17 percent of those victims actually filed a medical malpractice lawsuit. That means that only one out of every six patients who are victims of medical malpractice actually files a lawsuit. Maybe health care reform should focus more on diminishing the number of victims injured by medical malpractice instead of looking to diminish the number of lawsuits. To learn more about tort reform, please click the link.

The American Association for Justice has spoken out about the constant struggle for health care reform. Currently the House of Representatives is debating whether or not to vote on the Senate passed health care bill. This means that if the House has a majority vote the Senate bill will become a law. The current version of the Senate bill allows for demonstration projects, but provides an absolute opt out clause for plaintiffs at any time. The AAJ finds demonstration objectionable but believes that the opt-out provision for all plaintiffs minimizes their concern.

In a recent letter to Congress, the President signaled openness to appropriating $50 million for additional medical malpractice projects, which would include health courts. This blog recently spoke to the dangers of implementing health courts. Most importantly these courts would take away a patient’s right to a jury trial, which is in direct opposition to the constitution. The AAJ believes that health courts open up the possibility of biased, one-sided proceedings, deny people their right to trial by jury, and serve as another expensive insurance company bureaucracy. Fortunately, the Senate language contains an opt-out provision which would allow victims to have the option of a civil jury trial. Please contact your Congressmen and voice your opposition for health courts.

Many people who support patient’s rights have been using twitter to voice their thoughts on the recent health care debate. This has become a great forum for those to voice their opinions. Many are discussing the 98,000 people who die every year from medical error. We need to ensure that Congress takes this number into account.

In the ever continuing medical malpractice and health care debate a new proposal has emerged. This involves what are being referred to as “health courts” which would force all medical malpractice cases out of the court system. While these courts promise faster, more reliable system of resolving medical malpractice claims, they do not paint all sides of the story.

The Pop Tort explained that health courts are a terrible, anti-patient and highly-controversial concept that has both consumer groups and victims of medical negligence strongly opposed to them. They force all medical malpractice cases into an administrative system based on the failing worker's compensation model. However, this system would be even worse because patients would still have to prove a form of negligence and the decision-makers would come from the medical community. Immediately, the right to jury trial has become eliminated. Also, the courts would have few accountability mechanisms, few procedural safeguards and no meaningful appeals process. There may be a schedule of benefits and a severe cap on non-economic damages. Most importantly, these courts are unconstitutional. By taking away the right to a jury, these courts are in direct opposition to the constitution.

Ray De Lorenzi, a spokesman for the American Association for Justice, stated that health courts would involve a new expensive bureaucracy. Health courts would do nothing to eliminate the 98,000 people who die every year from preventable medical error. He told TheHill.com that fixing preventable medical errors, not creating new bureaucracies, is the right solution. To read more about health courts, please click the link.

At the recent health care summit President Obama stated that Republicans are overstating the effects that medical malpractice has on the health care system. He disputed the Republican’s claim that medical malpractice lawsuits are the biggest driver of medical inflation. Illinois Democrat Dirk Durbin stated that it is wrong to impose medical malpractice awards when the health care system is the true culprit for rising health care costs. Rather he suggested that Congress should focus on incentivizing states to find innovative ways to reduce medical errors and reduce those medical malpractice lawsuits that should not be filed.

The Democrat’s position on medical malpractice is supported by the Congressional Budget Office’s report. The report shows that medical malpractice lawsuits only constitute 2 percent of total health care expenditures. Enacting tort reform would then only reduce total national health care expenditures by approximately .2 percent. Conversely, the Congressional Budget Office also stated that an additional 4,800 people a year will die if hospital accountability goes down. Currently, the Institute of Medicine estimates that 98,000 people a year die due to medical error. Additionally, tort reform would greatly damage those who are victims of medical error by limiting the amount of compensatory damages they receive. Compensatory damages simply put the patient back to the position they would be in prior to the medical err. These include costs of medical bills, rehabilitation and loss wages. These innocent victims must be adequately compensated for their injuries not only because it is constitutional but because it is just.

To learn more about the medical malpractice debate, check out the San Francisco Chronicle’s article.

Leading up to Thursday’s bipartisan healthcare summit, the White House released the President’s Proposal on Healthcare Reform. The proposal includes many pieces of the House and Senate bills that have been debated over the last six months, however, the president did not include any medical malpractice revisions. This move by the president will protect the rights of patients across the country who may become the victims of preventable medical negligence. However, it is anticipated that the GOP will once again fight for the inclusion of tort reform in the bill.

As medical malpractice attorneys who represent victims of negligence, we continue to remind our readers to speak out against tort reform in the national healthcare debate. Recently, we saw the Illinois Supreme Court rule that caps on medical malpractice damages were unconstitutional, a great victory for patients in our state. We hope that our national representatives will follow Illinois’ example and realize that tort reform has no place in the healthcare debate. Healthcare reform should focus on lowering healthcare costs and making affordable healthcare accessible to everyone. Tort reform will not ease access, and it will not lower healthcare costs significantly. In fact, the CBO released a report in October 2009 that said tort reform would only lower the total cost of healthcare spending by 0.5%. To read the full text of the President’s Proposal on healthcare reform, follow the link.

In 2005, the Illinois legislature enacted an arbitrary $500,000 cap on the total amount of non-economic damages that can be recovered by patients in medical malpractice cases and a $1 million cap in those cases against hospitals. The Illinois Supreme Court recently ruled that this law was unconstitutional and limited patients’ rights. Those proponents of the legislation were arguing that medical malpractice claims and verdicts were skyrocketing which was driving doctors out of Illinois thereby raising your health care costs. In reality these insurance driven arguments were far from the truth.

First, court records have actually shown that the annual filings of medical malpractice lawsuits in Illinois have steadily decreased before 2005. While medical malpractice filings have gone done, insurance companies have been enjoying record profits. Since 2000, malpractice insurance rates have dramatically increased while the frequency and severity of malpractice claims and payouts have not. Medical malpractice payouts have been on the decline nationwide for years. Insurance rate fluctuations are the result of market conditions, not medical malpractice lawsuits.

Instead of focusing on reducing costs, lawmakers should be focusing on improving patient safety. Medical malpractice is a leading cause of death in America, injuring 180,000 people annually. Additionally, 98,000 people wrongfully die annually from medical error. Preventing medical error is the most effective way to avoid malpractice litigation. If you are the victim of medical error, consult a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer. To read more from the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s response to tort reform, please click the link.

A group of medical malpractice survivors sent letters to President Obama and the Congressional leadership urging them to keep additional “tort reforms” out of the health insurance reform bill. They are responding to pressure he has been feeling from the insurance and medical lobbies to limit patients’ legal rights. The Congressional Budget Office has said that even the most brutal restrictions on injured patients would save less than 1 percent of the total health care costs. The survivors wrote that they have endured the problems of state restricted malpractice caps. Malpractice awards need to be suited specifically to aide the victim. The laws have had terrible consequences for them. Some victims of medical malpractice were shut out of courts altogether. Illinois recently passed a landmark decision that declared medical malpractice caps unconstitutional. Illinois has upheld the right decision that puts patient’s rights in front of insurance greed.

The letter concludes, “Medical malpractice has taken a huge toll on all of our lives, as it has on the hundreds of thousands killed or injured each year due to preventable medical errors. Please continue to explore ways to improve patient safety and reduce unnecessary deaths, not diminish accountability for wrongdoers, limit our right to have cases heard before judges and juries, and burden taxpayers with the bill.”

Lawmakers should be concentrating on making the system fairer to doctors and patients. They should look to reducing the 98,000 deaths that occur each year due to medical error.
To read a copy of the letter, please click the link.

In 2005, the Illinois legislature enacted an arbitrary $500,000 cap on the total amount of non-economic damages that can be recovered by patients in medical malpractice cases and a $1 million cap in those cases against hospitals. The Illinois Supreme Court recently ruled that this law was unconstitutional and limited patients’ rights. Those proponents of the legislation were arguing that medical malpractice claims and verdicts were skyrocketing which was driving doctors out of Illinois thereby raising your health care costs. In reality these insurance driven arguments were far from the truth.

First, court records have actually shown that the annual filings of medical malpractice lawsuits in Illinois have steadily decreased before 2005. While medical malpractice filings have gone done, insurance companies have been enjoying record profits. Since 2000, malpractice insurance rates have dramatically increased while the frequency and severity of malpractice claims and payouts have not. Medical malpractice payouts have been on the decline nationwide for years. Insurance rate fluctuations are the result of market conditions, not medical malpractice lawsuits.

Instead of focusing on reducing costs, lawmakers should be focusing on improving patient safety. Medical malpractice is a leading cause of death in America, injuring 180,000 people annually. Additionally, 98,000 people wrongfully die annually from medical error. Preventing medical error is the most effective way to avoid malpractice litigation. If you are the victim of medical error, consult a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer. To read more from the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s response to tort reform, please click the link.

The Vice President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Greg Shevlin recently wrote a letter to the editor concerning the upcoming medical malpractice debate. Currently important legislation is facing the Illinois Supreme Court concerning medical malpractice caps. The case before the Illinois Supreme Court is about a little girl named Abigaile LeBron. This child’s life was forever altered as a result of the medical errors she encountered during her birth. However, there are many that want to cap the amount of damages she can receive in the name of brining down medical malpractice insurance rates. Caps have not lowered malpractice rates for doctors. The answer to fixing our health care situation is insurance reform, not taking away patients’ rights through medical malpractice caps. We must hold the insurance industry accountable for a health care system that is spiraling out of control. To learn more about how medical malpractice caps will injure patient’s rights, contact an Chicago personal injury lawyer.

As a Christmas present to America, the Senate made history by voting 60-39 to pass comprehensive healthcare reform legislation. The resulting bill will provide relief to millions of struggling Americans. The bill does not contain any provisions that would limit an injured patient’s rights concerning medical negligence claims. This is a stunning victory for all those who opposed medical malpractice tort reform. The bills assurance of patient’s rights is just another wonderful aspect of the healthcare legislation. We thank all of you to all those who contacted their respective Senators. Additionally the AAJ’s 98,000 reasons campaign was very successful. To read more about the healthcare legislation, please check out the link.

Those opposed to real health care and health insurance reform are now using tort reform as a scapegoat to achieving real health care. Tort reform will hurt innocent patients injured through no fault of their own. The American Association for Justice has recently released a new analysis report entitled “Five Myths About Medical Negligence.” The first myth is that there are too many “frivolous’ malpractice lawsuits. However, only one in eight people injured by medical negligence ever files a lawsuit. Also, malpractice claims do not drive up healthcare costs. In fact they consist of only .3 percent of health care costs. One popular myth is that doctors are fleeing due to medical malpractice, which is far from the truth. Likewise, medical malpractice claims do not drive up doctor’s premiums, like many pundits state. Finally, tort reform will not lower insurance rates. In the end, the most truthful statistic is that 98,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors. That, unfortunately, is not a myth. To read more myths about medical malpractice, please click the link.

The insurance industry has tried to convince the public that it is the victim of gross medical negligence that is responsible for a health care system that is spiraling out of control. However, they fail to recognize that costs are rising at a rate well beyond inflation, a lack of healthy competition and transparency regarding rates in the industry, or the growing number of uninsured and underinsured patients in America is the true reason for extremely high health care costs. It is clear that the insurance industry is trying to avoid any responsibility and instead divert attention elsewhere in the name of protecting its profits. Doctors should demand more from the industry in exchange for our business. We must hold insurance companies accountable for their reluctance to blame medical errors on the ever expanding health care cost. To read the entire letter to the editor, please click the link.

A story in the Huffington Post captured the great disparities in what advocates for tort reform say, and what they actually do. Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is one of the largest donors to the biggest special-interest PAC in Texas and he currently is dedicated to “slamming courtroom doors” in the face of those hurt by companies. However, it is obvious that he does practice what he preaches considering that he ran straight to a courthouse when he believed bankrupt Lehman Brothers owed him money and filed a $60 million lawsuit. Medical societies in Texas (TMA) are another good example of hypocrites in the tort reform battle. They announce their opposition to the Senate health care bill because it doesn’t go far enough to take away the legal rights of patients injured by grossly negligent medical care. Yet, just awhile ago, the TMA joined with several other state medical societies and sued the country’s largest health insurance companies for delaying payments and keeping money from doctors. While they call attorneys for the truly injured victim “greedy” and insensitive, their own corporate and insurance lawyers sue often at the smallest provocation. In reality, companies and doctors have never lost their rights under the guise of “tort-reform” because these laws never limit the rights of corporation’s ability to recover money. However, the severely injured patients have been weakened at the hands of reckless companies. Texas made it nearly impossible for injured patients to file medical malpractice lawsuits at the same time that the Texas Medical Association was running to court to make sure managed care companies paid their doctors. In order to stop the hypocrisy, please contact your US Senator and explain your opposition to tort reform. For a closer look at the Huffington Post article, please click the link.

There is no evidence that suggests that limiting the rights of individuals to bring medical malpractice lawsuits will either lower the cost of health care or increase its quality. If this were true, Texas would have the cheapest and best health care in the nation. On the contrary, while the provisions of the tort reform legislation passed in Texas have essentially eliminated medical malpractice suits, yet their health care costs continue to rise. The reality is that doctors do not want to participate in the adversarial system of America’s courts. In every medical malpractice case, the verdict depends on another physician’s testimony that the offending doctor caused the patient’s harm by acting below the standard of a reasonable physician in similar circumstances. A great way to reduce health care costs would be to reduce the amount of hospital borne infections. In order to determine what is right for America, the government needs to listen to economists and safety experts instead of doctors or lawyers. To read more about ways to reduce health care costs, please click the link.

Representative Bruce Braley gave a last-minute speech about medical errors moments before the House voted on the health reform bill earlier this month. He asked who was supposed to speak for the patients. He quoted an Institute of Medicine report stating that, “[t]he most significant way to reduce the cost of medical malpractice is to emphasize patient safety by reducing the number of preventable medical errors.” Nearly 200,000 Americans die each year from errors made during their medical care and from infections they picked up in the hospital. Many were pleased that someone in Congress finally stood up for patient safety. Currently the health care bill is in front of the Senate. To read more about the Senator and his medical error speech, please click the link.

Every year 98,000 people die from preventable medical error. The families of the victims are now faced with more pain as Republicans seek to tighten tort law. These would hinder the victims of medical error from receiving appropriate settlements. To view the video, please click below.

98000reasons.org: Blake Fought from American Association for Justice on Vimeo.

Eleven national consumer and public interest groups whose memberships represent many millions of Americans sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging rejection of any amendments or substitutes to the health care bill that would limit the legal rights of patients injured by medical malpractice. These groups include the NCCNHR, Public Citizen, Consumer Federation of America and the Alliance for Justice. The letter points out that medical malpractice is currently at epidemic levels in America. Right now, up to 98,000 die each year from medical error throughout America’s hospital. They asked that Congress focus on improving patient safety and reducing deaths and injuries instead of insulating negligent providers from accountability. The groups also support the repeal of the insurance industry’s anti-tax exemption under the McCarran-Ferguson Act. They concluded the letter by urging Congress to reject any amendments or substitutions that limit patients’ legal rights. Please contact your local Senator to express these same sentiments. To read the health care letter in its entirety, please click the link.

Lawyers told jurors that a hospital did not do enough to care for the brother of James Woods when he went to the emergency room complaining of a sore throat and vomiting in 2006. The trial comes after the filed wrongful death lawsuit. The victim died from heart disease at the hospital after going into cardiac arrest on a gurney at the age of 49. The medical malpractice attorney representing the family stated that the actor’s brother wasn’t seen by a doctor until an hour after he arrived and was initially treated in a section of the emergency room reserved for less-urgent cases. Still, when his EKG came back abnormal, he was not given oxygen, aspirin or hooked to heart monitoring to track further deterioration. These are all part of the standard care that is usually given in this situation. Instead, he was taken for additional X-rays and left in the nurse’s station because no room was available. He went into cardiac arrest after the medical negligence and died nearly three hours after his arrival at the hospital. To read more about the medical malpractice trial, please click the link.

Currently tort reform laws exist in nearly every state. These laws make it more different for average people who have endured medical error to sue those responsible. It is evident that the tort reform movement was created and funded by insurance companies and the medical profession and backed by conservative “think-tanks.” However, what they fail to remember is that tort reforms always hurt patients, consumers and average people. Recently two families with severely disabled teenaged boys traveled to the nation’s capital to plead that Congress does not enact tort reform. One teenage is blind and brain damaged after he was a victim of medical negligence at the age of two. A jury awarded his family $7.1 million in non-economic damages for his life of suffering. However, the judge was forced to reduce the amount to $250,000 because of medical malpractice caps. The jury foreman was so outraged that he wrote a scathing letter to the newspaper. Currently, the medical profession has more liability protection than any profession in the nation. They do not need any more. To read more about the tort reform, please click the link.

In the ongoing debate over health care reform, critics are increasingly citing the lack of tort reform as a major deficiency of the current proposals floating around Congress. Republicans are using conservatives to seek tort reform to shield corporate malefactors from full accountability for their wrongdoing. Corporate interests have a vested interest in keeping the tide of public opinion running against trial lawyers because it deflects the widespread problem of negligent and reckless conduct that injures consumers. Currently 98,000 people die annually from preventable medical errors which places medical malpractice as the sixth leading cause of death in America. This immediately places victims and their families at the hands of the court system in order to achieve justice. Under the 7th amendment, victims should be guaranteed a fair trial before a jury. However Republicans are looking to infringe upon this right by enacting tort reform. Contact your local representative and inform them that trial rights should not be diminished and fight for the victims of medical malpractice. To read more about tort reform, please click the link.