Articles Posted in Medical Malpractice

New research into medical malpractice claims paid in 2006 has revealed that Florida’s average payout for such claims was lower than the national average. The study has sparked renewed debate about the tort reform that is currently underway to change malpractice laws in Florida.

Research conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation uncovered that Florida’s average claim payout for medical malpractice cases was $241,800 in 2006. The national average was much higher, at $308,600. Illinois had the highest claim payout, with an average payout of $629,100. However, 32 other states besides Illinois had higher payouts than Florida. The study found that there were 822 paid medical malpractice claims in the state of Florida last year. Insurance companies paid a total of $198.7 million in these claims. This averages out to 14.7 medical malpractice claims paid for every one thousand doctors in Florida. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Michigan had the lowest payout for medical malpractice suits. That state had 389 medical malpractice claims paid last year, with an average payout of $132,380.

What the findings by the Kaiser Family Foundation actually mean is a matter of some debate. Some Florida attorneys suggest that the findings stem from the $500,000 cap on non-economic damages. Florida approved the cap in 2003, which some Florida attorney claim reduces the rights of patients by creating smaller settlements. Some Florida lawyers suggest that the cap means that more medical malpractice cases go to court in cases where a patient suffers personal injury or death. Companies are confident that there will not be a huge settlement, even in a court case.

Philip Peters Jr., of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law has been conducting research into medical malpractice cases and his findings suggest that juries in medical malpractice cases tend to side with physicians rather than injured patients. The law professor studied malpractice cases in New Jersey and databases of information as well as statistics about medical malpractice litigation.

The findings of the research are unsettling: according to Peters, juries in medical malpractice cases favor physicians, possibly unfairly. In fact, Peters asserts that juries are more likely to defer to a physician’s opinion – more likely to defer than a physician’s peers.

According to Peters’ research, most medical malpractice cases end in defense verdicts. According to his research, the medical malpractice claims that go to trial tend to be weaker, since stronger cases are often settled out of court. Peters’ findings suggest that 27-30% of malpractice suits end in a verdict that favors the plaintiff. Of all tort litigation, this is the lowest success rate.

Peters’ data is especially important now that Congress is deliberating legislation that would assemble specialized courts for medical malpractice claims. According to Peters’ findings, doctors will not necessarily be treated more favorably in a court of their peers – it appears that non-peers offer the greatest possibility of a verdict that favors physicians.

Peters examined medical malpractice information from Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan as well as New Jersey, so Florida attorneys and plaintiffs may also want to consider these findings. Peters’ findings suggest that the greater the evidence of negligence, the more possibility there is that the jury will find a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. However, even in cases where independent experts believed that there was strong evidence of doctor negligence causing personal injury or wrongful death, juries only returned plaintiffs’ verdicts in half of the cases. In cases where an expert assessed the evidence as weak, only 10-20% of juries brought back plaintiffs’ verdicts.

Peters’ study suggests that jurors in medical malpractice suits may be unwilling to find against a doctor in cases where evidence conflicts or is unclear. The relatively high social status of physicians may also contribute to their success in the courtroom, Peters suggests, especially since health care workers may be able to afford excellent attorneys and expert witnesses.

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According to the Institute of Medicine’s Healthcare Quality Initiative, medical errors cause 4,000 to 98,000 unnecessary deaths and 1,000,000 excess injuries annually in this country. Common errors include misdiagnosis, providing the wrong medication, unintended medicine interaction, and wrong site surgery. Other errors, such as failure to provide the correct type of care, can also be common. In many cases, poor communication, too many patients for too few healthcare workers, inadequate training for new equipment or procedures, miscommunication due to poor handwriting, and other factors lead to medical error.

Whatever the causes of medical error, there is no doubt that errors cause incredible pain and suffering. Each year, thousands of families lose loved ones and many more individuals are injured because of mistakes that in many cases are preventable. The number of medical malpractice cases shows that in many cases, patients feel that the errors which they have endured could have been prevented. When patients contact Florida attorneys in order to launch medical malpractice lawsuits, they are effectively saying that they believe that a medical error which caused them pain was caused by negligence, not by accident.

One particularly painful type of medical error which leads to medical malpractice cases is misdiagnosis. Misdiagnosis of a serious condition can cause suffering, as an undiagnosed condition continues to cause pain while untreated. Worse, misdiagnosis can often compounds other medical errors. When a medical condition is not correctly assessed and evaluated, the patient may be given the wrong medication or treatment, which can cause serious side effects or worsen an existing condition. In many cases – notably, cancer – when a medical condition is not identified in time, delay in treatment can increase the chances that a condition will prove fatal to a patient.

Diagnosis is the first and most important step of dealing with any medical condition, and when a physician or healthcare worker does not correctly diagnose a patient due to negligence, that patient has a right to get compensation for their suffering. Seeking the help of a Florida attorney in cases of negligence and medical malpractice is important. Florida lawyers can ensure that you get the best treatment possible once you have been correctly diagnosed. If you have been misdiagnosed, Florida attorneys can also find you the answers you need and can work to ensure that other patients do not similarly suffer from negligence.

Under Florida laws, not all cases of misdiagnosis can lead to medical malpractice cases. A misdiagnosis must be the result of negligence and must have caused injury or harm. A patient must have started proceedings for their case one year from the date the injury occurred or one year from the date when the patient could reasonably be expected to know that he or she had a legitimate medical malpractice case. However, there are exceptions if you did not know you had a case. If you have been injured or a loved one has died as a result of medical error, contact qualified Florida attorneys to find out whether you can still seek legal help.

Healthcare professionals have no legal obligation to be right in their diagnosis. Therefore, even if you have been injured or a loved one has been killed due to medical error, your attorney will need to prove that the doctor failed to take reasonable measures to ensure a proper diagnosis. If a healthcare professional fails to order the right tests, fails to obtain a medical history, or fails to recognize the symptoms of an illness, then a misdiagnosis may be considered negligence.

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In 2003 and 2004, the state of Florida implemented a number of reforms that capped the amounts that attorneys can gather from medical malpractice rates. The move was ostensibly meant to reduce the number of lawsuits filed and to ease the stress on malpractice insurers. The move has left many patients worried, however, about their rights to fair compensation for the pain and suffering inflicted by medical errors and doctor negligence.

In January 2007, The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation held public hearings to look at medical malpractice rates proposed by Steve Burgess, Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate. The hearings stem from the fact that Pro National Insurance Co.’s has recently requested an overall rate decrease in Florida of 8.6 percent. This rate would apply to medical malpractice liability policies.

Florida Sen. J.D. Alexander sponsored an amendment to stabilize the insurance market in the state. The amendment suggested excluding medical malpractice insurance from a potential surcharge that would be applied to property insurance. The move is meant to address the problem of doctors who are leaving Florida or refusing to take high-risk patients because of malpractice concerns.