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THE MEDICAL LIABLITY CRISIS
AND THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING DOCTOR
Why are more patients across America having trouble getting the medical care they need when they need it? Why are so many good doctors scaling back their practices, moving to new states, or retiring from medicine altogether? The answer is a medical liability system that puts the interests of personal injury lawyers before the interests of patients.
“What’s going to happen,” predicts Dr. Dickerman Hollister of Connecticut, “is that people are going to lose the ability to see the physician of their choice.”1 That is, if they can get care at all.
Emergency rooms and trauma centers are closing, leaving critically ill patients at risk.
- Hundreds of emergency rooms have been forced to close their doors, at least temporarily, over the past decade. Patients in Arizona, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia have all suffered emergency room closings.2
- In one 2004 study, three out of four emergency rooms reported diverting ambulances due to a shortage of specialists. More than 25 percent of hospitals say they have lost specialist coverage due to the medical liability crisis.3
- A Mississippi auto accident left John Lucas, IV with serious head trauma and in need of immediate attention. But every local neurosurgeon had either left the area or stopped treating trauma cases due to medical liability risks. John’s father, Dr. John Lucas, III, got his son transferred to a hospital with a neurologist on call, but John died before he could be treated.4
- Jim Lawson was injured during a July 4 traffic accident in Las Vegas. Since the local trauma center had closed, Mr. Lawson was taken to another hospital – but it did not have the resources needed to treat him. Mr. Lawson died while awaiting an airlift to Salt Lake City hospital.5
For expectant mothers, the medical liability crisis can mean traveling many hours and hundreds of miles to find a doctor or hospital willing to deliver a baby.
- One in seven OB-GYNs in the United States has stopped practicing obstetrics because of the medical liability crisis. More than 12 percent of OB-GYNs have decreased the number of deliveries over fear of litigation. Over 25 percent decreased the amount of high-risk obstetric care they provide.6
- In Fayette County, Pennsylvania, three OB-GYNs who delivered half of the babies in the area stopped providing OB services after learning it would cost them an additional $300,000 in medical liability premiums.7
- On July 1, 2004, Dr. Jeffery Lane stopped delivering babies after 20 years because he could no longer afford medical liability coverage. “I really feel for my patients, who I’ve had to tell I won’t be delivering them because they’re due after my July first deadline.”8
- The average OB delivers 100 babies per year. If the medical liability premium for obtaining insurance for deliveries is $200,000 (as it is in Florida), a mother pays an additional $2,000 just to pay the cost of the medical liability crisis.9
In the 44 states that are either experiencing a medical liability crisis or are facing serious difficulties, health care providers are struggling to deliver the services communities need.
- According to the American Hospital Association, 53 percent of all hospitals are having difficulty recruiting doctors because of the medical liability crisis.10
- Between 1995 and 2002, Pennsylvania lost 36 percent of its general surgeons and 15 percent of its neurosurgeons.11
- 44 percent neurosurgeons said they limit the type of patients they treat. Of those, 71 percent no longer perform aneurysm surgery, 23 percent no longer treat brain tumors and 75 percent no longer operate on children.12
- 55 percent of all orthopaedic surgeons avoid some procedures due to liability concerns; one out of five have stopped performing emergency room calls; six percent have eliminated all surgery and one out of 20 retired early.13
Experience at the state level proves that real medical liability reform – including a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages – will help patients get the care they need.
- States with caps on non-economic damages had, on average, 12 percent more physicians than states without caps.14
1 Greenwich Time, April 24, 2004; cited in American Medical Association, “Medical Liability Reform – NOW!,” October 19, 2005.
2 American College of Emergency Room Physicians; cited in “Federal Medical Liability Reform,” Alliance of Specialty Medicine, July 2005.
3 The Schumacher Group, 2004 Hospital Emergency Department Administration Survey; cited in “Federal Medical Liability Reform,” Alliance of Specialty Medicine, July 2005.
4 American Medical Association, “Medical Liability Reform – NOW!,” October 19, 2005.
5 PR Newswire, “TV Spot Starting Today in Nevada Features Victim of Medical Liability Crisis,” April 21, 2003.
6 American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2004 Survey; cited in “Federal Medical Liability Reform,” Alliance of Specialty Medicine, July 2005.
7 Philadelphia Inquirer, August 30, 2002; cited in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Addressing the New Health Crisis: Reforming the Medical Litigation System to Improve the Quality of Health Care,” March 3, 2003.
8 WFSB, CT, May 9, 2004; cited in American Medical Association, “Medical Liability Reform – NOW!,” October 19, 2005.
9 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Addressing the New Health Crisis: Reforming the Medical Litigation System to Improve the Quality of Health Care,” March 3, 2003.
10 American Hospital Association, “Professional Liability Insurance: A Growing Crisis,” March 2003.
11 Manhattan Institute, “Malpractice Maladies: Doctors continue to flee states with out-of-control medical-injury verdicts,” 2005.
12 American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons, 2004 Survey; cited in “Federal Medical Liability Reform,” Alliance of Specialty Medicine, July 2005.
13 American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons; cited in “Federal Medical Liability Reform,” Alliance of Specialty Medicine, July 2005.
14 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, “The Impact of State Laws Limiting Malpractice Awards on the Geographic Distribution of Physicians,” July 2003.
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