AWARD COSTS IN MALPRACTICE

Beaver County Times, February 12, 2003

Public Citizen lists Pennsylvania as number one in medical malpractice. 10% of our doctors have lost or settled at least two suits, and 5% have lost or settled more. Half of the awards run to that 5%.

Awards in Philadelphia average $972,909. The rest of Pennsylvania averages $410,000. These loses are made up in premiums. About 900 doctors have quit Pennsylvania as malpractice premiums reach $200,000 a year.

President Bush is recommending a $250,000 cap on malpractice awards. Sens. Piccola and Corman have introduced this as an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution.

37 states already have such caps. Not only do they reduce the size of the awards, they also reduce the time and cost people spend reaching settlement. Attorney fees and costs drop through the floor.

There is another aspect to the high malpractice costs. President Bush quotes Public Citizen that 80% of the malpractice claims are spurious. Governor Rendell proposes that cases not be filed without a "Certificate of Merit" from an independent doctor. This kind of peer review sifts cases and helps resolve them. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) has similar ideas.

Win or lose, about 33% of what insurance carriers pay in litigation is costs and attorney fees. Judges have the option to award these, and some statutes require that they be awarded. Pennsylvania should require that costs and attorney fees be awarded in malpractice cases, based on the attorney's ledger. If the doctor wins, and especially if the case was spurious, the patient and their lawyer would pay the costs and fees from the ledgers. If the patient wins the carrier would pay the ledgers.

A cap is a fine idea. So is peer review. But do the multiplication! If 33% of litigation is in fees and costs, and 80% of the claims are spurious, what happens to the losses if the statute requires that fees and costs be awarded?

Roger Thomas

The writer is Director of the Conference of Consumer Organizations