Protecting Rights And Not Wrongs

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http://www.centerjd.org/air/pr/release030123.html

 

For Immediate Release

January 23, 2003

 

Contact

J. Robert Hunter, 703/528-0062

Joanne Doroshow, 212/267-2801 or 917/548-5263

 

 

NEW STUDY SHOWS AVERAGE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE PAYOUT OVER LAST DECADE ONLY

$28,524;

NEW DATA REVEALS SAME TRENDS IN 2001

 

 

New insurance industry data and analysis, released today, shows that the average

medical malpractice insurance payout, or closed claim, has been only $28,524

over the last decade. Payouts in 2001 follow the same low pattern. This figure

includes all jury verdicts, settlements and other costs used by insurers to

fight claims in court.

 

 

Moreover, medical malpractice insurers are paying nothing in 77 percent of all

claims filed; in the 23 percent of cases where insurers pay anything, the

average claim is only $107,587. According to the Harvard Medical Practice Study,

only one in eight malpractice victims ever files a claim for compensation.

 

The analysis, conducted for Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR) by actuary J.

Robert Hunter, Director of Insurance for the Consumer Federation of America,

examined insurance data through 2001, the most recent year available from the

National Association of Insurance Commissioners and A.M. Best and Co.

 

Hunter is former Texas Insurance Commissioner and Federal Insurance

Administrator. He concludes, “Despite the hype about ‘exploding’ jury awards

coming from the insurance and medical lobbies, when one looks at the data and

sees exactly what insurers are paying out in claims, the average is under

$30,000. There has been absolutely no upward trend in medical malpractice

payouts at any time over the last decade.

 

“Moreover,” said Hunter, “the fact that less than one in four who do file a

claim get any payment shows that insurers are certainly not settling most

claims, and that in cases that do go to trial, juries are cautious in awarding

benefits to people injured or killed by medical errors.”

 

According to Joanne Doroshow, Executive Director of the Center for Justice &

Democracy, “These data are another astonishing refutation of insurance company

assertions that medical malpractice verdicts are ‘exploding’ and forcing

dramatic rates increases. Insurance companies are blaming judges and juries for

the decision to make insurance unaffordable for doctors. Medical and insurance

lobbyists are telling lawmakers that doctors’ insurance rates are rising due to

increasing claims by patients and rising jury verdicts. This data shows that

such assertions are completely erroneous.”

 

To see a chart of the data in PDF format,

 

 

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