Day four of our personal injury lawyers‘ discussion of “Five Myths of Medical Malpractice.” Here’s Myth #4: Medical Malpractice Myth #4: Medical Malpractice Claims Drive Up Doctors’ Premiums This myth continues to be spread by the health insurance lobby, despite being continuously debunked by empirical evidence. The argument works as follows: to protect against large… Read More
Hospital ‘Report Cards’ Show Frequency of Medical Errors
As the debate over medical liability reform continues, an often forgotten statistic is the number of patients injured or killed by medical malpractice. In New Jersey, for example, a story from the Star-Ledger found that doctors and hospitals in that state committed 9,400 “serious errors” in 2007, which were defined as a medical error leading… Read More
State Enforcement of Medical Misconduct: The Illinois Medical Practice Act
A previous post discussed state medical boards generally, which are charged with enforcing the practice of medicine within each state. In Illinois, that law is known as the Illinois Medical Practice Act of 1987 (225 ILCS 60/1 et seq), not to be confused with the Illinois statutes governing medical malpractice lawsuits (735 ILCS 5/2-1701… Read More
Study: Medical Liability Reform Has No Impact on Health Care Costs, Including Insurance Premiums
According to a recent study concerning medical liability reform conducted by the Americans for Insurance Reform (AIR), a coalition of nearly 100 consumer and public interest groups around the country, there is no correlation between medical malpractice reform and decreases in insurance rates for doctors. The study concludes that there is “absolutely no reason to… Read More