Medical Malpractice in Your State

limiting patients' rights does not improve care or lower insurance rates

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Alaska

According to the American Medical Association, Alaska is showing "problem signs," and on its way to becoming a "crisis" state.

Reality Check:

• The number of doctors has gone up,
• the number of OB/GYNs has increased, and
• the frequency of insurance payments to victims has decreased

Alaska already caps punitive and noneconomic damages.

The Price of a Life: In June 2005, the Alaska state legislature passed restrictions on compensation for victims even more severe than those already in place. The new limits cap non-economic compensation for a wrongful death or severe permanent physical disability at $400,000 and limits to $250,000 compensation for a single injury caused by medical malpractice.

This one-size-fits-all decree from lawmakers is a slap in the face to jurors across Alaska who were handling individual cases fine on their own. Insurance payments to victims of malpractice have been on the decline and the numbers of doctors and Ob/Gyns have steadily risen over the years.

Unfortunately, experience in states like Texas and California shows that these kind of laws help the insurance industry, but don't serve patients or doctors.

Medical Malpractice & Preventable Errors

Nationally, medical errors are a real concern with USA Today reporting that medical errors seriously injure 1 in 10 hospitalized patients.

In fact, the Institute of Medicine reported as early as 1999 that medical errors are a national crisis. Yet, those same researchers recently noted that despite 5 years of calls to action, the medical community has made little progress in reducing the risk to patients who use the healthcare system. In particular, researcher Lucian Leape thinks that the medical community "has deflected attention from saving patients to saving money." read more...

Patient Safety Should Come First

Instead of limiting patients' rights, Congress should look to preventing insurance companies from price-gouging doctors and help implement processes that will put patient safety first. Fixing the system to put patient safety first will ultimately bring down costs for everyone. In Alaska alone, preventable medical errors in hospitals cost $38-$65 million a year, according to the consumer safety and health organization Public Citizen.

Number of Personal Injury Lawsuits

There is no litigation explosion. The National Center for State Courts Recently reported that:

• Tort filings have declined by 5% since 1993. Contract filings, meanwhile, which are more likely to involve businesses than tort cases, rose by 21% over the same period.¹

• Automobile tort filings, which make up the majority of all tort claims, have fallen by 5% by 1993 and 14% since their high in 1996.¹

• Medical malpractice filings per 100,000 population have fallen 1% since 1998.²

• In 22 of the 30 states that NCSC examined population-adjusted tort findings declined from 1992 to 2001. The average change in tort filings across all 30 states was a 15% decrease.¹

Sources:

1. Examining the Work of State Courts, 2003, National Center for State Courts (NCSC) 2004
2. Medical Malpractice Filings per 100,000 Population in 11 and 17 States, 1993-2002, National Center for State Courts, 2004 (unpublished, on file with author)

Updated September 2005