Medical Malpractice in Your State
limiting patients' rights does not improve care or lower insurance
rates
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Arkansas
According to the American Medical Association, Arkansas is a "crisis"
state.
Reality Check:
Arkansas already caps punitive damages, with an exception for intentional
injuries. Arkansas does not cap noneconomic compensation.
According to a report by the Arkansas Insurance
Department:
- Arkansas’ market for medical malpractice insurance has not
significantly changed since the passage of a "tort reform"
law in 2003. The law limits the amount someone found guilty of malpractice
can be made to pay.
- Nine companies increased their base rate for malpractice insurance
in 2003 regardless of the cap.
- In 2004, three companies increased rates. State Volunteer Mutual
of Nashville, which now insures a majority of the state’s doctors,
increased rates by 13.6 percent.
- Preferred Professional Insurance Co. of Omaha raised rates by
100 percent.
Read
the complete report and the article Tort
reform has little effect on malpractice insurance for more information.
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 Arkansas alone, preventable medical errors in hospitals cost $161-$275
million a year, according to the consumer safety and health organization
Public
Citizen.
Faces of Medical Malpractice
In 1997, Juanita Edwards underwent a simple diagnostic procedure
and was left a quadriplegic. Inadequately trained staff failed to
purge the air from the lines or from a syringe, causing a big bubble
of air to be injected into her heart. The air went into her brain
and caused a stroke.
Source: Edwards v. MedCath Inc., CIV-98-89 (Cir Ct., Greene Co.,
Ark, 1999)
Read about other victims
of medical malpractice in Arkansas.
Doctors Complaining Have a Record of Malpractice
Doctor singled out by Bush faces malpractice suit
"In a speech at Little Rock Jan. 26, President Bush pointed
out Dr. Sara McBee of Fayetteville and said that she'd stopped delivering
babies because of rising insurance costs that were 'a direct result
of too many junk lawsuits.'
Bush did not mention (although he knew it, according to McBee), that
a medical malpractice suit is pending against McBee by a couple who
say their child was born with brain damage and multiple disabilities
because of mistakes by the doctor…. The suit says that Levi suffers
from profound brain damage, that he has the development of a four-month-old
infant though he's over 3 years old, that his condition is permanent,
and that his life expectancy has been significantly reduced."
Source: Arkansas Times, February 20, 2004
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.
- 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.
- Medical malpractice filings per 100,000 population have fallen
1% since 1998.
- 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.
Source: 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
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