Medical Malpractice in Your State
limiting patients' rights does not improve care or lower insurance
rates
Reality Check | Medical Malpractice
& Preventable Errors | Victims | Lawsuits
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Connecticut
According to the American Medical Association, Connecticut is a "crisis"
state.
Reality Check:
Connecticut already limits punitive damages to some expenses incurred
minus taxable costs.
The Truth About Connecticut: Connecticut's
health leaders and lawmakers should work to end malpractice and preventable
errors like the ones that left a 31-year-old Connecticut woman in
a coma. Instead, one local paper reports that the State Medical Board
ignored the findings of an investigation by the state's Department
of Public Health (DPH), which recommended the doctor's license be
revoked. The medical board decided to reprimand and fine him instead.
"It's doctors protecting doctors and it doesn't serve the
public well," said CT's Deputy Public Health Commissioner
Norma Gyle.
Read more about this story ("Malpractice:
Medical community must do a better job of policing itself," News-Times
in Danbury, CT, 10/17/2004)
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 Connecticut alone, preventable medical errors in hospitals cost
$206-$351 million a year, according to the consumer safety and health
organization Public
Citizen.
Faces of Medical Malpractice
A 31-year-old woman remains in a coma after complications due to
anesthesia, the Danbury News-Times reports. According to the
article, plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Herman hired a 79-year-old uncertified
nurse to administer anesthesia in his office. After the first of two
cardiac arrests to occur during her operation due to the anesthesia,
Dr. Harman waited over a half hour (35 minutes) to call 911.
After an investigation, the CT Department of Public Health recommended
that Dr. Herman's medical license be revoked. However, the CT Medical
Examining Board decided only to reprimand and fine Dr. Harman $10,000.
His 31-year-old patient is still in a coma at Norwalk Hospital.
- "It's doctors protecting doctors and it doesn't serve the
public well. There are some very bad doctors out there, and [the
CT Medical Examining Board members] do nothing. It's disgraceful."
—CT Deputy Public Health Commissioner Norma Gyle, a registered
nurse and former state legislator from New Fairfield.
Source: "Malpractice: Medical community must do a better
job of policing itself," News-Times in Danbury, CT, 10/17/2004
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.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:
- Examining the Work of State Courts, 2003, National Center for
State Courts (NCSC) 2004
- 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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