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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Louisiana
According to the American Medical Association, states are losing
doctors because juries are "out of control."
Reality Check:
Louisiana already outlaws punitive damages and there is an overall
cap on damages in medical malpractice cases.
The Truth About Louisiana: According
to state
health rankings reported in the Washington Post, Louisiana
is the least healthiest state in the nation. Instead of eliminating
the effectiveness of trial lawyers as the last line of defense against
low quality care, lawmakers in Louisiana should have addressed patient
health and safety.
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 Louisiana alone, preventable medical errors in hospitals cost $270-$461
million a year, according to the consumer safety and health organization
Public
Citizen.
Faces of Medical Malpractice
Following a car accident, 18-year-old nursing student Daphne Leray
was left a quadriplegic because of medical malpractice. Emergency
room physicians failed to run tests that would diagnose a broken neck
and allowed her neck and back brace, which kept her head from moving,
to be removed. Soon after they removed the brace, Daphne suffered
multiple seizures. A CAT scan done two days later showed fractured
neck bones affecting the spinal cord. She is now permanently paralyzed.
Source: Leray v. Bartholomew and Mallemee 871 So.2d 492,
03-1370 (La. App.5 Circ. 3/30/04)
Read about other victims
of medical malpractice in Louisiana.
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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