Medical Malpractice in Your State

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

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Ohio

According to the American Medical Association, Ohio is a "crisis" state.

Reality Check:

• The number of doctors has gone up, and
• the number of OB/GYNs per 100,000 women remains steady
  

Ohio already caps noneconomic damages and joint and several liability are not available for noneconomic damages.

Investigation by the Cincinnati Enquirer finds that doctors are not fleeing:

"…there is no mass exodus of physicians, an Enquirer review of public records shows. To the contrary, there are more doctors in the state today than there were three years ago.

…The number of doctors holding active Ohio medical licenses was 33,917 in 2003, up slightly from 33,855 doctors in 2001."

—"Region gains doctors despite malpractice bills; Review of records shows rise in licenses," Cincinnati Enquirer, 10/10/04

Price of Medical Malpractice

Source: Medical Malpractice Briefing Book: Challenging the Misleading Claims of the Doctors' Lobby, Public Citizen Congress Watch, rev. August 2004

Insurance Industry

• The director of the Ohio Department of Insurance said that despite caps on damages, the malpractice premium crisis is worse than ever.
  — Cleveland Plain Dealer, 2/20/04
  
  
• In an October 2002 report on medical malpractice rates, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported: "The insurance industry's questionable business practices have come under scrutiny as a factor in the crisis. In the 1990s, when the stock market was headed up, many malpractice insurers pumped up revenue by attracting doctors with cut-rate policies."
  — Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/20/02
  

Faces of Medical Malpractice

Blanche Harmon of Columbus, OH lost a limb as the result of medical malpractice. She went into Mt Carmel Hospital for a hysterectomy and had an IV in her hand when she came out of surgery around noon. Blanche complained of pain in her hand and her fingertips were blue. The doctor ordered the IV be moved to her other hand. Blanche still had pain in the original hand. Despite being on major pain medication due to the surgery, she still had "break through pain." Blanche complained all afternoon, yet they failed to investigate. Finally, after a shift change, a new nurse checked her hand and couldn't feel a pulse. Blanche had suffered from a major blood clot in her upper arm which restricted blood flow to her entire arm. They had to wait a few days to see how much of her arm would die and eventually amptuated her arm at the elbow.

Source: Harmon v. Zitter. Contact AAJ Media Relations for details.

Doctors Complaining Have a Record of Malpractice

"Yesterday [July 16, 2004], in advance of Monday's speech in the Dana Conference Center at the Medical College of Ohio—which is not open to the public—the Bush-Cheney campaign presented two Toledo obstetrician-gynecologists who they said were hurt by rising insurance premiums.

Dr. David Tullis and Dr. Ann Smith, who practice at the Toledo Clinic, said they will stop delivering babies by the end of this month because of rising malpractice premiums.

According to Lucas County Common Pleas Court records, Dr. Tullis was sued four times from 1995 through 2000."

Source: Cheney visit to address rising health-care costs, Toledo Blade, July 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:

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 February 2005