Medical Malpractice in Your State limiting patients' rights does not improve care or lower insurance rates
Reality Check | Price of Medical
Malpractice | Victims | Lawsuits
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South Dakota
According to the American Medical Association, South Dakota is showing
"problem signs" and on the way to becoming a "crisis"
state.
Reality Check:
South Dakota already caps noneconomic damages.
Price of Medical Malpractice
| Total
of SD Health Providers' Medical Malpractice Premiums Paid in 2002: |
$15.3
Million |
| Annual
Costs Resulting from Preventable Medical Errors in SD Hospitals: |
$46–$78
Million |
Source: Medical Malpractice Briefing Book: Challenging the Misleading
Claims of the Doctors' Lobby, Public Citizen Congress Watch, rev.
August 2004
Faces of Medical Malpractice
The Gardners lost their two-year-old son, Owen, to medical malpractice.
When they brought him to the hospital with flu-like symptoms that
included vomiting, the nurse repeatedly tried to start the IV but
failed. He stopped breathing and was then intubated, but the tube
was mistakenly put in the stomach instead of the lungs. It was never
repositioned and Owen died that day of dehydration.
Source: American Association for Justice
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17 States, 1993-2002, National Center for State Courts, 2004 (unpublished,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 February 2005
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