|
Visit the Press Room for more breaking
news
Contact: Chris Mather
202-965-3500 x369
202-725-5252 (Cell)
Senators Santorum and Frist Attack Victims of Medical Negligence
to Garner Campaign Cash from Insurance Industry
(Thursday, June 1, 2006 -Washington DC)— Sen. Rick Santorum
(R-Pa.) and Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tn.) are at it again, reprising the
medical malpractice myths in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area today
to fill their pockets with campaign contributions while ignoring mounting
evidence that lawsuits intended to hold hospitals and nursing homes
accountable for gross negligence have nothing to do with insurance
premiums.
The incidence of medical malpractice lawsuits is declining in Pennsylvania
and elsewhere while payouts in medical malpractice cases nationwide
continue to plummet. The Senate just last month rejected the claims
circulated by proponents of civil justice restrictions like Frist
and Santorum, but apparently the two lawmakers found the lure of campaign
contributions from the insurance lobby so great that they are willing
to limit the rights of their constituents.
“The unfair one-size-fits-all cap on non-economic damages does
nothing but enrich insurance companies to the detriment of everyone
else,’’ said Ken Suggs, president of the Association of
Trial Lawyers of America.
“Senator Santorum took the hypocritical oath with Dr. Frist
today – while Santorum’s wife sued her chiropractor for
medical negligence, he is working overtime to limit the ability of
other Pennsylvanians to do the same,” said ATLA head Jon Haber.
As usual, Frist and Santorum have ignored proof that insurance industry
price gouging is responsible for high medical malpractice insurance
premiums, not lawsuits filed by patients indelibly harmed by the gross
negligence of health care providers. The medical malpractice insurance
firm that is owned by the Frist family has proved to be one of the
worst price gougers of all.
The Institute of Medicine found that between 44,000 and 98,000 patients
die each year as a result of preventable medical errors. As the Institute
noted, "[e]ven using the lower estimate, preventable medical
errors in hospitals exceed attributable deaths to such feared threats
as motor-vehicle wrecks, breast cancer, and AIDS."
“Health care providers need to be held accountable for their
instances of gross negligence and the civil justice system serves
as an incentive to ensure the best care possible,’’ Suggs
said.
In May, ATLA Political Action Committee ran television ads in the
Harrisburg and Scranton media markets aimed at educating Pennsylvanians
as to U.S. Senator Rick Santorum’s efforts to restrict the rights
of women with his ill-conceived medical malpractice bill. ATLA also
staged a web campaign, placing ads on dozens of Pennsylvania political
and media web sites and launched a web site, www.trickyrickysantorum.com
to further highlight the hypocrisy of Santorum’s proposal.
Below is information that neither Frist nor Santorum is likely
to mention:
More Half-Truths and Exaggerations Expected at the Frist-Santorum
Medical Malpractice “Reform” Event
Today, Bill Frist will be campaigning with Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania.
In addition to raising money for the Santorum campaign, Frist and
Santorum will hold a public event to call for medical malpractice
“reform.” If their past comments are any guide, today’s
event will be filled with half-truths and exaggerations. Here are
the facts that won’t hear from either Senator today:
Pennsylvania Courts Released Statistics This Year Showing that
the State has Seen a “Sustained Decline” in Medical Malpractice.
On April 25, 2006, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
released data on medical malpractice case filings and verdicts for
2005 that showed “a sustained decline in the number of med mal
lawsuits filed statewide.” According to the data, between 2000
and 2005, the number of medical malpractice case filings dropped 35
percent – from 2,632 in 2000 to 1,698 in 2005. [Administrative
Office of Pennsylvania Courts data, http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/MedicalMalpractice/2005StatewideFilings.pdf;
“Latest Medical Malpractice data shows sustained decline in case
filings,” Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts press
release, 4/25/06, http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/MedicalMalpractice/4-25-06%20Med%20Mal%20stats%20for%202005.pdf]
- Frist & Santorum Appearing in Lackawanna County Pennsylvania,
Where the Number of Medical Malpractice has Been Cut in Half Since
2000. According to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the number
of medical malpractice case filings has decreased in Lackawanna
County, Pennsylvania from 71 cases in 2000 to 35 cases in 2005 –
a decrease of 50%.
The Government Accountability Office: Malpractice Cases Have
Not Widely Affected Access to Health Care. The Government Accountability
Office (GAO, formerly the General Accounting Office) found that “many
of the reported provider actions taken in response to malpractice
pressures were not substantiated or did not widely affect access to
health care … some reports of physicians relocating to other
states, retiring, or closing practices were not accurate or involved
relatively few physicians.” [“Medical Malpractice: Implications
of Rising Premiums on Access to Health Care,” GAO, 9/29/03, www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-836]
Study Shows that Skyrocketing Premiums Are Actually the Result
of Medical Malpractice Insurers Price-Gouging Doctors. A 2005
study conducted by former Missouri Insurance Commissioner Jay Angoff
found that insurance companies have been price-gouging doctors by
drastically raising their insurance premiums, even though claims payments
have been flat, or in some cases decreasing. According to the annual
statements of the 15 largest insurance companies, the amount malpractice
insurers collected in premiums increased by 120.2 between 2000 and
2004, while their claims payouts rose by only 5.7 percent. Thus, they
increased their premiums by 21 times the increase in their claims
payments. [“Falling Claims and Rising Premiums in the Medical
Malpractice Insurance Industry,” Jay Angoff, 7/05; http://www.centerjd.org/ANGOFFReport.pdf
]
- Insurer with Ties to Frist is One of the Worst Offenders; Dramatically
Increased Premiums, Even As Claims Payments Have Dropped. Among
the 15 insurance companies included in the Angoff study, Health
Care Indemnity, Inc. (HCI) was one of the worst offenders. According
to HCI’s annual financial statements, the company increased
its net premiums by $173 million, or 88 percent, between 2000 and
2004, even though its claims payments fell by $74.2 million, or
32 percent. HCI is the medical malpractice insurance subsidiary
of The Hospital Corporation of American (HCA) – a multi-billion
healthcare services company founded by Senator Frist’s brother
and father. Frist’s brother, Thomas still remains with the
company, acting as Chairman Emeritus. [“Falling Claims and
Rising Premiums in the Medical Malpractice Insurance Industry,”
Jay Angoff, 7/05; http://www.centerjd.org/ANGOFFReport.pdf;
“Directors and Officers,” HCA website, http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=63489&p=irol-governance]
Payouts in Medical Malpractice Cases Have Dropped Over Last Four
Years; The Number of Payments Over $1 Million Has Dropped 56 Percent
Since 1991. According to a 2005 study by Public Citizen, malpractice
payouts have remained flat for more than a decade and have actually
dropped over the last four years. Among the finding of the study,
which looked medical malpractice payout trends between 1991 and 2004:
- The number of malpractice payments paid on behalf of doctors fell
13.6 percent between 2001 and 2004.
- Adjusted for inflation, malpractice payments saw an average annual
increase of only 0.8 percent between 1991 and 2004.
- Adjusted for inflation, the median payment from judgments grew
from $125,000 in 1991 to $146,000 in 2004 – only a 1.2 percent
average annual increase.
- The percentage of payments over $1 million dropped from 2.25 percent
in 1991 to just 1 percent in 2004. Adjusted for inflation, this
represents a 56 percent drop.
[“Medical Malpractice Payout Trends 1991 - 2004: Evidence Shows
Lawsuits Haven’t Caused Doctors’ Insurance Woes,” Public
Citizen, May 2005, http://www.citizen.org/documents/Malpracticeanalysis_final.pdf]
According to Insurance Industry Officials, Medical Malpractice
/ Tort “Reform” Bills – Like Senate Bills 22 &
23 – Will Not Result in Lower Insurance Rates. A number of
officials from the insurance industry, and their allies, have admitted
that medical malpractice “reform” will not lead to lower
insurance rates:
- AIA Suggested Prices Will Continue to Rise, Even with Tort “Reform.”
Dennis Kelly of the American Insurance Association has said, “We
have not promised price reductions with tort reform.” In addition,
an AIA press release stated: “Insurers never promised that
tort reform would achieve specific premium savings...” [The
Chicago Tribune, 1/3/05; American Insurance Association press release,
3/13/02]
- President of the Physician Insurers Association of America &
the General Counsel to the American Tort Reform Association: Premiums
Increased, In Part, to Make Up for Lost Investments. Lawrence Smarr,
president of the Physician Insurers Association of America, admitted
to the Detroit News that premiums are in part rising to make up
for lost investment income. Similarly, Victor Schwartz, general
counsel to the American Tort Reform Association, suggested that
premiums increased when the insurance companies’ investment
income began to decline: “Insurance was cheaper in the 1990s
because insurance companies knew that they could take a doctor’s
premium and invest it, and $50,000 would be worth $200,000 five
years later when the claim came in. An insurance company today can’t
do that.” [The Detroit News, 7/8/05; Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
3/20/03]
- President of First Professional Insurance Company: “Responsible”
Insurers Can’t Cut Rates After a Medical Malpractice “Reform”
Bill Passed. According to Bob White, President of First Professional
Insurance Company, the largest medical malpractice insurer in Florida,
“[n]o responsible insurer can cut its rates after a [medical
malpractice tort ‘reform’] bill passes.” [Palm Beach
Post, 1/29/03]
The Methodology Used to Calculate the Cost of “Defensive
Medicine” Has Been Debunked by CBO, GAO. According to Congressional
Quarterly Weekly, the statistics used to cite the cost of so-called
“defensive medicine” are “[b]ased on an estimate from
the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a report that
extrapolated from a narrower study of the costs of treating Medicare
heart patients before and after states approved certain caps on damages
and other changes. The Congressional Budget Office tried to apply
that study’s methodology to a broader set of ailments and reported
no evidence that restrictions on tort liability reduced medical costs.”
In 1999 the GAO wrote, “[b]ecause this study was focused on only
one condition and on a hospital setting, it cannot be extrapolated
to the larger practice of medicine. Given the limited evidence, reliable
cost savings estimates cannot be developed.” Other key factors
to note about the study include:
- The study was published in 1996 and the data used was from 1984,
1987 and 1990;
- The study only looked at one type of heart procedure performed
only on Medicare patients; and
- HHS took the limited, out-dated data and extrapolated the results
to the entire health care industry
["Tort Reform Battle: A Simple Case of Complexity," CQ
Weekly, 1/31/05; “Medical Malpractice: Effects of Varying Laws
in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia,” Page 5,
United States Congress General Accounting Office, 10/99; “Do
Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine?” http://papers.nber.org/papers/w5466,
February, 1996]
As Many As 98,000 Patients Die Each Year as a Result of Preventable
Medical Errors. According to a landmark report released by the
Institute of Medicine, between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die each
year as a result of preventable medical errors. As the Institute noted,
"[e]ven using the lower estimate [44,000], preventable medical
errors in hospitals exceed attributable deaths to such feared threats
as motor-vehicle wrecks, breast cancer, and AIDS."The Institute’s
report also estimated that these medical errors cost between $17 billion
and $29 billion per year, which includes expenses for additional care
needed as a result of the errors, lost income and household productivity,
and disability. ["Medical errors still claiming many lives,"
USA Today, 5/18/05; "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health
System [summary]," Institute of Medicine, 11/99, http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/4/117/ToErr-8pager.pdf]
###
As the world's largest trial bar, ATLA
promotes justice and fairness for injured persons, defends the constitutional
right to trial by jury, and strengthens the civil justice system through
education and disclosure of information critical to public health
and safety. With 60,000 members worldwide, ATLA provides lawyers with
the information and professional assistance they need to serve clients
successfully and protect the democratic values of the civil justice
system.
|
