Medical Malpractice Suits
and Medical Costs

September 01, 2009

Expert:
Tom Baker
William Maul Massey Professor of Law and Health Sciences
University of Pennsylvania

news_medmal_suits_medical_costs Credentials:
• Researches and teaches on torts, medical malpractice, insurance law and policy, sociology of risk
• Author of “The Medical Malpractice Myth”

Quotes:

“We have approximately the same number of malpractice claims today as in the late 1980s, while the number of medical encounters between doctors and patients has gone up, and the cost of health care has doubled since then. Research from the 1980s found that only 4-7 percent of those injured by medical malpractice brought a case. That rate is even smaller today.” 

“Medical malpractice tort costs were $30.4 billion in 2007, the last year for which data are available. We have a more than $2 trillion health-care system. That puts litigation costs and malpractice insurance at 1-1.5 percent of total health-care costs. That’s a rounding error. Liability isn’t even the tail on the cost dog. It’s the hair on the end of the tail.” 

“In many states, there are already caps on malpractice awards. These awards tend to be on non-economic damages — not medical expenses or lost wages, but typically on pain and suffering. These caps vary from state to state, but they’re generally set around $250,000 to $500,000.”