Two Independent Studies Indicate Medical Liability Insurance Crisis Hampering Access to Physicians
The following is a statement from William W. Lander, MD, President of the Pennsylvania Medical Society.
Two studies, supported by The Project on Medical Liability In Pennsylvania, an independent, non-partisan effort financed by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, indicate patients may be going without the care they need because the medical liability crisis ‘hampers their access to physicians.’
One study, specific to Pennsylvania, found nine out of 10 physicians in six high-risk specialties practice defensive medicine. Defensive medicine includes unnecessary and often expensive tests and procedures that physicians realize will not help patients but are only ordered out of fear of a frivolous lawsuit. Ultimately, this practice drives up the cost of health care and contributes to the high premiums everyone pays.
This new study confirms 2001 research conducted by the Pennsylvania Medical Society that found 89 percent of Pennsylvania doctors practice defensive medicine.
Worse, this new study also showed that 42 percent of doctors surveyed had restricted their practices since 2000 due to liability concerns. This includes elimination of procedures and avoiding patients with complex medical problems.
The other new study conducted by The Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania showed that states with legal system reforms such as limits on non-economic damage awards saw a higher increase in the number of physicians. According to the study, doctors did not retire as early in states with reforms. And, those states were more attractive to new doctors. Pennsylvania has yet to adopt reforms on non-economic damage awards.
For the past several years, the Pennsylvania Medical Society has said our state’s medical liability insurance crisis is complex and work needs to be done on patient safety, insurance issues, and legal reforms. Unfortunately, through a coordinated and well-financed national campaign, trial lawyers and groups they own have always denied access problems exist, and they’ve claimed there’s no such thing as lawsuit abuse. Instead, personal injury lawyers have chosen to attack doctors and their patients, while blaming the resulting high insurance rates on everyone but themselves. Their efforts denied Pennsylvanians a fair vote on the issue of limiting non-economic damage awards.
Now, independent groups have confirmed what doctors and patients have been saying for a long time. Patients are losing access to care due to a complex and broken liability system.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society welcomes this new independent research. And, we’ll continue to support a three-pronged approach to fix the liability insurance crisis that includes patient safety, insurance issues, and lawsuit abuse reforms. We hope the personal injury lawyers and groups they own will finally admit their part of the problem and join efforts to support a complete overhaul. After all, statistics clearly show that trial lawyers have upwards of a 70 percent error rate in pursuit of their jackpot paydays, while they still pocket 40 percent of awards plus expenses.
So, before more patients lose their doctors, or access to them, the Pennsylvania Medical Society hopes our legislators will heed the research and allow Pennsylvania voters their say on this important issue.
Last Updated: 7/31/2008