No, I don’t hate trial lawyers! But I do hate frivolous lawsuits and lawyers who troll the waters of misery and mishap hoping to snag a few clients who will bring in the mother load. Last week, in our local newspaper, there were ads from 11 different trial lawyers looking for folks who’ve been taking Vioxx. I found 9 ads for lawyers looking for workers exposed to asbestos. There were 6 ads for lawyers looking for nursing home abuse. To top it off there were at least 15 ads for other lawyers looking for accident victims and victims of medical malpractice.

Don’t get me wrong. Lawyers provide an invaluable service in the checks and balances that must exist to protect consumers from unscrupulous businesses. People also have a right to be compensated when they are injured through no fault of their own by someone or something that may have contributed to their loss. And yes, lawyers do have a right to be compensated for their work though I think taking a percent of the final settlement is legalized rape.

But, like the wrong many of these lawyers are trying to correct the situation has gotten out of control. The courts are back logged with thousands of lawsuits from folks seeking compensation for getting burned from hot coffee, looking for payments for pain and suffering incurred when they saw a dead cockroach on a hamburger patty, or seeking thousands of dollars because a hair stylist dyed their hair the wrong color. In fact, it’s estimated by Legal Watch, a non-profit legal watchdog agency, that as many as 36 percent of all the lawsuits filed in the United States last year fall under the category of frivolous in nature. The complainants attempt to use the courts like a shaken-down thugster banking on out of court settlements from parties forced to pay up or go bankrupt from legal fees and bad public relations.

Enter the President of the United States. George Bush says tort reform is an absolute must, especially in the field of medical malpractice. Nowhere in America today is the affect of frivolous lawsuits being felt more profoundly than in the medical community. Literally thousands of doctors have stopped practicing medicine because they can’t afford medical malpractice insurance.

Consider these facts from the President’s speech to doctors in Collinsville, Illinois.

• One half of all the hospitals in the U.S reported losing doctors and having to cuts services last year.
• 15% of all Ob-Gyn practices have closed in the past three years.
• the averages cost of malpractice insurance for a specialized surgeon has jumped from $131-thousand a year in 2001 to $265-thousand a year in 2004.
• in 2003-2004 more than 100-thousand lawsuits were filed by individuals seeking relief from asbestos related claims.
• in hundreds of counties in the U.S. there are no doctors to deliver babies.
• in states where medical malpractice tort reforms have been in acted, like California and Colorado, premiums are 80 percent lower.

As a reporter I’ve done a number of investigative pieces on the soaring cost of health care. It is a very complicated matter. Insurance companies themselves take part of the blame by garnering huge profits and monstrous salaries for their CEO’s. And no one can argue that the pharmaceutical industry isn’t rolling in the dough, tempered lately, by so many problems with their pain medications.

Still the bottom line, according to the majority of experts I have talked with, is that lawsuits or the threat of them is the largest single cause of double digit increases in the cost of medical care. Faced with the threat of lawsuits doctors order what may be unnecessary tests. They refer patients to other specialists to cover their bases. And it goes on and on and on. Here’s the kicker. Lawyers argue only 3 percent of all doctors account for 97 percent of the lawsuits. They say the AMA and other groups need to do a better job of monitoring or getting rid of the bad apples. The fact is 97 percent of the good doctors should not have to pay for the sins of a few. And pay they do!

For example, my daughter had very serious surgery for scoliosis of the spine two years ago. Her doctor is one of the best in the country. He calls himself the doctor of last resort because many of his cases are so medically complicated most other doctors refuse to get involved. Forty percent of his cases are pro bono, in other words, he does it for free. Still, he chooses to help the helpless and pays more than 270-thousand dollars in medical malpractice insurance a year. He hates the system but refuses to give in!

I was with him one afternoon when he was arguing with the State of Florida to get reimbursed for a procedure. In order to save the little girl the pain of two difficult spine surgeries he performed a single operation. He had received pre-approval and showed me the signed paperwork to prove it. The State refused to pay for the second procedure because they said he should have performed a second operation with a second approval. Bottom line, he saved the State of Florida over 32-thousand dollars by performing both procedures together and only billed them for the cost of materials for the second. Was the State grateful? No. Were the patient and the parents of the girl thankful for the great skills of this doctor? You bet! Knowing that my camera crew was in the room video taping the conversation the State promised to send him a check within the next two weeks. Funny how people seem to respond when they know the media is looking on!

And here’s the kicker. About ten years ago this doctor was sued for medical malpractice. He was the doctor on call in the ER when a boy with a clubfoot was brought in for diagnosis. He treated the boy and recommended the parents follow up because a simple operation could correct the boy’s foot permanently. The parents took no action to correct the problem. Four years passed and suddenly he is named, along with about a dozen other doctors, for not recommending treatment causing the boy to develop a permanent disability. Wrong. He did recommend treatment and had the paperwork to prove it. But the medical malpractice insurance company decided to accept adjudication and settled out of court for $250-thouand dollars. They wanted to avoid the bad press and paying their own legal staff for an extended period of time.

My doctor was furious. He demanded his name be cleared in this shotgun approach to malpractice. The insurance company told him to accept the judgment or they would drop him. This is the kind of blackmail the legal profession foists on medical professionals every day. Doctors can’t afford to practice just good medicine. They have to practice defensive medicine just in case there’s a lawyer waiting in the wings. And, as the President so aptly stated, no patient has ever been cured by a frivolous lawsuit.

The solution? Caps need to be placed on malpractice awards. It’s fair and right that 100 percent of all the medical costs incurred for life should be covered for a medical mistake. Non-economic damages should be limited to $250-thousand dollars. Punitive damages should be assessed in cases where the negligence is willful. I also like Florida’s new law that limits the amount of money lawyers are allowed to take as their share of the malpractice pie. I also like the idea of caps on malpractice premiums from insurance companies. And, I support developing a stronger AMA and other medical associations that take greater action against their own kind that practice lousy medicine. These reforms are needed now before we lose any more doctors and before potential medical students are scared away from entering medicine. I urge you to call your lawmakers and tell them you support malpractice reform now!

Al Ruechel, Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved

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