News tagged with 'Tort Reform'

Medical health insurance premiums are supposed to go primarily to pay medical claims, but a Senate Committee inquiry finds that a larger chunk, than previously suspected, of what you pay for medical insurance, returns to the insurer as profit.

Are there too many frivolous lawsuits? It's tough to find any backing to that claim that will be heard when health care debate begins later this week. But there is plenty of evidence that 100,000 to 200,000 Americans are dying every year from medical error - and most don't file lawsuits.

The 'Loser pays" proposal is just the latest in a long line of tort reform proposals, part of health care reform, that further erode an injured persons ability to seek a remedy in the court after medical malpractice.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce that fights "frivolous" lawsuits and tort reform has filed a lawsuit against a group polking fun at the chamber.

Hospital or health panels of experts would determine whether medical malpractice took place and what the victim should be offered, in this plan offered by the American Hospital Association. Doctors and hositals say without a neutral panel of experts, they must practice defensive medicine.

When Wayne Volkmuth tried to sue a dental clinic for the death of his son, age 7, he found what lawyers and the injured in California understand. Pain and suffering, both physical and emotional, has been arbitrarily capped at $250,000, even before you go before a jury.

Upward of 45,000 Americans may die every year because they lack health insurance, says this latest study out of Harvard, raising the risk of dying by 40 percent and exceeding kidney disease as a leading cause of death.

Diana Levine is in the news again. The woman whose case against Wyeth delivered the death knell to federal preemption in drug product liability cases, today got part of her wish. The drug that took her right arm will now carry a more explicit warning against administering it via IV push.

Tort reform is being challenged by injured patients or their spouses in Georgia and Indiana. Not allowing the jury to decide on a case's worth is unconstitutional said the judge in the Georgia case.

Some of the solutions to medical malpractice lawsuit reform, suggested by the president Wednesday night, have been tried and failed.

A report by the Hearst Newspapers finds that about 200,000 people die from errors by doctors and infections in hospitals, which are largely preventable. Here are some of their stories.

Dead By Mistake reports 200,000 avoidable medical mistakes lead to death in the U.S. every year, and during debates over health care reform, no one is monitoring how to make hospitals safer.

Canadas has found one important way to keep down the cost of health care - their medical malpractice insurance comes from nonprofit companies, not for-profit as in the U.S.

Health care reform should not include limiting the liability of dangerous doctors and unsafe hospitals, finds this study done by groups dedicated to preserving the civil justice system.  Medical malpractice claims have fallen like a rock creating record profits for the insurance industry, not lower premiums. 

For the third straight year, 2008 saw the lowest number of medical malpractice payments. The decline, however, is likely because less injured patients have received compensation, not improved health safety.