"Tort Reform" refers to a series of legislative actions aimed at taking away the rights of injured Americans. The tort reform agenda has been pushed not by concerned citizens, but by the insurance industry in an attempt to strip innocent victims of their legal right to seek justice for injuries they have suffered as a result of someone else's wrongdoing.
For years, tort reform advocates have been propagating lies about a mythic "explosion of litigation" in the United States that they claim is bankrupting doctors, driving up the cost of healthcare, and destroying the economy. However, this so-called crisis is nothing but an illusion created to limit the rights of regular Americans to hold physicians and their insurance companies accountable when they cause harm. They don't want to be held accountable, because it costs them money and reduces their profits!
The truth is that medical malpractice lawsuits have no affect on the cost of healthcare or on doctor's malpractice insurance premiums. In fact, as the evidence piles up, it's readily apparent that tort reform doesn't solve any of these problems. All tort reform does is help insurance companies increase its profits at the expense of injured victims. Here are some of the real facts about medical malpractice and tort reform:
- More than 100,000 people die every year from preventable medical errors, and that does not include those who are seriously injured.
- The Journal of the American Medical Association lists medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the United States.
- A May 2006 study by the Harvard School of Public Health shows that 97 percent of medical malpractice claims are not frivolous.
- Only one out of eight people who are injured at the hands of another party actually file a claim.
- States that have passed severe tort reform laws limiting damages have not seen a corresponding drop in health care costs or malpractice insurance premiums.
- The only proven correlation with tort reform is increased profits for insurance companies.
- Trials may get a lot of attention, but they are the exception. Far more common are medical errors that never lead to any action. You never hear about these cases.
The goal shouldn't be to reduce malpractice lawsuits - it should be to reduce malpractice. At the medical malpractice law offices of Greene & Eisen, we believe that the best way to reduce medical malpractice is to hold physicians accountable when they make mistakes. That is all we've ever been about.
