MALPRACTICE PAYOUTS HAVE NOT SOARED, REPORTS SAY

There may be a medical malpractice crisis, but studies
released suggested that jackpot jury awards were not
the cause. Many doctors blame such judgments for
skyrocketing insurance premiums. But the average
malpractice claim payout rose about 4% a year from
1991 to 2003, according to a study published online
by the academic journal Health Affairs. The increases
slowed to less than 2% a year from 2000 to 2003,
according to the study of 184,506 claim payments
reported to a national databank. Physicians and
insurers may fear multimillion-dollar jury awards,
but the average court judgment in 2003 was $461,000,
said Amitabh Chandra, a Dartmouth College economist
and one of the authors. And 96% of malpractice cases
that year were settled out of court for an average of
$257,000, he said. "Only 4% of the payments are these
judgments that the [physicians and insurers groups]
love to talk about," Chandra said. "It's very
misleading to keep harping on a particular jury making
a particular award to a particular physician that
seems excessive."
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Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times, 06/01/2005