In Ohio, Jury Awards $13.9M in Birth Injury Lawsuit

Via Cerebral Palsy Law News we learned of news of a Trumbull County jury delivering a $13.9 million award in medical malpractice suit involving alleged birth injuries leading to cerebral palsy caused by failure to perform a Cesarian. This according to a report in the Warren Ohio Tribune Chronicle. Read full article here: Cerebral Palsy Verdict.

Medical Malpractice Claims Declining, Says Insurer

Schaumburg, Illinois – Data collected from 1,600 hospitals in years 1997 through 2007 reveals that health care organizations’ medical malpractice claim frequency is slightly declining and severity is leveling off, according to a report released by Zurich, an leading insurer of hospitals and health care organizations in North America.

The fifth annual Zurich benchmarking report on claims trends in the healthcare industry shows that claims severity, or the average amount per claim, has stabilized over the past several years. The average annual rise over the past 11 years is four percent. Additionally, Zurich reports that teaching and children’s hospitals have higher claim severity than acute care community hospitals and outpatient facilities. Non-profit hospitals have the lowest severity; and among non-profits, faith-based institutions have the lowest severity of all.

The report is now available online and can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/ajsqJS

Study Reveals Cost of Malpractice Insurance, Verdicts and Settlements and Defensive Medicine Accounts for Only About 2.4% of US Healthcare Spend

A recent study published in the public policy journal Health Affairs, Low Costs Of Defensive Medicine, Small Savings From Tort Reform, provides important information about the costs of medical malpractice litigation and defensive medicine in comparison to the total cost of U.S. health care. The study shows that the medical liability system, a vital means for holding health care professionals accountable to accepted standards, amounts to only 2.4 percent of American health care expenditures.

In light of Health and Human Services (HHS) data showing that the U.S. spent $7,681 per person in 2008 on health care, the study results suggest that only $185 of that amount goes toward malpractice insurance, "defensive" medical tests, legal costs and the verdicts and settlements paid to patients. Contrary to the negative attention that litigation received during the recent national health care dialogue, this figure seems surprisingly modest given what Americans pay for other hedges against risk, such as car, home and life insurance.

Learn more at Health Affairs.

In Minnesota, Jury Finds Hospital Negligent for Death of Woman

Minneapolis television station KARE11 carries news of a Wright County jury returning a $4.6 million verdict in a medical malpractice case involving the death of a 36-year-old wife and mother, finding the medical center negligent. Details of the case are not provided.