Reforming the country’s health care system will be a major agenda item for the new Congress and administration. But bargaining away the legal rights of patients will do nothing to cover the uninsured or lower health care costs.
In reality, medical negligence lawsuits are few and far between, hardly contributing to health care costs. However, 98,000 patients are killed annually by preventable medical errors. That's like two 737s crashing every day for a whole year. We need to be making strides in patient safety, not limiting the rights of patients who have been injured through no fault of their own. Tort law changes won't fix health care.
A large body of research prompted by the crisis now indicates that many of the common perceptions about medical negligence are little more than myths. Below is a sampling of recent empirical work on medical negligence that provides an evidence-based, not anecdote-driven, account of the true challenges facing America’s health care system.
AAJ has developed a primer on medical negligence and the role of the civil justice system in the current health care debate. The primer can be viewed here.
Background
Preventable Medical Errors – The Sixth Biggest Killer in America
Medical Negligence Lawsuits – Few and Far Between
The Truth About “Defensive Medicine”
How the Civil Justice System Protects Patients
Health Courts - An Insurer-Run Bureaucracy
Research
Malpractice a Tiny Percentage of Health Care Costs
No Correlation Between Malpractice Payouts and Insurance Premiums
AMA Data: Doctors Not Fleeing the Profession
By the Numbers – Few Doctors Responsible for Malpractice Payments
Hearst News Analysis Sheds Light on Epidemic of Medical Errors
In August 2009, Hearst Newspapers released “Dead by Mistake,” a comprehensive analysis of medical errors wreaking havoc on our healthcare system. For its analysis, Hearst sorted through thousands of documents, disciplinary files, lawsuits, governmental, medical and other public and private reports. Death certificates and "adverse event" statistics were studied, reviewed and translated into verifiable facts. Hearst also conducted several hundred interviews across the country, concentrating on a half dozen states.
The result is an impressive, yet disheartening review of the healthcare system 10 years after the Institute of Medicine released its report, “To Err is Human.”
>>Read Hearst Newspapers' "Dead by Mistake"
Trevor Nelson Dies at 34 From Medical Error
On July 23, 2003, Nelson arrived at Massachusetts General Hospital to check on a persistent headache, fever and uncharacteristic lethargy. Nine hours after he was admitted, Nelson was brain-dead. Mass General doctors had diagnosed him with viral meningitis, a painful but typically harmless disease that, according to the CDC, commonly affects children and young adults and is known to clear up, untreated, within a week to 10 days. But hospital records show that Nelson received a potentially deadly mix of prescription-strength drugs — given with dangerous frequency. Over the course of 15 hours, staffers administered more than a dozen doses of potent narcotics and, Nelson's family alleges, left him largely unmonitored throughout.
