The Commercial Appeal wrote an interesting story on medical malpractice litigation in today’s paper. Read it here.
An excerpt:
Nationwide, the number of payments physicians made for malpractice claims fell to 11,037 last year — the lowest figure since the National Practitioner Data Bank began tracking data in 1990. Adjusted for inflation, the total $3.6 billion they paid was the second-lowest sum on record.
I was interviewed by the reporter and gave him the data that readers of this blog have seen about how few medical malpractice claims are filed in relation to the number of malpractice injuries and deaths and how the new statute has impacted the number of case filings. He was kind enough to accurately quote me on one point:
"What’s happening to all the other dead people? All the injured people? The cases just aren’t being brought," said Nashville attorney John Day. "Is there a problem with too many lawsuits? I could make the argument that there’s not enough."