Tort Reform

November 9, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings – Part 4

This is Part 4 of my report on medical malpractice filings in Tennessee for 2010. (Here is Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.) Today, I examine the county where I live, Williamson County.

Williamson County, Tennessee is on the southern border of Davidson County, which is the home of our state capital, Nashville. In 2010 Williamson County had 180,891 residents. Almost 90 percent of those residents were white and about 5% of them were African-American. The average household income was almost $122,000 per year and the per capita annual income was about $42,000. Over 56% of the people in the county have attained at least one college degree.

Williamson Medical Center is a 185-bed hospital in Franklin. It provides comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care. It has an active emergency room and has physicians on-staff in some 36 specialties.

November 8, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings – Part 3

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

This is Part 3 of my report on medical malpractice case filings in Tennessee. (Click to read Part 1and Part 2.) Here are the case filings for some of the larger counties in the state for the year ended September 30, 2010:

County

Shelby 88

November 5, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings 2010 – Part 2

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Yesterday I wrote about the decrease in the number of medical malpractice case filings since the new law requiring pre-suit notice and a certificate of good faith went into effect October 1,2008. As I mentioned, the total number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed for the one-year period ending September 30, 2010 was 313.

Tennessee has approximately 6,100,000 people. Assuming that there was a single plaintiff in each case (which is almost always true except for loss of consortium claims in injury cases) simple math tells us that there was one claim filed for every 20,000 Tennesseans.

There are 137 hospitals in the state with about 20,000 hospital beds. There are 317 nursing homes with 36,276 beds. There are about 18,560 non-federal licensed physicians. There are also almost 62,000 registered nurses. There are 954 physicians’ assistants, 4853 nurse practitioners and 4,196 dentists. Each of these providers is a potential defendant in a malpractice case. Add to this some number of x-ray techs, ambulance drivers, etc.

November 4, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Case Filings 2010 – Part 1

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The preliminary numbers are in for 2010 and demonstrate that the statute providing for the giving of notice and filing a certificate of good faith has dramatically decreased the number of medical malpractice filings in Tennessee. The new law came in to effect on October 1, 2008 and was modified effective July 1, 2009.

You may remember that for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, 644 medical malpractice lawsuits were filed in Tennessee. A whooping 140 of those were filed in September 2008, some of which were filed as lawyers took action to avoid the burden and risks of filing cases under the new law.

For the year ending September 30, 2009, the first year that the new law was in effect, available data indicates that only 263 medical malpractice lawsuits had been filed. Because there were a larger-than-usual number of filings before the new law came into effect, it is fair to say that filings were lower than one would expect in an ordinary year.

October 31, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Filings 2010 -Part 3

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

This is Part 3 of my report on medical malpractice case filings in Tennessee. (Click to read Part 1 and Part 2.) Here are the case filings for some of the larger counties in the state for the year ended September 30, 2010:

County

Shelby 88

October 31, 2010

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Filings 2010 – Part 1

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The preliminary numbers are in for 2010 and demonstrate that the statute providing for the giving of notice and filing a certificate of good faith has dramatically decreased the number of medical malpractice filings in Tennessee. The new law came in to effect on October 1, 2008 and was modified effective July 1, 2009.

You may remember that for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2008, 644 medical malpractice lawsuits were filed in Tennessee. A whooping 140 of those were filed in September 2008, some of which were filed as lawyers took action to avoid the burden and risks of filing cases under the new law.

For the year ending September 30, 2009, the first year that the new law was in effect, available data indicates that only 263 medical malpractice lawsuits had been filed. Because there were a larger-than-usual number of filings before the new law came into effect, it is fair to say that filings were lower than one would expect in an ordinary year.

September 26, 2010

Bill Haslam’s Health Care Commercial

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Bill Haslam is the Republican nominee for Governor of Tennessee. I have never met the gentleman, but my friends who have say he is friendly and bright.

Mr. Haslam’s latest television commercial calls for Tennesseans to address problems in health care, asking for more personal responsibility and tort reform in the scope of five seconds.

Readers know that since at least 1975 "tort reform" has been advanced to protect doctors and hospitals from personal responsibility for their actions. Through damage caps, artificial restrictions on who can testify as an expert, modification of the collateral source rule, and other measures, legislatures across the country have actively worked to reduce the personal responsibility of health care providers that harm patients.

July 6, 2010

SVMIC Financial Results – 2009

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

On June 15, 2010 I reported that SVMIC, the bedpan mutual that insures the vast majority of Tennessee doctors, reduced its rates by 23.1% . I also reported that the company declared a $20,000,000 dividend. The net effect of the dividend means that policyholders with a history of no paid claims will receive another 8% reduction (or so) in rates effective May 15, 2010.

How can SVMIC cut rates so dramatically while paying the highest dividend it has paid in years? There are two reasons. First, as a result of the tort reform passed effective October 1, 2008 (revised effective July 1, 2009) claims have decreased substantially. Fewer claims means reduced claims handling costs, defense fees, court reporter and other litigation fees, and claims payments. Since the law permits insurers to "write off" reserves as they are established, fewer claims means that reserves are lower than these would have otherwise been had there been more claims. A decrease in the need to set aside money in reserves for these "absent" claims increases net income.

And how it has increased. In 2009, SVMIC had a net income (after taxes) of a whopping $71, 968,000, an increase of over 100% from a year earlier.

June 21, 2010

A Post From the Past

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Fifty months ago "Steven" and I had an ongoing debate about a post I wrote about the John Ritter case. I have repeated it below:

Steven and I have been having a discussion – it started here. Here is his latest missive:

"My mistake, I did not mean to state that this particular lawyer(s) was sleazy, but that the trial bar in general is sleazy. I will admit that there must be some decent trial attorneys just as there are bad doctors, cops, judges, etc.

June 15, 2010

SVMIC Slashes Medical Malpractice Insurance Rates Effective May 15, 2010

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

You won’t read about this anywhere else.

State Volunteer Mutual Insurance Company, the doctor-owned medical malpractice insurer that insures the vast majority of non-university based physicians in Tennessee, has slashed medical malpractice insurance rates.

The average rate decrease, effective for renewals on or after May 15, 2010, is $23.1% at $1M / $3M insurance policy limits. There are different rates of decreases depending on specialty, dividend status, limits, years in practice, and other factors.