Day on Torts
To those of you who had a medical malpractice judgment or settlement in 2007: Please remember that the 2007 "Counsel for Claimants" reports must be completed and sent to the Tennessee Dept of Commerce and Insurance on or before April 1, 2008. Here is the website where you can download the form.
The purpose of gathering this data is to learn the truth about medical malpractice verdicts and settlements in Tennessee and the costs associated with medical malpractice litigation. This is the second year that attorneys for claimants have been required to share information with the state.
Here is a summary of the report for the 2005 calendar year:
"Based upon financial data reported to the Department, insurance companies wrote over $341 million in medical malpractice premiums in Tennessee in 2005. According to the submitted medical malpractice claims information, Tennessee trial courts issued five medical malpractice judgments totaling $6,075,724. In 2005, over 2,366 medical malpractice claims were resolved by insurance companies and uninsured health care facilities. Eighty-three percent (83%) of these claims resolved in 2005 resulted in no payment of damages. Settlement of claims occurred for sixteen percent (16%) of medical malpractice claims in 2005 and resulted in payment of damages totaling $119,091,990. Expenses paid in 2005 for defense of medical malpractice claims totaled $61,768,804. Insurance companies reported that financial reserves established in 2005 for Tennessee medical malpractice claims totaled $822,098,399. Approximately 5,680 open medical malpractice claims were identified as of December 31, 2005, with 295 of those claims first originating in 2005."
I cannot cut and paste results for the report issued for the 2006 calendar year, but here is a copy of the press release that summarizes those results.