Medical Malpractice News

Medical Malpractice Insurance Provides Protection For Medical Care Providers Against Malpractice Claims By Patients Or Their Survivors

The Missouri Medical Malpractice Insurance Report is an annual publication by the Missouri Department of Insurance that surveys the current state of the medical malpractice market. This report presents contemporary as well as historical trends in the frequency and severity of all medical malpractice claims and the loss ratios and market shares of insurance companies.  Because of extensive interest in the relationship between the tort system and malpractice claims, statistics about claim frequency, severity and the court disposition process are also presented. Underwriting experience In 2000, the state's malpractice insurers incurred direct losses of $65.0 million, down 5 percent from 1999; earned premium decreased $.5 million to $92.8 million.  As a result, the loss ratio -- benefits paid and incurred as a percentage of earned premium ¾ decreased from 73.0 percent in 1999 to 70.7 percent in 2000. However, the physicians’ and surgeons’ policies experienced a significant increase, from 63.1 percent in 1999 to 96.7 percent in 2000.  The hospital business experienced reflects a considerable decrease, from 72.6 percent in 1999 to 8.7 percent in 2000. The number of all types of medical care provider claims reported decreased from 1999 to 2000. The total number of claims reported to insurers in 2000 was 1,599, a decrease of 2 percent from 1,625 in 1999.  Of the 390 paid claims closed in 2000, 250 or 64 percent involved an accident that led to the permanent injury or death of the patient, compared to 56 percent in 1999.  Among claims filed against physicians/surgeons, the percent of paid claims involving permanent injury or death decreased from 77 percent in 1999 to 75 percent in 2000. The number of claims closed in 2000 was 1,427, or 3 percent less than 1999.  The number of claims closed with payment was only 390 in 2000, resulting in a 17.5 percent decrease from 1999.  The average indemnity of the claims closed with payment in 2000 increased 63.8 percent from $130,691 in 1999 to $214,077 in 2000.

Please contact us if anyone you know has suffered from debilitating injuries due to medical malpractice in Rhode Island.

	Did You Know?
	Drug-switching practices happen and are very dangerous Another public-spirited drug giant, Merck, was forced to pay a settlement of $1.9 million to 17 states in 1995 for drug-switching practices involving its Medco subsidiary. Medco pharmacists, who had given excessively favorable treatment to Merck products, were thereafter required to reveal their Merck connection to their customers.