Insurers want to take away patients’ rights

Leo V. Boyle and Roger Felice

Medical malpractice insurance premiums are increasing nationwide because of insurers’ bad business decisions, bad investments, a faltering economy and a few "bad apple" doctors who are responsible for most of the injuries and deaths suffered by patients.

The insurance companies blame — and, worse, want Congress and state legislatures to respond to their problems by punishing — people who have had the wrong side of the brain operated on, cancer misdiagnosed, or have been blinded by laser surgery gone wrong. And doctors, who don’t like paying higher premiums any more than the rest of us, are following their insurers’ lead.

This medical malpractice "crisis" is nothing new. Similar insurance "crises" surfaced in the mid-1970s and 1980s, when, like today, insurance company profits dropped. During these cycles, some state legislatures were pressured to restrict the legal rights of innocent victims — theoretically to bring down insurance rates. It didn’t work.

In 1975, California enacted an absolute limit on the amount a citizen jury — after hearing all the evidence — can order negligent healthcare providers to pay patients they injure or the families of those they kill. Now, 27 years later, California doctors pay 20 percent more for medical malpractice coverage than the national average, according the American Medical Association’s Physician Socioeconomic Statistics, 2000-2002.

This "reform" did not, as promised, reduce malpractice premiums, which, in fact, are higher in the states that have limited injured patients rights than in those which haven’t.

The American Insurance Association — echoed by the leaders of the American Tort Reform Association — admits that limiting the rights of injured people, as it advocates, does not reduce insurance premiums: "(T)he insurance industry never promised that tort reform would achieve specific premium savings."

The problem is not that injured people seek justice. And the solution is not punishing those unfortunate enough to have suffered at the hands of a bad doctor, as the insurance industry proposes.

The problem with medical malpractice is that it occurs far too often. According to the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report, up to 98,000 patients die in U.S. hospitals each year as a result of preventable medical errors. Malpractice is America’s eighth leading cause of death, killing more than breast cancer or automobile crashes.

Most injured patients and their survivors never learn that they or their loved ones were victims of medical malpractice. Only one out of eight instances of malpractice results in a claim, according to a Harvard study.

A conspiracy of silence protects many negligent doctors.

A West Virginia Sunday Gazette-Mail investigation revealed that just 40 doctors were responsible for more than one-fourth of the 2,300 cases of medical malpractice reported to the state’s Board of Medicine between 1993 and 2001. Analysis of medical negligence records found that, from 1992 to 2001, only 16 percent of Kentucky’s doctors were responsible for 100 percent of the medical malpractice there. These states are not unique.

It is clear that a small percentage of "bad-apple" doctors commit a large percentage of medical malpractice. One would think the profession and its insurers would weed out the repeat offenders. Not so.

Unlike auto insurers, most medical malpractice insurers don’t base premium rates on the doctor’s experience. In other words, good doctors — and far too many innocent patients who are injured or killed — pay for bad doctors.

So why a medical malpractice "crisis" now? Just like in the ’70s and ’80s, the economy has recently declined. Insurance company profits — mostly from investments — suffer from bad business decisions. St. Paul Insurance Co., for example, announced it was leaving the malpractice insurance business, claiming malpractice verdicts were a problem, but failed to mention it lost $108 million in the Enron debacle.

Insurers also play numbers games with rates. "As the economy enjoyed a magic carpet ride in the 1990s, insurers kept rates artificially low because they earned more money investing than by writing policies," concluded Medical Liability Monitor editor Carol Brierly Golin.

And what about claims that rising malpractice premiums force doctors to quit the profession or move out of state? A Philadelphia Inquirer investigation found no such trend in Pennsylvania. Nor is it true in West Virginia, New York, Mississippi, Nevada, Texas or other states where the claim has been made.

The negligence of bad doctors and the bad business decisions of insurance companies are not the fault of patients who are mistreated. Yet it is injured patients who will be punished if insurers and doctors succeed in limiting justice to help solve their self-inflicted troubles.

Leo V. Boyle is president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, which is based in Washington, D.C. Roger Felice of Spokane is president of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, which includes more than 3,500 plaintiff attorneys statewide.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Customers enter and exit the Costco on Dec. 2, 2022, in Lake Stevens. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Costco stores could be impacted by looming truck driver strike threat

Truck drivers who deliver groceries and produce to Costco warehouses… Continue reading

Two Washington State ferries pass along the route between Mukilteo and Clinton as scuba divers swim near the shore Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ferry system increases ridership by a half million in 2024

Edmonds-Kingston route remains second-busiest route in the system.

Outside of the updated section of Lake Stevens High School on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 in Lake Stevens, Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lake Stevens schools bond leading early; Arlington voters reject latest levy attempt

A $314 million bond looks to pass while Arlington’s attempts to build a new Post Middle School again appear to take a step back.

The second floor of the Lynnwood Crisis Center on Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Funding gap leaves Lynnwood without a crisis center provider

The idea for the Lynnwood crisis center began in 2021 after a 47-year-old died by suicide while in custody at Lynnwood Municipal Jail.

Three seriously injured after head-on collision on Highway 522

The crash between Monroe and Maltby happened around 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

Robin Cain with 50 of her marathon medals hanging on a display board she made with her father on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Running a marathon is hard. She ran one in every state.

Robin Cain, of Lake Stevens, is one of only a few thousand people to ever achieve the feat.

People line up to grab food at the Everett Recovery Cafe on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Coffee, meals and compassion are free at the Everett Recovery Cafe

The free, membership-based day center offers free coffee and meals and more importantly, camaraderie and recovery support.

Devani Padron, left, Daisy Ramos perform during dance class at Mari's Place Monday afternoon in Everett on July 13, 2016. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Mari’s Place helps children build confidence and design a better future

The Everett-based nonprofit offers free and low-cost classes in art, music, theater and dance for children ages 5 to 14.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett water, sewer rates could jump 43% by 2028

The rate hikes would pay for improvements to the city’s sewer infrastructure.

The bond funded new track and field at Northshore Middle School on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Courtesy of Northshore School District)
Northshore School District bond improvements underway

The $425 million bond is funding new track and field complexes, playgrounds and phase one of two school replacements.

Fernando Espinoza salts the sidewalk along Fifth Avenue South on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Think this is cold, Snohomish County? Wait until Tuesday

Tuesday could bring dangerous wind chill during the day and an overnight low of 19 degrees

The Washington State Department of Licensing office is seen in 2018 in Seattle. (Sue Misao / The Herald)
Drivers licensing offices to close Feb. 14-17

Online services are also not available Feb. 10-17. The Washington State Department of Licensing said the move is necessary to upgrade software.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.