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Legal Shakedown
By: Mr. Jim Waters
All
Kentuckians should cheer the response of Jewish Hospital President and CEO Hank
Wagner to the recent mass filing of wasteful lawsuits claiming that unsanitary
conditions at the hospital cause illness or death.
“The time has come to draw a line in the sand and say, ‘No more’,” Wagner said.
Instead, it’s a line that should have been drawn a long time ago by elected
officials in Frankfort. During the past two legislative sessions, the Kentucky
General Assembly has been presented with legislation that would have established
reasonable limits on the amount a jury can award for “pain and suffering.”
However, politicians demonstrate how beholden they are to the trial lawyers by
neglecting to act for the benefit of their constituents. Too many companies
reluctantly decide to settle outrageous claims out of court rather than take a
chance on a trial that could bankrupt their firm or tarnish their brand name in
a long and nasty lawsuit!
Standing to benefit most from the filing of 20 questionable lawsuits against
Jewish Hospital is Joseph White, the lawyer who filed the claims. White
apparently thought Jewish Hospital would simply settle to avoid the publicity.
Not this time.
The attorney incredulously filed these lawsuits even as he also acknowledged in
a Courier-Journal story that the hospital is not the only medical facility where
patients incur infections.
Nearly 2 million patients in the United States contract an infection in
hospitals – of which 90,000 die each year. If infection is a reason for
frivolous claims, then attorneys could file lawsuits against every hospital in
the state and make the same accusations.
Hospitals have immense difficulty with these persistent infections for a number
of reasons. Much of the bacteria that cause them are resistant to at least one
of the antibiotics commonly used to treat them. Also, elderly and extremely ill
patients who are admitted to hospitals are welcome targets for many of these
penicillin-resistant bacteria.
Despite the difficulties in dealing with hospital-induced infections, records
show that patients at Jewish Hospital incur far fewer infections when compared
to the national average. Numerous inspections and surveys describe it as clean,
safe and well run. Nevertheless, the hospital will be forced to spend thousands
of dollars defending itself against this legal shakedown.
Only the most naïve of Kentuckians will see this is as fair treatment. “Let
these big, greedy hospitals help the little guy,” some may say. “They have
plenty of money.”
However, the increasing number of outlandish lawsuits being filed is hurting –
not helping – “the little guy.” Tillinghast–Towers Perrin, a consultant for
financial and insurance companies, found that the cost of resolving lawsuits is
equivalent to a 5 percent tax on American workers’ wages.
Who ultimately pays for frivolous lawsuits? Everyone who earns an income takes
home less.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) claims the costs of
medical liability coverage and unnecessary tests is breaking the bank. The
effort by doctors to protect themselves from lawsuits costs taxpayers as much as
$48 billion more a year in the form of higher Medicaid and Medicare payments.
The favorite claim of trial attorneys is that such wasteful lawsuits actually
improve health care. In fact, it’s just the opposite. While not all lawsuits are
frivolous, enough groundless claims are being filed that seriously damage our
health care system.
Skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates are forcing physicians in
eastern Kentucky to abandon or scale back their practices. Three of four
obstetricians who deliver babies at Pikeville Methodist Hospital have received
cancellation notices of their medical liability insurance coverage. That leaves
one doctor to deliver 800 babies a year!
Nearly one quarter of doctors surveyed recently by the Kentucky Medical
Association say huge increases in medical liability insurance rates are causing
them to consider leaving the state. Such a mass exodus would be disastrous for
our health care system.
Between January 2000 and December 2002, more than 800 physicians moved their
practices to other states while nearly 400 others retired out of frustration.
The Associated Press reports that Kentucky lost 36 percent of its neurosurgeons
and 25 percent of its obstetricians during the past three years.
Most physicians and medical professionals support a stringent procedure that
adequately compensates victims who have legitimate medical malpractice claims.
But it must be reasonable.
That’s why many physicians are abandoning Kentucky and going to other states –
like Indiana, for instance, where review processes led by medical professionals
help weed out frivolous and costly claims.
Like a malicious infection, groundless litigation eats away at effective,
affordable health care. Will someone please save this patient before it’s too
late?
-- Jim Waters is Director of Policy and Communications for the Bluegrass
Institute.
The Bluegrass Institute is a research and
educational institution offering free-market solutions to Kentucky's most
pressing problems.
http://www.bipps.org
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