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Medical Malpractice

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The Truth About Medical Malpractice

Skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance premiums... Doctors abandoning their practices.... The insurance industry wants the public to think these trends are the result of "frivolous" lawsuits and "out-of-control" injuries and medical care providers are only too happy to agree.

But what's the real story?

The problem with medical malpractice is that it occurs far too often. It is the eighth leading cause of death in America, killing more people than AIDS, breast cancer, or automobile crashes. Is this the patient's fault? Certainly not.

The Institute of Medicine's 1999 report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, reported that up to 98,000 patients die - and many more are injured - in U.S. hospitals each year as a result of preventable medical errors. That's 268 deaths every day from errors like surgeons operating on the wrong side of the brain and nurses administering lethal doses of medication.

So why has a "medical malpractice crises" arisen now? There were similar "crises" in 1976 and 1986, when, as now, the economy had recently declined. The insurance companies, which derive most of their profits from investments, suffered from bad business decisions. Then, as now, the covered their losses by raising insurance premiums dramatically, then blamed innocent patients who sought compensation for negligence-related injuries - and, of course, their lawyers.

When St. Paul Insurance Co., one of the major medical malpractice insurers, announced earlier this year that it was getting out of the business, it claimed growing malpractice verdicts were the problem. The company conveniently failed to mention that its economic hardship was really caused by poor investments - including the $108 million it lost when Enron collapsed.

Doctors and insurers say that limiting malpractice awards would hold down insurance costs. But the truth is that insurance premiums are slightly higher in states the cap damages.

The negligence of bad doctors and the bad business decisions of insurance companies are not the fault of the patients who are mistreated. Yet it is patients who will be punished - more than they already have been - if doctors and insurers succeed in convincing the public that limiting justice is the solution to their troubles. (Source - Leo Boyle - Author- Trial - April 2002)

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You may contact us by telephone toll free at (800) 709-1123
Use our online consultation form or by e-mail.

You may need personal injury lawyers to protect your rights! Where a more serious and/or permanent injury has been sustained, an individual who does not have the training and experience in personal injury law, is not on an even playing field with the claims representative and/or defense attorneys. Claim reps have specialized training, experience, and are closely supervised to operate within strict insurance company guidelines. Nonetheless, insurance adjusters many times will go to great lengths to keep an injured accident victim from hiring a personal injury lawyer to represent them.

Their insurance company is motivated to do only one thing,
settle your claim as cheaply as possible.

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R. F. Wittmeyer, Ltd.
1635 N. Arlington Heights Rd., Suite 104
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004
(847) 577-1123
Fax (847) 577-2827
E-mail: rfw@injurylawattys.com

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