A MODERN TRAVESTY
By Gary P. Andelora
Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company recently completed a study of claims closed against physicians and surgeons with an indemnity payment for the years 2000-2009. The figures are staggering. Within that ten year period, the Company paid out over $3.7 billion. The total number of files for the period was 8,622. The average amount paid per closed file was $429,551. The highest annual average amount paid per closed file was in 2009 and totaled $524.368. Our Company has always maintained that the physicians of New York State deliver a quality of medical care which is unmatched nationally. It seems apparent that the State’s tort system is seriously flawed and is in need of reform.
The medical profession has consistently called for tort reform and has pointed to other states where such reform has been enacted with positive results. The medical profession in New York has not been alone in calling for such reform. A number of other professions, businesses, municipalities, etc., have joined medicine in this fight. They too have felt the effects of a culture which encourages suits and other legal actions. Poll after poll has shown that New Yorkers are fed up with the tort system and favor reform.
Where then is the roadblock? Simply stated, opposition has come from one direction and one direction only, the State’s trial bar and the citizen groups which it funds. Combined with sympathetic colleagues in the State legislative leadership, this one profession has, for the most part, been able to prevent the passage of meaningful tort reform in New York State. As a result, the current system, which benefits only trial lawyers and a small number of plaintiffs, is allowed to continue. Continue it does, at the expense of the rest of the citizens of the State who are “picking up the tab” through inflated insurance premiums, defensive medicine costs, and a host of other factors.
Adding to the problem are the claimants with legitimate claims who never see their case go to court because it is not seen as a profitable opportunity by the trial lawyers. MLMIC has always operated with the philosophy that legitimate claims will be handled expeditiously and injured patients will be compensated fairly and quickly. The fact that some legitimately injured patients cannot find an attorney to take their case only underscores the inequity of our current system.
For years, proponents of tort reform have been calling for various measures. These include a cap on non-economic losses (which has been enacted in a number of states). Others include taking liability cases out of the tort system and utilizing an arbitration method or a no-fault compensation model. The medical profession promotes these options as well as others specific to medicine. These include medical courts, where complicated medical cases are tried before a judge knowledgeable in medicine Another is taking neurologically impaired infant cases out of the tort system and putting them into a separate pool funded by a number of concerned parties i.e. hospitals, HMOs, and insurance companies. These most costly and often highly emotionally charged cases need a separate venue. While each of these options has a real potential of healing an injured system and thus lowering costs, it would be extremely difficult for one profession or even a coalition of professions to succeed in having them considered by the legislature. Such groups need to pool their efforts in convincing the citizens of New York State that the tort system is flawed, that it is draining financial resources, and that they are, in effect paying for its deficiencies. If they can be successful in this endeavor and gain the public’s support in their efforts, tort reform becomes a real possibility in this State.
Granted, nothing in this article is original or hasn’t been presented before. However, considering the enormity of the problem, it seems only appropriate that it be repeated.
