Medical Malpractice Crisis? Tort Reform? Just The Facts, Please.

Fans of the old detective series Dragnet remember the show's star, Detective Friday, and his calm, cool demeanor. While those he was interviewing always seemed to get emotionally caught up in the moment, Detective Friday never lost his concentration. His refusal to get pulled to either side of an emotionally charged situation and remain calmly focused on "just the facts" always allowed him to get to the truth.

There seems to be a prevalence of sensationalism in journalism. The more panicked the cry, the better the headline. Sometimes the emotion of the story seems more important than whether the facts actually exist. Unfortunately, this leads many to substitute the emotion for the facts. Without the focus of someone like Detective Friday, it is easy to be swept towards one side of an issue based on emotions without first taking a hard look at the facts.

This is evident today in the stories of our national, state and local "healthcare crisis" and the need for "tort reform." News stories could lead even the most rational of individuals to believe that soon there will be no doctors left; that doctors are being driven towards the brink of bankruptcy by runaway juries, excessive trial verdicts, and insurance premiums that swallow their incomes; that trial lawyers, and trial lawyers alone, are to blame; and that nothing short of overhauling our civil justice system can stop the impending disaster.

Although the forces involved behind the recent rise in physicians' insurance premiums are too complex for Detective Friday to neatly wrap up in a single episode of Dragnet, a look at "just the facts" should make one question not only the driving force behind this "crisis," but also whether such a "crisis" really exists. A recent North Carolina Bar Association Tort Reform Task Force, composed of plaintiffs' and defense attorneys, attorneys who practice in areas of the law not associated with this ongoing debate, and academic professors, attempted such an examination.

Task Force's findings indicate that:

Frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits are not a significant problem in North Carolina.
The physician population has been growing in North Carolina at a rate in excess of the population growth.
There is no evidence that doctors are currently leaving our state in significant numbers.
Medical malpractice lawsuits have not increased in number within the last five years, nor has the percentage of medical malpractice lawsuits resulting in payment by insurance companies.
Caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, although enacted in many states, have done nothing to lower or reduce the escalation of medical malpractice insurance premiums.
Medical malpractice insurance premium increases are due to many factors, some of which appear to be unrelated to medical malpractice litigation.

These findings are consistent with data compiled by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). In data collected since 1998, the AOC has found that 96 percent of all medical malpractice lawsuits filed in North Carolina resolve in some fashion, typically either by dismissal or settlement, without going to trial. Of the 99 medical malpractice cases that have gone to trial, only 21 resulted in a verdict for the patient. Of the 21 patient verdicts, the median jury verdict was $300,000 and only three of the 21 patient verdicts were in excess of one million dollars.

Medical Mutual Insurance Company of North Carolina, a major malpractice insurer in this state, reported a 41.6 percent jump in net income for 2004, $6.8 million compared to $4.8 million for 2003! Medical Mutual says it paid 97 malpractice claims during the year, with an average claim payment of $328,000, compared to 82 claims and an average payout of $364,000 in 2003.

Do the facts support a crisis? Does there appear to be a need for tort reform? The next time you hear a friend, coworker, newscaster, or politician attempting to spread panic about the end of healthcare without tort reform, put on your Detective Friday cap and calmly ask to see "just the facts" behind the panicked cry for change. Ask hard questions and demand answers supported by the facts.