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Originally Posted by Kevin
As an 'ambulance chasing lawyer,' (yes I do personal injury, but not medical malpractice), I cannot actually recall even hearing about a so-called frivolous lawsuit anywhere but in the national media; and even then, I can't recall a story which was in my opinion actually frivolous other than the lawsuit filed by that former Administrative Law Judge in D.C. regarding his alleged lost pants.. (and his case was dismissed with prejudice, he was disbarred and a judgment was granted against him for attorneys fees).
Other than that, there is simply no basis for saying that if frivolous lawsuits do exist, that said lawsuits are actually a serious problem in the grand scheme of things.
And if you're really looking for the culprit in all of this, look at the doctors. Depending on the study you're looking at, medical errors account for between 98,000 and 195,000 deaths per year. And no one, not even the insurance companies which deny claims for malpractice and subsequently force and lose a lot of trials would tell you (unless they were telling lies) that the majority or even close to a significant number of lawsuits are frivolous.
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From personal experience, I can say that there are frivilous lawsuits. I think there are lawyers who do NOT cross their "T"s and dot their "I"s. Doctors aren't the only ones who make mistakes. Medical errors do occur because doctors are humans, nurses are humans, information is misinterpreted, but not all medical errors are malpractice. Unlike doctors, though, we can't sue lawyers for malpractice.
I was sued for malpractice for a case which did involve malpractice by another set of physicians. I was said to be incapable of performing cataract surgery, providing anesthesia and a whole host of medical procedures that I do NOT perform simply because my name was on a chart. It took two years and a lot of money to get my name removed from the lawsuit that should never have included my name in the first place. I can also name at least three other people at the same institution named in the same case who were also not involved in the inciting incident. Multiple other people have been named in cases inappropriately. You multiply this by every malpractice suit in the nation, and you can't convince me that this does not influence the cost of malpractice insurance which most definitely does increase the cost of health care.
Malpractice suits definitely have their place. I can think of a number of cases off the top of my head from residency that I could even testify for the patient. The case above had merit and settled for an undisclosed amount. I just wish all lawyers would practice due diligence before filing these cases.
That being said, lawsuits are NOT the problem with health care, but they do drive doctors to practice "cover your ass" medicine which has driven up the cost of health care significantly.
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