Medical Malpractice Payments Hit Record Lows

For a number of years, attorneys for patients have observed what appears to be a disturbing pattern of jury verdicts in favor of physicians who have committed clear malpractice and seriously injured patients.  We attorneys who represent patients whose lives have been damaged or even ended because of poor medical care, have been saddened by this trend which appears to stem from a successful media attack on malpractice lawsuits by the insurance industry and for profit corporations running medical institutions.  Recent studies show that between 44,000 and 88,000 citizens die each year because of medical errors in  US hospitals alone.  Yet, fewer malpractice suits have been filed, and fewer won, even where the physician’s liability is obvious — so that patients and their families are often left disabled, unemployed, and penniless through no fault of their own as a result of medical errors.  See attached article documenting this trend and its tragic impact on public health.