Address the REAL cause of outrageous health care costs?

Bogus medical malpractice suits are the primary cause of the high cost of medicine. It takes the form of astronomical malpractice insurance premiums and massive legal staff required to defend and pre-empt these suits. Can anyone name a famous politician who has proposed solving this root cause of out of control medical costs?

This is not only not the primary cause of medical costs, it is not even a major cause. Bogus suits, as you say, are routinely dismissed before they cost much at all. Suits that result in actual payouts are suits with merit, resulting from doctors who did not do their duty properly. The increase in insurance premiums is also largely unrelated to payouts. It is much more driven by the performance of the securities in which the premiums are invested. To illustrate this, look at California. They instituted payout caps, but did not see the reduction in premiums the insurance companies predicted. Rather, rates went up again. If you want the problem solved, tell your elected officials to go after the insurance companies. This won’t happen, since insurance companies are huge campaign donors.

ThePopTort: One of the 100 Best Legal Blogs for 2008

ThePopTort.com, a blog by consumer advocates at the Center for Justice & Democracy, has been picked by the editors of the American Bar Association (ABA) Journal as one of the nation’s top 100 legal blogs.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us. Your votes put us at #6 against some pretty hefty competition!

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Technorati Tags: cj&d, hypocrisy, injury, insurance, Medical Malpractice, pop, rights, tort, victim

Why are the Republicans screaming for tort reform?

A study published in 2005 by Tom Baker, a law professor at the University of Connecticut who studies insurance, found that after all costs, including legal fees, insurance costs and payouts, the cost of medical malpractice suits comes to less than one-half of 1 percent of health-care spending.

Oh, I see its just more rhetoric they use to oppose health care reform.

Your assessment is substantially correct.

However, there is more to it, and it becomes obvious when one reads their actual proposed legislation.

The idea is to recast the entire legal system into one where corporations, wealthy people, companies, and major institutions can sue working class, poor, and middle class people, but the REVERSE cannot be the case. In short, it’s another scam wherein the wealthy get even more money from everyone else. It’s another form of "redistributing wealth" all right, but that escalator goes UP only.

Read it, it’s exactly that simple, once the verbiage is cleaned up.

can you sue?

an attorney for legal malpractice? Do attorney carry malpractice insurance like doctors do? If I were to be successful against the attorney would it affect his license?

Hello Katie. You can sue, but not for malpractice. For the legal profession, the charge would be malfeasance.

Your first step would be to contact the State Bar Association and list what happened and why. They will conduct their own investigation. If it is found to have grounds, the lawyer can be disbarred, which will give your subsequent lawsuit much more validity.

Best of luck and I hope you can find this useful

Increase Risk to Insurance Company with DC Accident Attorney

An insurance company is going to settle with an attorney that they are afraid of. Insurance is all about “Risk”, covering risk and evaluating risk. If they are confronted with an experienced attorney who is ready to go to court that increases the insurance company’s risk and increases the value of the settlement of a case. If you have been injured as a result of an accident where negligence played a part, you could have legal grounds to obtain compensation for pain and suffering, loss of income, medical expenses and other difficulties. Only skilled attorneys with experience in the complex field of personal injury law can assess your case and carry it forward. For more than four decades, the law firm of Lewis & Tompkins, has focused on: accidents, insurance claims, medical malpractice and consumer protection in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. No legal fees or expenses until we win your case www.lewisandtompkins.com 202.296.0666

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Technorati Tags: accident, attorney, dc, injury, insurance, malpractice, maryland, medical, personal, virginia, washington

How can Obama call into question medical ethics adherence without mentioning legal ethics?

Aren’t the lawyers the driving force behind the health care fiasco? Aren’t the lawyers writing all the fine print that insurance companies use to void and avoid payment of claims. And aren’t the lawyers the biggest promoters of malpractice lawsuits. And, I think Obama is a lawyer, isn’t he? Would you agree that his attack was not well thought out?

Actually, lawyers are NOT the driving force behind the medical fiasco. That’s what Republicans want you to think. The fact is, medical equipment companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors themselves are responsible for the high costs of settlements. They want you to believe that lawyers greed runs it up. The fact is, settlements for pain and suffering are typically computed as a factor of the medical bills. For example, I had 12 staples put into me when I had surgery. Those staples cost 1,000.00 each. If that was the only medical bill I had for an injury, those cost of those staples would result in about 60K in settlement value. The higher the medical costs, the higher the settlement. It’s pretty amazing to me that people do not realize that by capping awards, the CONSUMER gets screwed. Not the lawyers, and certainly not the doctors. When you lose an arm, or a kid, or anything to an injury or malpractice, come and talk to me about a lower award for you because lawyers are greedy. I guarantee you there will be a different song being sung.

When the medical end of this fiasco realizes they are the problem and lower the ridiculous costs associated with treatment, medication and other stuff, the costs will come down. When the costs come down, so will the awards. Doctors and Pharmas want to get all their money, and lower the awards to the victims of accidents, med mal, or whatever. There is ALWAYS another side of the story. But nobody wants to realize this side.

personal injury

personal injury: uninsured employees fund & tort action for the vehicle insurance=general liability that is the law in California, and I think in every state.
MARTIN: FINAL ANWER!BY THE WAY MARTIN CONSOLIDATED FREIGHTWAYS HAD NO WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE AND I GET BOTH WORKERS COMPENSATION FROM USF& G OR UEF, BECAUSE IT’S BINDING AND THE REASON I GET TO SUE FOR THE TORT IS BECAUSE IT’S LIKE A PENATY FOR A CORRUPT CORPORATE HITLER NOT SECURING WORKERS COMPENSATION. I AM NOT SAYING IT WILL BE EASY TO COLLECT, BUT THEY WILL WANT TO SETTLE BECAUSE IT WILL COST CONSOLIDATED FREIGHTWAYS ANOTHER $150,000 DOLLARS TO FIGHT THE CASE. ACCORDING TO THE LAW A RETENTION POLICY IS CONSIDER NO INSURANCE, SO THE 2 MILLION DEDUCTIBLE CONSOLIDATED FREIGHTWAYS WILL HAVE TO PAY TO ME, SO MY LAWYER WILL HAVE TO TAKE THE 5.666 MILLION IN BANKRUPTCY OR REOPEN THE BANKRUPTCY BY FILING A MOTION. SINCE THEY’RE IN CH. 11, THEY STILL EXIST AND WILL HAVE TO PAY ME. OTHERWISE THE FRAUDULENT BANKRUPTCY COULD THROW OUT THEIR BANKRUPTCY AND FINE THEM AND CREATE MORE TROUBLE FOR THEM.
If you don’t pay your work COMP. and file for Bankruptcy, correct??? Your employee’s are still covered via the Uninsured / insolvent Work Comp fund all us employers pay into.

KOSCKI REPLIES: This is correct Martin or you get the bankruptcy estate money like i did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MARTIN/TRUCK OWNER, RESPONSE: the signs in my office and the C.F. break room all say when your injured you have to report and fill out the Work Comp paperwork within so many day’s or your claim will be dropped and you will get nothing.
So my question is DO YOU HAVE A RIGHT UNDER CA LAW OR FEDERAL LAW TO SUE THE TRUCK INS, when in fact CA Work Comp. has Uninsured / Insolvent Co. Work Comp Ins funds available??

KOSCKI RESPONSE: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEs! Federal and state laws apply! and that is EXACTLY what I am trying to do and this was filed on time for the truck insurance policy aspect the personal injury and suing the UEF-UNINSURED EMPLOYERS FUND, OR IN MY CASE THE BANKRUPTCY ESTATE, as well!
IF CONSOLIDATED FREIGHTWAYS HAD PROPER WORKERS COMPENSATION INSURANCE THEN I WOULD ONLY BEABLE TO GET THE USF & G plicy=workers compensation insurance poliy worth 2 million.

TRUCK OWNER/MARTIN: Plus did your try to file for it? Was the filing timely? And on and on?? I DON’T think my WORKERS COMPENSATION lawyers filed the uninsured employers fund, UEF on time, five years is all you have time to do it, so I will sue them FOR legal malpractice! BUT THEY MIGHT HAVE/ OR THEY MIGHT TRY AND SUE THE DEFENSE ALSO FOR FRAUD FOR LYING AND INDICATING TO THE WORKERS COMPENSATION JUDGE THAT THEY HAD WORKERS COMPENSATION COVERAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE PERSONAL INJURY WAS FILED ON TIME AND THE WORKERS COMPENSATION COMPLAINT, HOWEVER I THINK MY LAWYER WILL HAVE TO AMENDED THE WORKERS COMPENSATION COMPLAINT AND SUE THE UNINSURED EMPLOYERS FUND.

MARTIN/TRUCK OWNER: So that is the hang up with what I can see??? I don’t know the laws in place at your time of injury. From what I can see with all my paperwork today here is you’d only be able to go after the Ins. if you’d NEVER accepted / signed a Work Comp check. You can have one or the other Ins. BUT YOU CAN’T SUE BOTh

KOSCKI RESPONSE: correct, BUT you get both when the employer FAILS to have/secured workers compensation coverage!, that is the big difference! 5 MILLION TRUCK INSURANCE POLICY FROM THE GENERAL LIABLITY, BUT SINCE THE DON’T HAVE THAT THEN i HAVE TO AMEND MY COMPLAINT AND SUE SEDGWICK CMS BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT C.F. WAS SELF-INSURED, BUT THEY HAD THEIR CERTIFICATE REVOKED IN 1996 FROM THE INDUSTRIAL REALATIONS/SELF INSURED PLANS.All my Insurance papers in the Truck Permit Books, and things I get to put on the Walls say “You can take the Truck Ins or The Comp. Ins. But you can’t take both.
Koscki response correct but that is because you have proper workers compensation coverage, c.f. did not!

When you sign the first comp check, you accept the Work Comp. They put a small print disclaimer on the back where you sign, and retain that in there files. Just wondering if that was changed since your Wreck or it’s always been that way??
I think it was changed in late 1990’s or 2000?? NOT SURE?
koscki response to the above I do not know the law, but it sounds correct and that law is in affect now.

the above is RIGHT, HOWEVER CONSOLIDATED FREIGHTWAYS DID NOT SECURE WORKERS COMPENSATION THEREFORE YOU CAN’T SAY YOU ARE COVERED BECAUSE AN INJURIED PERSON IS ACCEPTIONG UNINSURED EMPLOYERS FUND, OR BANKRUPTCY ESTATE CHECKS IN MY CASE! YOU HAVE TO HAVE WORKERS COMPENSATION COVERAGE OTHERWISE THAT LEAVES YOU OPEN TO A TORT LAWSUIT=PERSONAL INJURY LAWSUIT WHERE THE GENERAL LIABLITY WOULD COME INTO PLAY & THE UNINSURED EMPLOYERS FUND OR BANKRUPTCY ESTATE MONEY IN MY CASE DID PAY SOME MONEY A TOTAL OF $23,000 TOTAL!

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Technorati Tags: injury, personal

Will a lawyer put justice above their obligations to their fellow lawyers in the event they have to sue them?

I hired a lawyer approximately 2/10/05 (on retainer) to sue Allstate Insurance Company for refusing to pay me on a valid claim. Date of loss 7/18/04. I was told by the attorney approximately 6/10/06 that allstate refused to settle so if I wanted him to take it to trial I have to give him a minimum of $10,000. Consequently, my file was given to me, so I filed the complaint myself only to discovered that there was a 12 month window to file the complaint. When questioning an old aquaintance about what happened. He said that I should file a legal malpractice lawsuit against my former attorney because he screwed up any chances I had of collecting from allstate. He also said that attorneys won’t sue each other because they are afraid that somewhere along the line they might run into each other and revenge might be an issue. I want to know what to do. Can I trust any attorney? If so who?

You will need to get an attorney from out of town and perhaps even out of state. Allstate probably paid your attorney off. You can not get a local attorney to file suit, they just won’t do it. What you should have done is contact the state Insurance Commissioner in your state. They can make them get off their ass and give you your money. You have nothing to lose by contacting them now. The worse that can happen is they will tell you you waited too long. But your complaint will be on file and could help someone else fighting Allstate.

Hospital term insurance/ liability waivers?

Are there any hospitals that allow you to purchase term malpractice or operational insurance and sign legal liabilty waivers? It seems to me that a simple "Sorry for your loss, here’s (insert dollar figure here)." beats a long, drawn-out malpractice suit, and would be easier and cheaper for everyone involved. Am I on to something, or am I just stupid?
Interesting thoughts, Duckboy. But I would disagree on some of your concerns.

- Never underestimate the emotionaly draining experience of a long drawn-out court battle, and it’s aftermath. A simple quick payout after the fact, even if it is for less than what you may get in court, is preferable to that kind of hell.

- Malpractice insurance covers the hospital for legal fees and settlements incured in court, if I’m not mistaken. No legal liability = no need for malpractice insurance.

- Not sure about the ridicule factor. People riding in horse-drawn carriages used to laugh at people who drove the first cars. When was the last time you rode a horse to work?

- I don’t know about this one. It seems kind of petty to me to sue a hospital for disabling someone that you were (presumably) perfectly willing to insure against just this kind of thing.

I’m not saying this idea would be perfect, but it does seem to solve more problems than it creates, and I would like to see it happen

Interesting idea! It should cap the hospitals liability and doctors liability which would help lower the health insurance rates. The problem is that people would never purchase something like this under the current insurance structure and market structure for the following reasons:

1. Nobody wants to pay money to cap their potential reward if the hospital/doctor is negligent.

2. Malpractice insurance is currently paid for by the Doctor/Hospital.

3. The first to try this will be ridicouled by their competitors.

4. Purchasing something like this could interfere with other coverages – If you are lucky enough to have disability coverage, the disability company may want the right to sue the hospital/doctor for your disability if they are the cause of your disability

Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Upper Marlboro Attorneys:
Medical Malpractice Claims
At Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher (SCB) our personal injury attorneys assist clients with claims for serious injuries resulting from medical malpractice. Our lawyers have the extensive experience, access to medical experts, and substantial resources necessary to effectively pursue these difficult cases.

Was my case medical malpractice?
Not every tragic outcome results from medical negligence, and not every hospital error merits a malpractice claim. If a member of your family was seriously injured or died in connection with medical treatment, and you suspect a medical error contributed to the injury, our attorneys will review your case and help you determine what happened. Please contact our Upper Marlboro office to arrange a free consultation.

What constitutes medical negligence?
When any member of the health care profession — a doctor, a nurse, a pharmacist, a laboratory technician — fails to provide care that meets the standard established by the profession, it constitutes medical malpractice. If that negligence results in a serious injury or death, the victim (or victim’s estate) is entitled to a personal injury or wrongful death claim. Successful claims will be paid by the professional’s liability insurance. Examples of medical malpractice claims include those involving the following circumstances:

Preventable birth injuries, including those resulting from obstetrical negligence in failure to perform a c-section in a timely manner, forceps injuries, and failure to diagnose pre-eclampsia or identify signs of fetal distress; and including shoulder dystocia, cerebral palsy, and hypoxia
Emergency room and trauma center errors, including failure to admit a patient to the hospital, failure to diagnose a heart attack or stroke, and failure to refer a patient to a specialist
Hospital negligence, including negligent staffing and failure to observe hand washing procedures, resulting in falls out of bed, bedsores, and infections
Failure to diagnose breast, skin, testicular, or colon cancer
Intensive care errors
Orthopedic errors
Cosmetic surgery failures
If you would like one of our lawyers to discuss a possible medical malpractice claim, please call 301-627-5500 or e-mail our office to arrange a free consultation. We meet with clients in offices in Upper Marlboro and La Plata.

Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher
Prince George’s County, Maryland

Phillip R. Zuber is a partner at the firm of Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher. He has devoted much of his thirty years practicing law to the complex areas of medical malpractice (especially obstetrical, neonatal and emergency medicine issues), legal malpractice, electric utility accidents, catastrophic personal injury, and attorney disciplinary matters. He has also acted for over twenty-five years as general products liability counsel for an international industrial manufacturer.

Mr. Zuber is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, an organization for which fellowship is extended only by invitation – after careful investigation – to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality. Although there are currently more than 5,700 Fellows across the U.S. and Canada, membership can never be more than 1% of the total lawyer population of any state or province. Mr. Zuber currently serves on the Maryland State Committee for the American College. (www.actl.com)

For several years, Mr. Zuber has been named one of Maryland’s “Super Lawyers,” or one of the area’s top professional liability defense attorneys.

Mr. Zuber currently serves with judges and lawyers on the Maryland Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions – Civil. He is also a frequent speaker to doctors, nurses, risk managers, and insurance companies, on a wide range of medical and attorney malpractice related subjects. In conjunction with the American College’s State Committee, he has participated in teaching a Litigation Skills Course to law students at the University of Baltimore Law School.

While based in Upper Marlboro, Mr. Zuber has had cases and trials throughout the State of Maryland. During his career, Mr. Zuber has handled more than a hundred cases involving multi-million dollar claims.
Among his many community activities, Mr. Zuber serves on the Board of Trustees for Bryn Athyn College as the Chairman of its Legal Advisory Committee. (www.brynathyn.edu).

Mr. Zuber attended the University of Maryland College Park, graduating with high honors. He received his law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law with honors, where he served on the student editorial board of the Maryland Law Review.

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