Center for Justice & Democracy’s Medical Malpractice Statistics

New York Law School’s Center for Justice & Democracy (CJ&D) recently released an updated briefing book entitled Medical Malpractice: By The Numbers. According to CJ&D research, medical malpractice insurance premiums have consistently declined since 2006 irrespective of whether “tort reforms” have been enacted. The briefing book also highlights other important statistics:

(1) damage “caps” do not lower physican insurance premiums;

(2) medical malpractice cases only account for 3% of all tort cases;

(3) medical negligence claims and lawsuits are being filed less frequently;

(4) inflation-adjusted payouts by physicians and/or their insurers are decreasing;

(5) “litigation improves patient safety while ‘tort reform’ harms it;” and

(6) despite hundreds of thousands of patient injuries as a result of healthcare provider errors, less than 9,000 medical malpractice claims were paid by doctors and/or their insurers.

See the CJ&D website for more details: http://centerjd.org/content/cjd-releases-new-briefing-book-medical-malpractice-numbers