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Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard From: Gerald P. Rodríguez (geraldpr@cybermesa.com) Wed Jul 14 10:33:52 2004 Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ] Next message: Gerald P. Rodríguez: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Previous message: GORDON M. GOLDMAN: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Maybe in reply to: rmodugno@aol.com: "Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Next in thread: Charlie Chambers: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Reply: Charlie Chambers: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" I believe that the on-line Wall St. Journal is by subscription only. My print version of the WSJ yesterday (July 13) carried what is most certainly this same story on its "Personal Health" page, D-4. Headline reads "Malpractice Cap Helps Out Doctors.'' The article cites a Rand Corp. Institute of Civil Justice study that studied the long term effects of the 1975 "California Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act" that imposed limits on attorney fees and capped jury awards for "non-economic" damages, such as pain and suffering. Simply put, there was an overall cut in jury awards of 30% on the payouts from doctors and their insurers who *lose* at trial. These cuts are allocated as coming from patients and lawyers: 15% from injured patients and 60% from [now] injured lawyers. The cases reviewed by Rand would have yielded $140M (total of 257 plaintiff verdicts, from 1995 to 1999) but for this law that reduced these fees to $56M, or 60%. The overall awards would have been $421M, but this was cut by the trial judges by 30% to $295M. The article goes on to postulate that lawyers (in California) will be a bit more hesitant to file a lawsuit in cases that do not result in large economic damages. Another interesting factoid: 22% of the malpractice trials during the study period resulted in a victory for one or more plaintiffs. Bottom line according to the WSJ: Lawyers lost a lot more than patients. We have a similar law in New Mexico. BTW the US Senate a few days ago killed the federal version of this law, passed earlier by the House. Gerald P. Rodríguez, M.D., FACOG Santa Fe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "There is nothing so pitilessly and unconsciously cruel as sincerity formulated into dogma." In defense of Abe Lincoln. --James Russell Lowell 1863 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >----- Original Message ----- From: dean@thehuffpeople.net To: "Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L" <ob-gyn-l@dns.obgyn.net> Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 8:13 AM Subject: Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard > . > > Interesting. Do you have a reference or a copy of the article that we can read? > > - - - - > > Quoting "Gerald P. Rodríguez" <geraldpr@cybermesa.com>: > > > This is a very interesting take on this news story. The Wall St. Journal > > today carries that news and says that the brunt of the savings has been at > > the expense of the tort/trial lawyers. I would prefer to believe that > > *this* is the real version of the truth. > > > > Gerald P. Rodríguez, M.D., FACOG > > Santa Fe > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > "There is nothing so pitilessly and unconsciously cruel as > > sincerity formulated into dogma." In defense of Abe Lincoln. > > --James Russell Lowell 1863 > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > >> > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: <rmodugno@aol.com> > > To: "Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L" <ob-gyn-l@dns.obgyn.net> > > Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 8:54 PM > > Subject: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard > > > > > This story was sent to you by: Robert Modugno > > > > > > -------------------- > > > Damage Cap Hits Some Hard > > > -------------------- > > > -------------------- > > > -------------------- > > > > > > Savings from a state medical malpractice law limiting awards often come at > > expense of the most injured, study says. > > > > > > By Lisa Girion > > > Times Staff Writer > > > > > > July 13 2004 > > > > > > California's landmark medical malpractice law has reduced jury awards by > > 30%, but the savings have come largely at the expense of severely injured or > > impaired patients, according to a study released Monday. > > > > > > The complete article can be viewed at: > > > > > > http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-malpractice13jul13,1,2783923.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business > > > > > > Visit Latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com > > > > > > Next message: Gerald P. Rodríguez: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Previous message: GORDON M. GOLDMAN: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Maybe in reply to: rmodugno@aol.com: "Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Next in thread: Charlie Chambers: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard" Reply: Charlie Chambers: "Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard"

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