Re: Damage Cap Hits Some Hard
From: Gerald P. Rodríguez (geraldpr@cybermesa.com)
Wed Jul 14 10:54:39 2004
Sorry, I should have spelled out that the $140M reduced to $56M was the
lawyers' portion.
gpr
>----- Original Message -----
From: "Gerald P. Rodríguez" <geraldpr@cybermesa.com>
To: "Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L" <ob-gyn-l@dns.obgyn.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 9:34 AM
Subject: 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
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
