Rising Cost of Medical Malpractice: The Impact of Medical Insurance on Patients and Physicians
The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which rising medical malpractice premiums have affected the quality care provided by physicians. Research suggests that a majority of specialty practitioners are pulling out of practice because of rapidly rising medical insurance premiums. A majority of physicians are unable to pay premiums that are rising upwards of 43% on average per year. Research has suggested that the recent crisis is due to a number of factors, including a recessive economy and excessive jury awards in recent claims. The solution lies not solely in legislative measures that entail caps on punitive damages, but rather more intensive examination of the cause of such premium increases and examination of more alternative solutions. This study aims at examining the causes and consequences of rising premiums, and examination of proposed solutions to the potential crisis of American health care. If a solution is not found, research suggests that with more frequency, the quality of health care provided will decline and more and more practitioners drop out of practice as a result of an inability to afford ever increasing premiums.
Chapter One: Introduction and Problem Statement
Medical malpractice premiums have increased exponentially during the last decade, resulting in a decreased pool of qualified physicians available to consumers seeking quality care. As a consequence, consumers are left with fewer and fewer options when seeking out quality medical care. In some circumstances, consumers are left with no convenient available options. In addition, physicians are faced with the ever looming prospect of discontinuing many services formerly offered patients. Physicians are dropping many practices as a result of an inability to cover the premiums associated with insuring such services. Many physicians have been forced out of practice as a result of rising medical malpractice premiums. Patients have found themselves faced with the crisis of finding qualified professionals in an ever shrinking market. A majority of smaller physician practices find themselves at a crossroads; desiring to provide patients with the utmost in quality care, but unable to do so because of exorbitant premiums.
Health care costs and insurance premiums are both a social and economic problem (Gilfillan, 1993). Rising insurance premium costs affects consumers and physicians equally; physicians are plagued by rapidly rising premiums causing them to reduce either the quality or volume of care offered to patients. Patients are forced to select from a narrowing pool of physicians due to the changes resulting from physicians dropping out of critical care practice. Yet premiums continue to rise, and adequate solutions have yet to be developed and implemented across the board.
Due to many factors, in recent years health insurance premiums and medical malpractice insurance premiums have risen to remarkable rates (Gilfillan, 1993). Part of the rapid increase in health insurance premiums has been attributed to the decline in the economy. Additionally, rapidly rising premiums have been associated with increased jury awards in cases of medical malpractice. Regardless of the causes, physicians are crying out for reform, as are patients seeking quality care under limited circumstances.
Medical malpractice rewards were originally intended to punish violations of trust (Bloche, 2002). Originally, a majority of medical malpractice claims arose from serious medical deficiencies. In recent years however, juries seem to have imposed idealized expectations upon doctors and health plans (Bloche, 2002). An increasing number of medical malpractice claims have in part resulted. Some may be legitimate, others may be considered extraneous in nature. Regardless of the legitimacy of such claims, a crisis is resulting, one that must be addressed from numerous perspectives.
Some opponents of increasing claims have suggested that the current medical malpractice liability system in fact encourages a potentially "increasing risk of error and patient injury" by causing doctors to focus on protective measures rather than quality medicine (Liang, 2001). Indeed, a number of physicians have indicated a reduction of services as a result of increased premiums. Many physicians as well, rather than focus on "quality" care, have adjusted their outlook to reflect preventive and defensive practice. It seems that a majority of physicians are implementing practices more akin to protecting themselves rather than ensuring the safety and well being of patients.
For a plaintiff to prevail in a medical negligence lawsuit, they must first prove that he/she sustained damages that were caused by the "failure of the physician to take due care, defined as customary practice of physicians in good standing with the profession" (Danzon, 1991). However, experience shows that medical malpractice claims arise for many reasons above and beyond those that might be defined by true liability.
The purpose of this...
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