NY PIRG: Malpractice Pay-Outs Have Fallen

In a blog on the New York Times website Jeremy Peters wrote, "For years, as hospitals have fought to protect the money they receive from the state, health care lobbyists have argued that the exceedingly high cost of medical malpractice insurance was a result of a runaway legal system that allowed juries to award huge judgments to victims of doctors' mistakes." However, "a new report from an independent government watchdog group suggests that those claims are exaggerated." The study by the New York Public Interest Research Group found that "the amount of money paid for malpractice claims in New York has actually fallen in recent years, and that the number of overall claims has remained 'remarkably stable.'"

The number of malpractice suits in Arizona has fallen. The Arizona Daily Star reported, "Attorneys are becoming increasingly choosy when it comes to filing medical malpractice lawsuits - largely because doctors and hospitals usually win when the cases go to court." Some people "attribute the decline to changes in the law, the expense of putting on a case and the attitudes of jurors" and "others say it's just a cyclical phenomenon."