Malpractice claims

The PIAA conducted a medication-error study in 1993 ° and another in 1999 to analyze high-frequency and severe malpractice claims. The data collected included loss description and causation information, expense and indemnity payments, and the demographics of policyholders, claimants, and institutions. The PIAA companies insured almost 87,000 physicians in the United States, ranging from the smallest to the largest physician-owned malpractice insurers. 

The darker side to this issue concerns malpractice. Malpractice claims against nonmedical practitioners of alternative medicine are generally low (Studdert et ai. 1998). Although referring a patient to another physician does not generally expose a physician to liability for malpractice, there are exceptions when the referral is negligent or when there is joint treatment. Therefore, referrals to alternative medicine can potentially carry risk. 

Although negligence represents the most important legal complication of clinical practice, the exposure of optometrists to malpractice claims remains at a relatively low level, for below that of physicians. Within optometry there is no difference between diagnostic and therapeutic drug use with regard to the risk of malpractice, because professional liability insurance premium costs do not vary on this basis. However, as optometry laws continue to be amended to enable optometrists to serve as primary providers of eye care, this increased clinical responsibility inevitably wiU result in increased litigation. 

Although the side effects of diagnostic pharmaceutical agents can be the cause of a malpractice claim, the adverse effects of therapeutic drugs are potentially a more likely source of litigation. 

Curran WJ. Malpractice claims new data and new trends. N Engl J Med 1979 300 26. 

National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Malpractice Claims, vol. 2, no. 2. Madison, WI National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 1980. 

Harm attributable to drugs is a major reason for malpractice claims associated with medical proce-duresJ The average compensation for medication errors between 1985 and 1992 was almost 100,000. Most compensation for medication errors is for larger amounts that are agreed on in out-of-court settle-ments.f None of the costs cited above include the cost of patient harm or subsequent hospital admissions. ... 

Troxel DB, Sabella JD. Problem areas in pathology practice. Uncovered by a review of malpractice claims. Am J Surg Pathol. 1994 18(8) 821-831. 

Entman, S.S., Glass, C.A., Hickson, G.B. etal. (1994) The relationship between malpractice claims history and subsequent obstetric care. Journal of the American Medical Association, 272(20), 1588-1591. 

Ernesater, A., Winblad, U., Engstrom, M., and Holmstrom, I. K., Malpractice claims regarding calls to Swedish telephone advice nursing What went wrong and why / Telemed Telecare Oct 18(7) 379-383, 2012. 

During the mid-1980s, insurance against risks posed by synthetic organic chemicals was expensive and sometimes impossible to obtain, for two reasons. First, real interest rates had exhibited extreme variance during the previous 15 years. Real interest rates affect premiums for lines of insurance, such as medical malpractice and environmental liability, that pay claims years after premiums are collected. Second, the use of retroactive strict liability in the "Superfund" law and in various tort decisions has extracted wealth from insurance companies and made them wary of writing policies that could expose them to future legislative and court actions. 

Hughes, James W., and Edward A. Snyder. 1989. Policy Analysis of Medical Malpractice Reforms What Can We Learn from Claims Data Journal ( Business and Economic Statistics 7 423 431. 

First of all, the argument s claim is based on the idea that doctors determine the cost of healthcare. Certainly, doctors are involved in deciding how much money they charge for their time and services however, the term healthcare means more than doctor s visits. It includes getting tests done, getting X-rays, purchasing medicine, staying in the hospital, and many other services. In today s healthcare web, full of HMOs, expensive insurance, and malpractice lawsuits, much more is involved in the cost of healthcare than where a doctor lives or how much that doctor owes in student loans. 

Letter of agreement/letter of indemnification from the sponsor that should indemnify the investigator and institution against claims arising from the trial, except for claims that arise from malpractice or negligence. 

The nation s largest carrier of malpractice coverage for optometrists has monitored drug-related claims over the past two decades and has reported no significant liability risk associated with therapeutic drug use by optometrists. For a discussion, see Classe JG. Liability for the treatment of anterior segment eye disease. Optom Clin 1991 1 1-16. 

A report on malpractice suits in the USA has shown that in 1990-96 claims against chiropractors have been constant (between 2.3 and 3.0 claims per 100 policy holders per year) (152). There were about four times more claims against primary care physicians. The percentage of claims paid varied between 46 and 57% for the chiropractors and 29 and 33% for the physicians. The three most frequent reasons for the claims against chiropractors were disc herniation, failure to diagnose, and bone fractures produced through treatment. 

Studdert, D.M., Mello, M.M., Gawande, A.A. etal. (2006) Claims, errors, and compensation payments in medical malpractice litigation. The New England Journal of Medicine, 354(19), 2024-2033. 

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