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Medical Malpractice

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The effects of the rising cost of Medical Malpractice insurance
Sharron Wickham
BU224
Kaplan University
Professor Greg Evans
April 3, 2014

Quick rising medical malpractice premiums have become a concerning problem and a discussion for doctors, insurance policy writers and even the public. The rise in medical malpractice insurance costs can have a big effect in the way health care is given in the U.S. Rises in the premiums can change the size of our doctor workforce and can even cause the doctors to practice “defensive medicine”. Medical malpractice insurance premiums are a huge discussion and have changed over the past 30 years, affecting the areas doctors are trying to work in and how they are practicing medicine, this can cause the people to not receive the best care they can.

Just 30 years ago a doctor could feel comfortable in the room with his patient, laugh talk about the family and enjoy the time with the patient, as well as take care of their health needs. There were way more doctors that made house calls back in the day and more doctors willing to practice medicine in any area. So what changed? The fact that patients took advantage of the doctors and started suing doctors for malpractice. Malpractice claims have been known to have juries that make excessively generous awards knowing that insurance companies pay. For this reason, malpractice premiums have skyrocketed over the past 30 years. According to Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm, malpractice litigation costs $30 billion a year, and, since 1975, direct costs of litigation avoidance have grown at more than 10 percent annually.(Furchtgott-Roth, 2009)

Over the past several years, large increases in medical malpractice insurance premium rates have raised concerns that physicians will no longer be able to afford malpractice insurance and will be forced to curtail or

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