If you or someone you love has been injured at the hands of a medical professional, you probably do not think your situation is a “frivolous” one. Despite the number of injuries skyrocketing in our country due to medical malpractice, doctors believe that that there is an “epidemic of frivolous lawsuits” being brought against them. This is simply not the case.
The Center for Justice and Democracy recently released the June 2015 update of their briefing book, Medical Malpractice: By the Numbers. The briefing includes facts and figures from different sources regarding medical malpractice in our country. According to Texas law professor, Charles Silver, “only about 2% of claims are tried, and at trial, providers win about 75% of the time.”
Along with diagnostic errors and more, every year there is “an estimated 500 surgeries on the wrong body part and 5,000 surgical items unintentionally left in patients’ bodies.” Many of these mistakes lead to further injury, illness, and even death. Today, the number of lawsuits brought to court by injured individuals is greatly outweighed by medical malpractice occurrences.
You might remember us urging you to vote yes for California Proposition 46, which would have raised the medical malpractice award cap to account for inflation since 1975, when it was set in the state. The proposition, started by Bob Pack, was not only created to ensure that victimized patients were compensated fairly, but also to hold medical professionals accountable for their actions on the job. In 2007, it was reported that only 33.26 percent of doctors who made 10 or more malpractice payments were disciplined by their state board.” Not only are doctors making mistakes, they are making them over and over again with no accountability.
Take a look at the June 2015 update of Medical Malpractice: By the Numbers, to get a better idea of the real epidemic facing patients in our country. Rather than patients filing frivolous lawsuits, it seems that it is medical professionals who are being frivolous with human lives.
Source: The Center for Justice and Democracy
