Malpractice awards pushing insurance premiums higher

Juries are awarding higher dollar amounts in malpractice cases, hitting physicians in the pocketbook.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. March 5, 2001.

If your liability insurance bill is bigger, here's the main reason why: Jury verdicts in malpractice cases are on the rise for the third straight year.

Jury awards in medical malpractice claims jumped 7% in 1999, according to the newest data from Jury Verdict Research, Horsham, Pa. And that's despite plaintiffs winning 2% fewer cases than they did in 1998.

The increase in verdict awards put the median medical malpractice award at $800,000 in 1999, up from $750,000 the previous year.

But what is even more alarming to liability insurers is the upswing in the number of $1 million or higher jury awards. About 45% of those awards in 1998-1999 were $1 million or more, compared with 39% in 1997-1998, according to the data.

Doctors and insurers now face the challenge of figuring out how to reverse the trend of rising awards.

"It sounds like 1975 all over again," said Ron Neupauer, vice president of underwriting for Medical Insurance Exchange of California. "Medical malpractice is on the front burner again."

Insurance companies are once again using mock juries to try to figure out how a case will play in the courtroom. Doctors are being reminded to be diligent about writing down what they did for the patient so there is a clear record that they provided the best care possible.

It's a much different climate than the early and mid-1990s when the frequency of medical malpractice claims that physicians filed with insurance companies declined and the dollar amounts attached to those claims were steady, Neupauer said. The average jury award then hovered around or below $500,000. [...]