Justinian Lane - Commentary on law, politics, and tort "reform."

These medical malpractice premiums don’t seem overly high to me

So, the average gastroenterologist earns between $300,000 and $500,000 per year.  This guy is a superstar and presumably earns well in excess of $500,000.  He sees between 4,000 and 5,000 patients per year, and pays $45k in medical malpractice premiums.

He said MGG grosses between $8 million and $10 million a year. He won't tell me what he earns, but he points out that the "average GE" in this area makes between $300,000 to $500,000 a year. He fields 4,000 to 5,000 patient visits a year and performs between 1,000 and 1,300 procedures.

….

Payroll and overhead eat up 60 percent of MGG's revenues, including the 6 percent spent just to collect money from insurance companies, Medicare and individuals. Hardi pays $45,000 a year for his own medical malpractice insurance.

Source: Thomas Heath - Value Added: Up close and personal with a gastroenterologist - washingtonpost.com

Technorati Tags: medical malpractice,malpractice insurance

Iowa doctor admits he committed insurance fraud, but trial lawyers are the bad guys

Let me get this straight: A doctor actually admitted that he ordered $10,000 dollars worth of medically unnecessary tests in a single day, but he’s the good guy?

Dr. Thomas Carlstrom has been keeping good notes. During a single day a few weeks ago, the Des Moines neurosurgeon, ordered about $10,000 worth of what he calls "CYA" tests. That's an acronym for "Cover Your A--" medicine. He listed MRIs, CAT scans and blood work among the tests he said were not medically necessary, but he felt he needed to order to prove he did a thorough job in case he later faced a lawsuit.

Source: Tort reform is not the answer | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register

When I become a licensed attorney, I’m going to hope and pray that someone wants to file a whistleblower against a doctor who “practices defensive medicine” by ordering medically unnecessary tests.  I suspect that if doctors were afraid of getting sued for committing insurance fraud , they might decide to quit doing it.

Technorati Tags: insurance fraud,defensive medicine

Apple Files Patent For Evil

But they don’t call it that.  They instead call it a patent for operating system advertising.  Follow the link and see just how evil their plan is.

Gene Quinn, patent attorney and founder of IPWatchdog, says Apple has file for a patent on "Advertisement in Operating System." Sounds harmless at first but wait until you guys get a load of the wording on this one

Source: [H]ard|OCP - HardOCP Computer Hardware Reviews and News

(I accidentally published this at my other blog.)

It’s never a good sign for a defendant when…

The jury asks for a “10-digit adding machine.”

In what could be a very favorable signal to the plaintiffs who are asking for tens of millions in damages, jurors in the case on Tuesday asked for and received a 10-digit adding machine to help them through their deliberations.

Source: Jurors request 10-digit adding machine in radio contest death case - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Of course it has to do with food and sex

The article linked below talks about how a new DVD player may use technology derived from an Australian species of shrimps’ eyeballs.  After talking about how great the shrimps’ vision is, the article has this useless quote:

Just why the mantis shrimp needs such a rarefied level of vision is unclear, although researchers suspect it is to do with food and sex.

Source: Mantis shrimp eyes basis for super DVD player | The Australian

When you’re speculating as to why an animal developed a certain trait, it’s always a safe bet to say “food and sex.”  What else was it going to be, “to help the shrimp in the competitive job market?”  Talk about a journalistic punt.

Will insurers lose their antitrust exemption?

One of the first blog posts I made way back in 2003 was a post suggesting that it was time for insurers to lose their antitrust exemption.  Maybe I’ll get my wish.

Washington, D.C. — Democrats launched a drive at both ends of the Capitol on Wednesday to strip the insurance industry of its decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws.
If enacted, the change would put an end to "price-fixing, bid-rigging and market allocation in the health and medical malpractice" insurance areas, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Leahy will seek a vote when the Senate debates health care legislation in the next few weeks.
His comments Wednesday came as the House Judiciary Committee voted 20-9 to end an industry exemption that dates to 1945. Three Republicans supported the move.

Source: Democrats push to strip insurers of antitrust protections | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register

How about we start limiting medical malpractice lawsuits when doctors start washing their hands?

It’s stories like this that make it impossible for me to pity the medical profession and its so-called lawsuit “crisis.”

"Studies have shown that hospital personnel wash or disinfect their hands fewer than half the times they should," Levitt and Dubner write. "And doctors are the worst offenders, more lax than either nurses or aides." In fact, one Australian study reported a hand washing compliance rate of only 9 percent.
Source: 'SuperFreakonomics': When Dirty Hands Mean Deadly Infections - ABC News

Would you trust police officers to…

Judge other police officers in a police brutality case?  Or would you think that the bond that police officers share with each other would make them biased in favor of other officers?

If the idea of cops judging cops sounds bad to you, then perhaps you’d also oppose this:

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's willingness to consider alternatives to medical malpractice lawsuits is providing a boost for taking such cases out of the courtroom and letting experts, not juries, decide their merits.

The idea of appointing neutral experts to sift malpractice facts from allegations appeals to conservatives in both political parties. They want to address medical liability as part of health care legislation that's now largely silent on the issue. Trial lawyers remain steadfastly opposed to curbs.

Source: New malpractice idea in health care debate - washingtonpost.com

Doctors, like police officers, are part of a brotherhood with strong bonds and long traditions.  One of those traditions is to back each other up.  Those of us who live in the real world know that police officers can and do lie to protect each other.  We also know that doctors do the same.  And if a given doctor won’t lie to protect a fellow doctor, that doesn’t mean he or she will be willing to rule against the same doctor. 

I submit that it will be close to impossible to find “neutral experts” to sit in judgment of a case.  Even if I’m wrong, all experts don’t see a case the same way.  If neutral expert A thinks that a doctor violated the standard of care, but neutral expert B does not, how are we any better off letting experts come to a decision than by letting lay jurors?  We’re not.  We’re going to get a verdict that is the product of compromise; baby-splitting.

What’s one of the fundamental instructions given to jurors?  Not to research the case on their own.  Why?  Because we don’t want them making decisions based upon evidence that hasn’t been shown to be relevant and reliable.  Try telling doctors to forget everything they learned in medical school and judge the case based only upon the evidence admitted in the case.  Another impossible task.

I’ve got a better idea.  If we’re going to overhaul the medical system, and we’re determined to change medical malpractice law, how about this?  We do a government-funded, single-payer medical system.  Everyone gets the same good level of medical care.  Those who want to purchase additional coverage (Cadillac plans) may do so.  In exchange, medical negligence lawsuits are eliminated in favor of a no-fault, workers-compensation-style system.  When a medical procedure has an adverse outcome, fault is no longer an issue, and doctors don’t have to be sued.  The only exceptions would be for gross malpractice, and the standard would be set high enough so that it would be a meaningful standard.

I love juries and jury trials.  But I for one would be willing to trade my jury rights away for such a system. 

Usability Changes At My Dangerous Drugs Blog

Have you visited my other blog, www.dangerousdrugs.us?  If not, now is the perfect time to check it out.  I’ve gone through all the post and re-categorized them.  Now, it’s much easier to browse by category instead of by date. 

For example, if you visit the fentanyl expert witness documents category link, you’ll only be shown expert witness reports, depositions, etc. from fentanyl cases.  Previously, you’d have had to have clicked on a not-very-precise fentanyl link that would have shown you every post relating to fentanyl.  That link is still there, but it’s now been augmented with precise category links.

I’ve also added a contact form to every page, which enabled me to delete a “contact me” banner from every individual post.  That should speed up the performance of the site, and it certainly makes it look cleaner.

If you enjoy my Dangerous Drugs blog, the highest compliment you can pay me is to link to it from your blog.  If you do, let me know!

Dear Trial Lawyers, Join This MoveOn Campaign To Kill the Chamber of Commerce

If you’re a trial lawyer, you know that the Chamber of Commerce is one of the major funders of the tort “reform” movement.  Where do they get those funds?  From member corporations.  Here’s your shot at kicking the Chamber where it hurts.  Check out the excerpt of this email I just got:

Why would a company like AT&T oppose solutions to global warming?

AT&T is a prominent member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which just launched a $100 million campaign described as a "declaration of war on the White House." The Chamber is pouring millions into killing clean energy as well as health care reform.¹

Recently, an uprising of companies fighting back against the Chamber of Commerce has begun, led by companies like Apple, Nike, Johnson & Johnson, and GE.²

Can you call AT&T and urge them to quit the Chamber of Commerce? If you're a customer of AT&T, be sure to mention it when you call. Here's the info:

AT&T
(800) 355-9542

Then, report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/chambercalls/att.html?id=17578-5412807-VyoCnhx&t=4

I didn’t use to be nearly as passionate about climate change as I am about fighting tort “reform.”  Now, I’m seeing the strong connection between the two.  The more companies we can persuade not to support the Chamber due to its stance on climate change, the less money the Chamber will have to rape our court system.

Get cracking!

Technorati Tags: trial lawyers,tort reform,climate change,Chamber of Commerce