Big Tort Means Big Problems for US Health Care

Kathryn Nix / February 04, 2010

America is the land of litigation. A tort lawyer’s paradise. In America, you can sue anyone for just about anything. This has affected the cost of America’s health care, and has demoralized the medical profession. In fact, abusive tort litigation has added billions of dollars to health care costs, both directly, through settlements and high malpractice insurance rates, and indirectly, through the practice of “defensive medicine” to avoid litigation. For health care reform to be successful in bending the cost curve and improving quality of care, policymakers, particularly at the state level, cannot ignore medical liability reform.

Despite this, throughout the health care debate, medical liability reform has been glaringly omitted. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) recently spoke at the Heritage Foundation about the positive impact that reform could have on the health care system. Sen. Cornyn acknowledged that basic medical liability laws are necessary to protect patients against negligence and medical errors. However, the current legal environment—one without consistent state-wide oversight on punitive and non-economic damages—has fostered excessive litigation. In fact, The New England Journal of Medicine estimates that 40 percent of medical liability lawsuits are brought without merit. Excessive litigation encourages the practice of defensive medicine—ordering unnecessary tests, procedures, and referrals for the sole purpose of protecting the doctor against malpractice claims. A recent report found that 93 percent of physicians admit to practicing defensive medicine. Several studies show that this raises the cost of health care by approximately $200 billion annually. (more…)