How can u.s. contain the high cost of professional liability insurance?

Question

How can u.s. contain the high cost of professional liability insurance?

Answer 1

There are 3 ways to do it:

1. Put a limit on what juries/judges can award to people who sue medical professionals.

2. Stop the frivilous lawsuits before they ever get started. This is a major reason why liability insurance has gotten completely out of hand. Everyone wants to sue. Just read the questions on here. Can I sue because I have high cholesterol? Can I sue because my sore got infected after surgery? Can I sue because I  had a latex allergy that I didn't even know I had? Can I sue because the dr broke my ribs while giving me CPR trying to save my life? The people who actually do have a case are usually the ones who don't even take legal action. If the cases are found to be frivilous, the person suing should  have to pay all court costs for both himself and the medical professional involved. That would stop many, many cases from happening if not only did they not win any money, but they were gonna be out a lot of money for wasting everyone's time. This would also keep lawyers from taking these kinds of cases because they know they wouldn't get paid.

3.  The best way that it should be done is for the government to step in and put limits on what the insurance companies can charge our medical professionals. The insurance companies are making record profits and in effect, causing us to lose very good doctors. I know my ob/gyn had to move to a different state because malpractice rates were cheaper in that state. She had never even had a malpractice case against her.

Edit to Ernesto:

As a healthcare professional who has seen my liability insurance premiums more than triple in 8 years, with no suit ever brought against me, you can bet that I'll jump at any solution to get my premiums and good drs' premiums to go down, too.  Even you have to admit that some liability awards are absolutely ridiculous. While no one could put a price on a medical professional's negligence causing someone's death, you hear of someone being awarded $10 million for losing 1/4 of their little toe! Millions and millions and still counting are being awarded to smokers who know and have known for many years what smoking does to your health. It's the same as suing McDonalds because you're obese or because you spilled hot coffee on yourself. Lawsuits have gotten ridiculous and as I said before, those who actually have a case, rarely take legal action. "The punishment should fit the crime."  If a life is lost or if the injury causes a person to not be able to work, live a day without pain, causes severe depression, yes, yes, and yes, they should be awarded a great settlement. Especially when it was negligence on the part of the dr. But when an accident occurs that the dr. couldn't have helped and there is no real loss of ability, millions for "pain and suffering" shouldn't be awarded and I don't think you'll find anyone who disagrees.

Limit liability awards in return for what? How about keeping good doctors in the state you would like to see them in? Or keeping good doctors in practice at all? I have known several physicians who were in their 50s who have just decided to take early retirement. Before losing all the money they have saved by paying malpractice insurance!

Absolutely hold hospitals, pharmacies, and drs accountable for what they have done and punish the ones who do not pass the quality control tests. But there is no doubt that every physician, (anyone in the health field) is being punished by having their malpractice insurance at a ridiculously high cost.

Answer 2

Not all professional liability is really expensive - most of it is NOT.  Basically, only the MEDICAL malpractice is expensive - and it's expensive, because cases pay OUT so much, in front of a sympathetic jury.

Several things you can do:  1.  make public records of all claims filed against all doctors in each state, so anyone can look up claims against any particular doctor (thus avoiding the "bad eggs")    2.  make puntative damages exempt from the lawyer's cut   3.  put a limit on puntative damages (some states do this already) at 2-3X actual damages   4.  allow insurance companies to decline to write coverage on doctors with bad track records (making them "self insured" - which will only work if the public can see the bad eggs).

Answer 3

I love how everyone jumps up and down about limiting liability awards.  Limit them in return for what?  

How about some major quality control initiatives from doctors, hospitals & pharmacies.  They want to limit damages?  How about taking steps to produce a better end result.

Answer 4

by limiting damage awards in personal injury lawsuits..

preferably i would like to see pain and suffering and mental anguish greatly reduced..