The Impact of Frivolous Litigation on Access to Care:

Though hundreds of other citations abound, this brief list provides a sense of what the medical world is facing. Patients and physicians must begin working together if traditional medicine is to survive.
1. In 2003 many physicians in Arkansas discontinued their nursing home practice because of increased litigation. Those who continue to cover nursing homes have seen their malpractice increase 1000% or more. Many Arkansas nursing homes are unable to find coverage and “go bare” (without insurance).


2. In January 2003 report noted seven Florida hospitals closed their OB units because of malpractice insurance problems. Four other hospitals reduced their OB services. Ten hospitals reduced or eliminated their neurosurgical services.


3. A November 2004 study found more than half of rural Florida physicians surveyed cut back on risky procedures; delivering babies topped the list.


4. A May 2004 report noted a Georgia women’s clinic which offered OB services for 35 years no longer was willing to deliver babies because of unaffordable malpractice insurance. They continued to deliver gynecological services.


5. Three Illinois obstetricians left the state in 2004 when their combined malpractice premiums increased from $345,000 to over $510,000 yearly.


6. Between 2001 and 2004 Kentucky lost 36% of its neurosurgeons, 29% of its general surgeons, and 25% of its obstetricians.


7. A young Mississippi surgeon lost his son who needed emergent neurosurgical intervention after a car accident. Because of the soaring malpractice directed at neurosurgeons, the local neurosurgeons no longer did head trauma cases. The boy died from an otherwise treatable problem because of delayed treatment in the attempt to transfer him to another facility.


8. A natural childbirth center in Manhattan closed when its malpractice premium soared to $2 million yearly.


9. An obstetrician in Garden City, NY pays $130,000 yearly for $1 million of malpractice coverage. He noted, “But we are getting sued for $85 and $90 million dollars at a time. You do the math. Every time I walk into an operating room I put my family’s life savings on the line.”


10. The Roseburg Women’s clinic in Oregon, responsible for delivering 80% of the babies in the area, closed in May 2002 after losing an $8.5 million lawsuit. The closest other providers are 60 to 90 minutes away.