Are there too many frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits?
A 1999 study showed that one serious medical injury due to negligence occurs per 100 hospitalizations. Only 4-7% of injured patients brought a claim. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science report To Err is Human, 99,000 patients die every year from medical negligence. The study was completed in 1999. Since that time, the utilization of health care has gone up but the number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed each year has remained unchanged since the 1980s. The percentage of lawyers who practice personal injury has remained the same since 1975. The data shows that the number of patient injuries due to negligence has actually increased while the number of lawsuits has fallen off. One of the reasons for a reduction in the number of lawsuits is that personal injury lawyers have become so highly case selective. Forty-six states have enacted caps on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases. These caps are in the range of $250,000 to $500,
