Defense Expenses and their role in Medical Malpractice Claims
An interesting article titled “The Impact of Defense Expenses in Medical Malpractice Claims” written by Aaron E. Carroll, Parul Divya Parikh, and Jennifer L. Buddenbaum appears in the Spring 2012 issue of the The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (vol. 40, issue 1, pages 135-142). The authors state “Multiple factors go into the determination of medical professional liability insurance premiums including return on investments, reinsurance costs, claims frequency, average amount paid out on malpractice claims, defense expenses, and administrative costs such as underwriting expense. These factors all interact with each other and, in general, evidence exists that each of these factors has played a role in the escalating cost of medical professional liability insurance.” The authors go on to describe tort reform efforts and state “These reform efforts include caps on damages, abolition of punitive damages, eliminating mandatory prejudgment interest, … Read more