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Truths About Legal Myths
Medical Negligence:
New Study Shows Courts Not Clogged With Frivolous Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
May 11, 2006 New research published in the May 11 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine establishes that almost every medical malpractice suit filed in the United States has a meritorious basis and rejects claims that the civil justice system is inundated with frivolous lawsuits.
Medical negligence (also known as medical malpractice) errors are responsible for 98,000 wrongful deaths each year. More people die from medical mistakes than from all car accident deaths. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Science recently reported that 1.5 million Americans are injured or killed by medication errors annually. The studies indicate that approximately 400,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in hospitals. Another 800,000 occur in long-term-care settings, and roughly 530,000 occur among Medicare recipients in outpatient clinics.
If you or a loved one have been injured, make sure you are aware of your rights. Contact the lawyers at Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester, LLC toll free at 1-888-213-8140 for a free initial consultation.
Medical Malpractice:
Insurance Companies Show Enormous Profits, Directly Contradicting Their Own Testimony That There Is a Medical Malpractice “Crisis”
Tuesday October 6, 2009: Below, we have attached a release that demonstrates what we have been advocating for years: that the insurance industry’s cries of medical malpractice cases causing a “malpractice crisis” were in fact false and made up by the insurance industry. Trial lawyers are easy targets and the insurance industry spends tens of millions of dollars every year to distort the truth so that they can continue increasing their profits while decreasing the rates they reimburse health care providers while at the same time raising the rates of insurance and improperly denying valid claims. It is business practices such as these that demonstrate the importance of continuing equal justice to all under our civil justice system and not a system that only protects those with the most money, like the insurance industry. Trial lawyers continue to fight for you and your families so that your rights are not further taken away by greedy insurance executives. The insurance industry’s attempts to limit your rights should not be tolerated. Call your Representatives and Senators and let them know how disgusted you are at being duped by the insurance industry. Tell your friends and neighbors. Your family is worth it.
Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester, Protecting Your Rights.
Medical Malpractice Insurers Earning More Than Ever
10 biggest malpractice insurers have average profits higher than 99% of Fortune 500 companies
Washington, DC—As Congress debates nationwide health care reform, a new analysis reveals malpractice insurers have long-played a cruel hoax on legislators and the public. By systematically distorting profits and losses, insurers created phony “financial crises,” so lawmakers would limit the legal rights of injured patients. Today, while premiums and health care costs skyrocket, malpractice insurers have average profits higher than 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
The key findings of the report, which analyzes the annual financial statements of the 10 largest U.S. medical malpractice insurers, include:
- The average profit of these insurance companies is higher than 99 percent of all Fortune 500 companies and 35 times higher than the Fortune 500 average for the same time period.
- Malpractice insurers have seen their profit margins range from 5.9 percent to 74.8 percent, with an average of 31.2 percent.
Medical malpractice insurers have underestimated profits and overestimated losses, creating overblown insurance “crises” to garner support for limiting patients’ legal rights. Then years later after the “crises” abated, revised filings show the companies were never in the financial peril they claimed.
- After overestimating losses, insurers have since reported that losses over the last five years have been approximately 13.5 percent lower than initially reported.
- By overestimating losses, companies have underestimated profits. Insurers averaged about 5.1 percent higher profits last year and 12.4 percent higher profits two years ago; these levels of profits will likely rise as upward revisions are made.
- Medical negligence laws were passed under false pretenses. Overblown reported losses were used by the insurance industry to justify new measures restricting the rights of those injured by medical negligence.
“Insurance companies are gouging doctors on their premiums to mislead lawmakers. And today, injured patients are often left with no avenue to pursue justice, while health care costs continue to skyrocketing,” said American Association for Justice President Anthony Tarricone, managing partner at Kreindler & Kreindler LLP.
“As Congress looks to overhaul our nation’s health care system, it’s clear that limiting the legal rights of patients won’t lower health care costs or cover the uninsured,” continued Tarricone. “The focus should be on eliminating medical errors that injure or kill tens of thousands of Americans every year. Insurance companies clearly don’t need another handout.”
As part of its ongoing series on the topic, AAJ earlier released Medical Negligence: A Primer for the Nation’s Health Care Debate and The Truth About “Defensive Medicine.” These reports, as well as The Insurance Hoax: How Doctors and Patients Pay for the Huge Earnings of Medical Malpractice Insurers, can be located at www.justice.org/medicalnegligence.
As the world's largest trial bar, the American Association for Justice (formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) works to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others--even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations. Visit http://www.justice.org.
Tort Reform – What you Really Need to Know and How the Insurance Industry Has Misled You
We are sure that you have heard about the “necessity” of tort reform. But do you really know what the insurance industry and big business means by this? Imagine if the government took David’s sling away and gave it to Goliath? Now you understand tort reform – taking away your rights and ability to fight back when you are injured due to the fault of someone else. Study after study has confirmed that tort reform is not the answer. Read about a March 28, 2007 report that confirmed that “Skyrocketing Malpractice Premiums” are not caused by claims or payouts or legal system excesses, but because the Insurance Industry created a fraudulent "crisis" to gouge Doctors. See: Insurance Refom.Org
Why Health Courts Are a Bad Idea, Hurt the Injured and Only Benefit the Insurance Industry
A new report says “Health Courts” Bureaucracies Offer Big Financial Burdens and Loss of Patient Rights. A groundbreaking new report on health courts by Case Western Reserve University professors Max Mehlman and Dale Nance finds that health courts would be burdensome, prohibitively expensive and would come at the expense of injured patients. Read about it here.
The Truth Behind the McDonald’s Hot Coffee case, the “Stella Awards” and “Frivolous” Lawsuits.
The insurance industry and big business want you to believe that frivolous lawsuits are running rampant and ruining Our Country. However, they only provide you with myths and not the truth. Read the truth about the “Stella Awards” and other “Frivolous” lawsuits.
News Affecting Our Civil Justice System
Our Country’s system of justice has been constantly under attack for a long period of time. Read about news affecting your rights, including the misleading studies by the U.S. Chambers of Commerce, and that the White House’s claims of a litigation explosion clogging the courts was not true, as reported by the Justice Department.
Why We Are Proud to call Ourselves Trial Lawyers
The lawyers of Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester will never hide from this fact: We are proud to call ourselves Trial Lawyers. We fight for the rights of those who otherwise may not have a voice in our society. We fight against the insurance industry and big business to make sure your rights are protected. We fight because we can make a difference in the lives of our clients and in society. Read more here about how Trial Lawyers Make A Difference,
If you or a loved one have been injured, make sure you are aware of your rights. Contact the lawyers at Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester, LLC toll free at 1-888-213-8140 for a free initial consultation. We are here for you!