May 26, 2005

MedMal Case Filings Stable in Illinois, per Vidmar Study

Per treating physician, medmal claim filings in Illinois were stable from mid-90s through 2004; reports of "legal hellhole" conditions in certain counties were not supported by jury verdict data, according to a recent study by Duke Prof. Neil Vidmar. The study acknowledged dramatically rising insurance premiums were impacting the health care industry, and attempted to find support for reports that premium increases were the result of rising jury verdicts and runaway juries in certain counties reputed to favor plaintiffs. lawarchive - Medical Malpractice and the Tort System in Illinois

The American Insurance Association criticized Widmar's study as based on "faulty and incomplete 'research,'" according to the Insurance Journal. An AIA spokesperson pointed to rises in incurred medical malpractice claims losses between 2000-2004 as data not examined by Prof. Widmar. The spokesperson did not dispute Prof. Widmar's data, but criticized his statistics as being "of little use." Insurers Dispute Study of Ill. Courthouse Med-Mal Data

Prof. Vidmar frequently publishes quantitative studies concerning the medical malpractice claims and insurance field. Earlier this year, he and Dr. Paul Lee of Duke published a study of Florida medical malpractice litigation. Unintended Consequences: Duke Study: No Real Rise in Florida Med Mal Claims Over 14 Years


DougSimpson.com/blog

Posted by dougsimpson at May 26, 2005 08:50 PM