Dan Frith

When I tell people that I am a plaintiff’s medical malpractice attorney, I usually get one of two reactions:Reaction 1: Silent Disgust.orReaction 2: They tell me about a friend or loved one who was a victim of medical malpractice, or a surgical error and had to file a lawsuit.Not much…

Myth #5: Tort Reform Will Lower Physicians’ Insurance Rates.Tort reforms are passed under the guise they will lower physicians’ liability premiums. Not true!While insurers do pay out less money when damages awards are capped…they do not pass the savings along to doctors by lowering premiums. There is little variance in…

Myth #4: Malpractice Claims Drive Up Doctor’s Medical Malpractice Insurance Premiums.There is little correlation between malpractice payouts and malpractice premiums paid by doctors. Researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reported that, “increases in malpractice payments made on behalf of physicians do not seem to be the driving…

Myth #3: Doctors are Leaving the Practice of Medicine.The number of practicing physicians in the United States has been growing steadily for decades. In 2007, the most recent year for which data are available, there were 941,304 physicians in the U.S., nearly 20,000 more than the year before.Not only are…

Myth #2: Malpractice Claims Drive Up The Costs of Medical Care.The costs associated with medical malpractice are a tiny fraction of health care costs. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the total spent defending claims and compensating victims of medical negligence in 2007 was $7.1 billion—just 0.3% of…

Myth #1: There are too many frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits filed in America.There is an epidemic of medical negligence…not lawsuits. Two studies of the patient safety movement have shown that not only are hundreds of thousands of patients injured every year in the health care system, but very few of…