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Chapter 1 Understanding the First Malpractice Crisis of the 21st Century
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1 Chapter 1 Understanding the First Malpractice Crisis of the 21st Century William M. Sage, M.D., J.D. 0.5 KeyCiteL: Cases and other legal materials listed in KeyCite Scope can be researched through West s KeyCite service on WestlawL. Use KeyCite to check citations for form, parallel references, prior and later history, and comprehensive citator information, including citations to other decisions and secondary materials. 1:1 Introduction 1:2 Patient safety 1:3 Medical progress 1:4 Industrialization 1:5 Cost containment 1:6 Conclusion Re ning the problems and solutions 1:1 Introduction Professional liability insurance crises in medicine have been intermittent, reaching magnitudes su cient to generate widespread concern only in the mid-1970s, the mid-1980s, and It is easy for health policymakers and the public to view each crisis as an upswing of the same pendulum. Malpractice premiums rise, doctors accuse lawyers, lawyers point back at doctors, and legislatures debate tort reform in arcane and repetitive terms ( collateral source o sets, noneconomic damage caps, etc.). This experience of déjà 0.5 The author thanks the sta of the Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania for help gathering information, and Columbia law student Daniel Solitro for research assistance. This work was supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author. SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 31
2 1:1 Health Law Handbook vu, however, is misleading. The current crisis is not simply a reprise of events in the 1970s or 1980s. The principal di erence this time around is that malpractice liability is clearly connected to overall health policy. In prior decades, any e ect of malpractice on the fundamental policy problems of cost, access, and quality seemingly came from outside the health care system. According to conventional wisdom in the medical community, lawsuits re ected patient opportunism and lawyer entrepreneurship. The prevalence of medical errors was considered low, and injured patients were thought to have adequate recourse. The e ect of litigation on quality was believed minimal, even paradoxical if physicians provided services with no clinical bene t in order to protect themselves from liability ( defensive medicine ). Moreover, malpractice claims were as much a personal as an economic a ront to physicians liability insurance was not experience-rated and even steep increases in the cost of liability insurance could be passed through as higher medical fees to health insurers and ultimately absorbed by patients and taxpayers. 1 Consequently, as long as malpractice insurance was available in some form, health care providers remained in business notwithstanding premium spikes. The terms of health care nancing and delivery have changed dramatically since the 1980s, however, and many of these suppositions have been challenged and even refuted. 2 Therefore, it becomes necessary to articulate with precision the public policy problems posed in [Section 1:1] 1 Patricia M. Danzon, Mark V. Pauly, and Raynard S. Kington, The E ects of Malpractice Litigation on Physicians Fees and Incomes, AEA Papers and Proceedings, 80(2): (1990); see also William M. Sage, Reputation, Malpractice Liability, and Medical Error, in Promoting Patient Safety: An Ethical Basis for Policy Reform (Virginia A. Sharpe, ed., Wash. D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003). 2 Malpractice reform also rests on imperfect information. Malpractice is an emotional issue for health care providers, so preconceptions run deep. Empirical data about the malpractice SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 32
3 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:1 the current crisis before jumping to conclusions about the desirability of particular reforms. This chapter identi es and discusses four key areas in which changes to the health care system have altered both the malpractice problem and its range of potential solutions: patient safety, medical progress, industrialization, and cost-containment. From this perspective, the current liability crisis is largely a product of modern medicine s tremendous success in treating disease, success that has outstripped the structural and nancial framework of medical liability. Once one appreciates the impact of health system change, moreover, the inadequacy of the political debate as it is evolving in state capitals and Washington, DC becomes apparent. Fixated as they are on re- ghting ancient battles over caps on malpractice awards, the principal stakeholders have blinded both themselves and the public to a straightforward question: Is a 30 year-old nostrum, such as California s 1975 MICRA law, likely to be the best cure for what ails the health care system in 2003? system is relatively abundant, but not current. Because malpractice research is commissioned mainly during insurance crises, studies available today re ect the health care system and malpractice system of 15 or 25 years ago. Work currently under way will for the most part be completed only after policy makers take initial action. One must therefore extrapolate from existing information based on an understanding of how the present di ers from the past. In addition, there are few benchmarks for a properly functioning health care system. To understand whether tort liability compromises physicians practice choices and clinical decisions, imposes excessive costs on patients and providers, or drives doctors and hospitals out of business, one must be able to state with reasonable con dence the socially optimal numbers of doctors and hospitals, their specialty and geographic distributions, utilization rates for services, error rates, styles of practice, and forms of practice organization. Without this information, even timely, wellexecuted research can measure the e ect of reform on various health system characteristics but cannot reach de nitive conclusions about its desirability. SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 33
4 1:2 Health Law Handbook 1:2 Patient safety The emerging science of patient safety is a sensible starting point for understanding how health system change in uences the malpractice problem. Its central premise is that modern medicine has outgrown its traditional methods of quality control. The Institute of Medicine s landmark 1999 report, To Err is Human, was unsurprising to the researchers and advocates who had been studying patient safety. 1 By bringing the extent and nature of medical error into general knowledge, it nonetheless changed the rhetoric and the substance of the malpractice debate. However, the connection between malpractice liability and patient safety has been interpreted very di erently by the medical profession, policymakers, trial lawyers, and the public. Patient safety passed seamlessly into the rhetoric of malpractice politics. The medical profession by and large heard a single message from the IOM: that exposed, punitive approaches to error detection and correction are inferior to con dential, cooperative e orts from within an expert community. 2 Because physicians regard malpractice litigation as the epitome of punitive, they viewed the 1999 IOM report as further evidence that liability should be curtailed. Reasoning that physicians fear of lawsuits prevented them from owning up to mistakes and working to improve quality, they ignored the historical irony that the profession s longstanding argument against tort liability had been that medical errors are few, with litigation resulting mainly from rabble-rousing by unscrupulous lawyers [Section 1:2] 1 Institute of Medicine, To Err is Human: Building a Safe Health System (eds. Linda T. Kohn, Janet M. Corrigan, and Molla S. Donaldson, Wash. D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999). 2 See Bryan A. Liang, The Adverse Event of Unaddressed Medical Error: Identifying and Filling the Holes in the Health-Care and Legal Systems, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 29(3-4): (2001). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 34
5 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:2 and expert witnesses. 3 Even confronted with irrefutable evidence that errors are widespread, physicians remain convinced that malpractice liability has no legitimate role to play in quality improvement. The political voice of the profession, with the active support of liability insurers, therefore added patient safety to their list of arguments favoring MICRA-style tort reform. In reaching these conclusions, however, physicians paid little attention to the policy context of the IOM s report. Consider MICRA s centerpiece, a at cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice cases against health care providers. It may indeed be desirable to set a ceiling on malpractice recoveries, but the level, exibility, and scope of a cap should be designed to solve speci c, clearly articulated problems. A at cap has as its principal goal reducing the cost and volatility of classrated physician liability insurance, and is a reasonable solution only if the problem is rapid premium growth from meritless claims and overcompensated losses. The IOM report identi es other problems: that serious, avoidable errors occur frequently but remain undetected, that most victims receive no compensation, and that health care systems rarely learn from their mistakes. 4 Decreasing malpractice insurance premiums without reducing avoidable errors transfers money from injured patients to medical providers but does not save social resources. In fact, the IOM report explicitly recognized that systematic safety improvement is more compatible with strict liability than with no liability a nding clearly at odds with reforms aimed at restricting lawsuits and limiting damages. For plainti s lawyers, the IOM s report seemed mainly to con rm their belief in their own usefulness. Exercises in crafting public policy the IOM s raison d'etre were uninteresting to the trial bar and possibly 3 Louis J. Regan, Medicine and the Law, New England Journal of Medicine, 250: 463 (1954). 4 See William M. Sage, Medical Liability and Patient Safety, Health A airs, 22(4) (Forthcoming 2003). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 35
6 1:2 Health Law Handbook threatening. One explanation is that the idea of a better liability system that o ers fair compensation to more injured patients smacks uncomfortably of utilitarianism and con icts with a deeply held belief in lawyers and juries as defenders of individual rights. (This resistance to social engineering among lawyers representing individual plainti s, it is interesting to note, di ers strikingly from the we-can-do-what-congress-won't attitude that is the mantra of class action lawyers battling the tobacco companies and, currently, managed care). Lobbyists for the trial bar therefore countered physicians call for tort reform with the obvious point that patients might need lawyers more rather than less if malpractice is rampant, but otherwise continued their conventional strategy of de ecting or delaying tort reform rather than seeking to make liability play a greater role in medical quality at the system level. Where did this leave the public? Alerted, but also confused and to some extent ignored. Alerted because, compared to physicians, the public considers the safety revelations of the IOM report a serious problem. 5 Indeed, this heightened awareness of errors may have prompted more suits by patients and probably has made jurors more receptive to allegations of malpractice. However, the public is confused by what it perceives as the IOM s attempt to shelter physicians from individual accountability by focusing attention on improving systems. The public believes that most errors are committed by bad doctors who should not be practicing, rather than by decent doctors who practice under suboptimal conditions. The public also feels ignored for two reasons. First, the IOM s focus on con dential reporting takes insu cient notice of injured patients thirst for information, which often leads to litigation if 5 Robert J. Blendon et al., Views of Practicing Physicians and the Public on Medical Error, New England Journal of Medicine, 347(24): (2003); Andrew R. Robinson et al., Physician and Public Opinions on Quality of Health Care and the Problem of Medical Errors, Archives of Internal Medicine, 162: (2002). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 36
7 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:3 previously attentive physicians become uncommunicative when treatment fails. 6 Second, many of the patient safety innovators lauded by the IOM report are professional systems engineers in essence, expert consultants while patients themselves value compassion as well as technical excellence in their physicians. 1:3 Medical progress In many ways, malpractice lawsuits show medicine to be a victim of its own success. Politicians often suggest that frivolous and junk lawsuits are a major primary cause of rapidly rising health care costs. To quote one recent speech: The problem of those unnecessary costs isn't in the waiting room, or the operating room they're in the courtroom. 1 This gets it backwards, confusing cause with e ect. Litigation costs are high because health care spending has increased. More than any single factor, malpractice expense tracks overall health care spending as technology improves, expectations rise, sources of avoidable error proliferate, and the costs of caring for those who su er harm grow. 2 In 1996, dollars, national expenditures on health care rose from $251 billion (7% of GDP) in 1970 to $1.3 trillion (13.2% of GDP) in 2000 a 520% increase. 3 Malpractice liability premiums and self-funded reserves increased 6 See Charles Vincent et al., Why Do People Sue Doctors? A Study of Patients and Relatives Taking Legal Action, Lancet 343(8913): (1994); Gerald V. Hickson et al., Patient Complaints and Malpractice Risk, JAMA, 287(22): (2002). [Section 1:3] 1 President George W. Bush, Speech in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Jan. 16, 2002, available at releases/2003/01/ html. 2 For an historical perspective, see Kenneth A. De Ville, Medical Malpractice in Nineteenth-Century America: Origins and Legacy, (New York, NYU Press, 1990); James C. Mohr, American Medical Malpractice Litigation in Historical Perspective, JAMA 283: (2000). 3 Katharine Levit et al., In ation Spurs Health Spending in 2000, Health A airs 21(1): (2002). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 37
8 1:3 Health Law Handbook from $1 billion in 1976 to roughly $5.2 billion in 1999 a 505% increase. 4 The periodic nature of liability insurance crises tends to mask the inexorability of this underlying trend. Medical progress drives liability in several ways. 5 Foremost, improvements in the clinical capabilities of medicine increase expectations of success, rede ne success upwards, and foster the belief that failure is the result of negligence rather than misfortune. The rst wave of malpractice suits in the late 19th century, involving nonunion of limb fractures, arose only because medical science had developed an alternative to amputation. 6 Malpractice litigation has become as specialized as the medical care it attacks. The current edition of a leading treatise on malpractice lists over ve hundred medical conditions or treatments in 34 specialties in its section on illustrative awards. 7 In recent decades, claims based on failure to detect disease have become much more common because formerly untreatable, progressive conditions can be arrested or cured. 8 In particular, dramatic advances in cancer care have made even brief delays in initiating 4 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Confronting the New Health Care Crisis: Improving Health Care Quality and Lowering Costs By Fixing Our Medical Liability System (July 24, 2002), available at 5 See Mark F. Grady, Why Are People Negligent: Technology, Nondurable Precautions, and the Medical Malpractice Explosion, Northwestern Univ. L. Rev. 82: (1988) ( Negligence law is fundamentally a creature of technology. ). 6 See James C. Mohr, American Medical Malpractice Litigation in Historical Perspective, JAMA 283: 1733 (2000). 7 Medical Malpractice (Matthew Bender 1986). 8 For a dramatic comparison, consider Langford v. Jones, 18 Or. 307, 22 P (1890). In Langford, the physician defendant had ruptured the fetal sac and caused fetal death in the course of treating a vaginal tumor because he did not realize that the plainti was pregnant. The appeals court reversed a jury verdict for the plainti and remanded with instructions to dismiss the case, observing: In view of the character of the respondent s sickness when she applied to the appellant for treatment, what earthly rea- SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 38
9 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:3 care actionable, with more states also adopting loss of a chance standards for legal causation and damages. 9 Even when improved clinical knowledge allows patients to be rescued at advanced stages of cancer, di erences in side e ects between early and late treatment may give rise to claims. 10 Medical progress that increases son could he have had, after learning the history of her case, for surmising that she might be pregnant? Id. at In Bromme v. Pavitt, 5 Cal. App. 4th 1487, 7 Cal. Rptr.2d 608 (1992), the decedent had reported symptoms of colon cancer to his physician in June 1980, but a diagnosis was not made until June 1981, and surgery was not performed until January The court held that the plainti could not prove that the one-year delay was a substantial factor in causing death because the chance of survival in June 1981 was less than 50%. The court also heard testimony that the later delay in performing surgery had not affected the patient s prognosis. In an even earlier case, treatment of the plainti s lymphosarcoma (lymphoma) was delayed for several months because her internist did not correctly diagnose neck swelling as cancerous. The jury found for the defendant based on testimony that the delay did not a ect the patient s prognosis. Nevertheless, the appeals court ordered a new trial, stating: We observe testimony... which, if believed, would support the inference that it is a reasonable medical probability that the plainti would have been bene ted, [from prompt treatment], i.e., by possible lengthening of her life and/or her personal comfort even if no cure would have resulted from more prompt diagnosis and treatment. Cullum v. Seifer, 1 Cal. App. 3d 20, 28, 81 Cal. Rptr.2d 381 (1969). 10 For example, a $767,000 judgment for the plainti was reported in a case involving several months delay in diagnosing nasopharyngeal cancer. The plainti contended that the delay required him to be treated with chemotherapy, with severe and disabling side e ects, rather than radiation. Toarmina v. Murray, No. MON-L (N.J. Super. 2001); Medical Malpractice, (Matthew Bender). In another case, a 39 year-old man was awarded nearly $12 million, including $5 million for future physical pain, mental anguish, and physical impairment, in a case involving a year-long delay in diagnosing testicular cancer. The cancer spread to the lung and required chemotherapy, with toxic complications including kidney damage and neuropathy. Signi cantly, the patient survived the cancer and was in remission at the time of the trial. SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 39
10 1:3 Health Law Handbook longevity, and prolongs one s ability to work, makes the elderly into viable plainti s who can recover substantial damages. Preserving life following iatrogenic injury also converts relatively simple wrongful death claims into composite damage calculations that add the future cost of medical care and prospective pain and su ering to amounts awarded for past injury. 11 At the same time, the greater cost of undergoing treatment for complications and resulting disability, unless covered by public or private health insurance, forces injured patients to nd sources of payment. 12 Finally, beginning with the earliest radiographs, improvements in diagnostic technology have had dual e ects on liability, not only increasing failure-to-diagnose claims, but also providing an evidentiary window on misadventures that would otherwise remain anatomically concealed. Nonunion of fractures dominated malpractice claims in the pre-invasive era of medical diagnosis largely because it was one of the few injuries that plainti s lawyers could demonstrate to jurors. The medical expense component of the award was $300,000. Davidson v. Faus, No. 99CV0256 (Texas 2000); Medical Malpractice, (Matthew Bender). In Judy v. Grant County Health Dept., 210 W.Va. 286, 557 S.E.2d 340 (W.Va. 2001), the West Virginia Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict in favor of a woman who experienced a 9-month delay in diagnosing a palpable lump in her breast as cancerous. Experts for the plainti had testi ed that, had the cancer been diagnosed initially, she could have been treated by lumpectomy and radiation rather than mastectomy and chemotherapy. 11 Cf., Charles I Jones, Why Have Health Expenditures as a Share of GDP Risen So Much?, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, No (Nov. 2002) ( Medical advances allow diseases to be cured today, at a cost, that could not be cured at any price in the past. ). 12 In Koehler v. Neighbors, 322 Ill. App.3d 440, 751 N.E.2d 149 (2001), the court upheld an award of over $1.8 million against a pediatrician in a case involving undiagnosed bacterial meningitis in a 9 week-old infant, resulting in mental retardation and severe disability. At trial, the plainti s experts estimated the present value of forgone future earning potential at $1.1 million, and the cost of future residential care at up to $2.1 million. SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 40
11 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:3 Consider a case involving a premature infant. Thirty years ago, many children born prematurely would not survive, rendering moot any allegation of professional negligence. Modern neonatal intensive care o ers nearnormal life expectancy, but creates myriad risks of technical failure potentially causing, not death, but lasting disability requiring sustained intensive treatment at extraordinary expense. 13 This example also highlights two limitations of relying on non-economic damage caps to restore stability to liability insurance markets. First, economic damages remain extremely high life-care plans for children with cerebral palsy or other serious neonatal injuries cost millions or tens of millions of dollars and can be unpredictable from the perspective of an insurer estimating future exposure (though less so in terms of settling disputes over injuries that have already occurred). 14 Unless social insurance programs nance this cost, private liability insurance markets may still be volatile. Second, the message implicit in minimally compensating survivors for facing a lifetime of su ering is that they are lucky to be alive in the rst place. This might be an acceptable attitude in a health care system that socializes its nanc- 13 In Brownsville Pediatric Ass'n v. Reyes, 68 S.W.3d 184 (Tex. App. 2002), the court upheld an award of $8 million in a case involving neurological impairment to a premature newborn. The allegations of negligence involved errors in mechanical ventilation, intubation, exchange transfusion, and other technologically sophisticated procedures not available for similar patients even 25 years ago. The child, who su ers from blindness and spastic paraplegia, was determined to have a life expectancy of 53 years, and was awarded $6.5 million for future medical expenses, including cutting-edge technology such as an implantable pump to deliver drugs directly to his central nervous system. 14 In Giventer v. Rementeria, 184 Misc.2d 744, 705 N.Y.S.2d 863 (Sup. 2000), a jury returned a verdict of over $53 million against an obstetrician, hospital, and neonatologist in a case involving alleged neonatal injuries resulting in severe brain damage. Of this amount, the jury awarded over $36 million in economic damages, including $1.9 million for medical care and equipment, $2.2 million for therapies, and $28.7 million for nursing care. The projected life expectancy of the plainti was 45 years. SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 41
12 1:3 Health Law Handbook ing and guarantees universal access to a rational package of cost-e ective medical care, but it seems incongruent with the U.S. model, which charges private buyers a very high price for a virtually limitless array of plausibly bene cial services. 15 1:4 Industrialization Technical progress in medicine has been accompanied by equally dramatic organizational changes, although professional control over health care regulation has acted as a brake on industrialization during certain historical periods. Industrialization determines to a considerably who gets sued, on what legal theory, and with what kind and degree of exposure. Because of industrialization, the distribution of health care spending has changed dramatically. Physician fees are much a less important driver of health care expenditure growth now than thirty years ago, with pharmaceuticals, hospital care, and other services playing a proportionately larger role. It is well known that physicians account for only about 15% of health care spending, although they control roughly 70% through their ordering and referral decisions. Because legal fault under malpractice law is based on professional control, however, physicians liability insurance must protect against exposure that is a substantial multiple of professional income, and that has increased greatly in absolute dollars. The most signi cant industrial changes predate the malpractice insurance crises of the 1970s and 1980s, but their e ects continue to be felt. The concentration 15 Wrongful birth suits, many of which are brought against physicians for failure to conduct prenatal testing, are circumscribed in a similar fashion in most states that recognize them. Parents generally may recover the costs of caring for a disabled child that would not have been incurred had the disability been detected and the pregnancy terminated, but neither they nor the child may receive damages for the physical or emotional distress of the child s life. Unlike a malpractice claim, of course, the defendants in these cases did not cause the underlying injury. SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 42
13 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:4 of medical technology within hospitals in the mid-20th century focused malpractice liability on events occurring in those institutions, though more recent technologic di usion into outpatient settings has partially reversed the trend. Unlike the UK and other countries, American patients did not maintain a primary care home but depended increasingly on medical specialists. Although their technical excellence is indisputable, specialist physicians provide briefer, more goal-oriented services than their generalist counterparts with less emphasis on personal assistance, trustbuilding, and information. Correspondingly, the geographic distribution of claims shifted as specialization moved clinical encounters into urban and suburban areas where health care providers were seldom protected from litigation by their social position or personal relationships. Large plainti verdicts in many large cities can be seen, at least in part, as a product of these changes. In the 1950s and 1960s, private health insurance and then Medicare funded industrial expansion, increased patients legal and moral entitlement to high-quality services, and provided hospitals with revenues su cient to insure against tort claims. Because the percentage of health care paid through health insurance has grown markedly, health insurance reimbursement determines the ability of health care providers to absorb the nancial shocks of rapidly increasing liability premiums at times of crisis. Signi cantly, because of insurance cycles, crisis years tend to coincide with economic downturns, periods in which health care payers who have also become much more cost-conscious since 1980 are less likely to increase reimbursement rates. Courts responded to widespread health insurance by withdrawing charitable immunity, modifying other tort doctrines so that physicians were no longer the sole source of compensatory damages, and introducing theories of actual authority, ostensible agency, and corporate liability that recognized hospitals ability to in uence the quality of care. Institutional tort law, more than its SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 43
14 1:4 Health Law Handbook individual professional counterpart, subjected commercial considerations such as acquisition of speci c technologies, sta ng decisions, and marketing representations to close scrutiny. Direct claims against pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and other suppliers alleging strict liability for defective products multiplied. Recent changes include the expansion of large, forpro t hospital and nursing home chains, similar consolidation among non-pro t health care providers, and the proliferation of contractual a liations among health professionals, health facilities, and managed care organizations. Managed care itself articulated an activist model of health insurance that, subject to ERISA preemption, exposed insurers to tort theories of direct and vicarious liability that initially had been developed for hospitals. A by-product of consolidation, particularly under a for-pro t umbrella, is that previously fragmented activities that lead to avoidable error either become or appear to become systematic. This greatly magni es liability risk by exposing large corporate organizations to punitive damages in individual cases, 1 as well as to class action or other multiparty litigation. 2 The impact of these factors is heightened because the structure of liability coverage has not kept pace with [Section 1:4] 1 David M. Studdert and Troyen A. Brennan, The Problem of Punitive Damages in Lawsuits Against Managed-Care Organizations, New England Journal of Medicine, 342: (2000). For example, a Texas jury awarded $70 million in punitive damages to the estate of an 83 year-old woman who became severely dehydrated, developed extensive pressure ulcers, and died from cardiac arrest while under the care of a for-pro t nursing home. Holder v. Beverly Enters., Inc., No (Tex. Dist. Ct. 1997), Medical Malpractice (Matthew Bender). 2 Clark C. Havighurst, Consumers Versus Managed Care: The New Class Actions, Health A airs, 20(4): 8-27 (2001); Kathy L. Cerminara, Taking a Closer Look at the Managed Care Class Actions: Impact Litigation as an Assist to the Market, Annals of Health Law, 11: 1-24 (2002). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 44
15 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:4 industrial change. In part because of prior crises, the risk capital that protects health care providers and compensates injured patients is simultaneously too entrenched and too ephemeral. Primary coverage fragments the health care system into single-state, singleline carriers mainly physician-mutuals each of which serves some types of providers but not others. Excess coverage depends primarily on o shore reinsurers, who have no reason to keep their money in health care whenever other industries seem more pro table. Neither source of coverage o ers the health care system an acceptable combination of e ciency and stability. Insurance regulation has also proved less than ideal. In stable periods between crises, political pressure from physicians leads some regulators to approve new primary carriers o ering low premiums but marginal solvency. E orts to create publicly administered programs to o er malpractice coverage have had unintended consequences: freezing in place outdated market practices, complicating resolution of claims, and building large unfunded liabilities. An exception is federal legislation passed in the late 1980s to encourage health care providers to form risk-retention groups, but the current crisis o ers the rst battlefront test of these alternative insurance arrangements. The legal system does not send the health care system a consistent message about the consequences of industrialization. Tort reforms are enacted intermittently, during insurance crises, while the tendency of both courts and legislatures in the much longer intervening periods of stability has been to expand private legal recourse in cases of medical injury. 3 Because of the range of corporate and professional actors involved in health care today, reforms from prior decades that limit liability exposure only for some claims or defendants tend to be o set by increases in litigation against 3 William M. Sage, Un nished Business: How Litigation Relates to Health Care Regulation, Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, 28: (2003). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 45
16 1:4 Health Law Handbook others. Suits foreclosed or limited in recovery by laws such as California s MICRA statute may be reframed using new legal theories (e.g., elder abuse, unfair business practices, patient dumping, breach of duciary duty), 4 or directed against unprotected defendants (e.g., product liability, bad faith breach of insurance contract). 5 Long-term care provides an example. As 4 In Delaney v. Baker, 20 Cal.4th 23, 971 P.2d 986, 82 Cal. Rptr.2d 610 (1999), the California Supreme Court held that reckless neglect, proved by clear and convincing evidence under the state s Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, was not subject to MICRA s limits even though the claims were brought against a nursing home that was otherwise covered by MICRA. In Integrated Health Care Servs., Inc. v. Lang-Redway, 840 So.2d 974 (Fla. 2002), the Florida Supreme Court held that claims brought against nursing homes under Florida s nursing home liability statute were not subject to the presuit requirements of an expert opinion, notice, and a waiting period that Florida law imposes on malpractice suits against health care providers. 5 In Palmer v. Superior Court, 103 Cal. App.4th 953, 127 Cal. Rptr.2d 252 (2002), the plainti sought punitive damages from a medical group acting as utilization review agent for an HMO because it had denied coverage of an expensive prosthesis as not medically necessary. The court held that the medical group was shielded from excessive liability by MICRA as a health care provider even when performing utilization review. The HMO itself, however, could be sued without reference to MICRA s limitations. In Red eld v. Beverly Health and Rehab. Servs., Inc., 42 S.W.3d 703 (Mo. App. 2001), the plainti was the mother of a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic patient who died shortly after the ventilator failed. She brought a products liability action against the manufacturer of the ventilator and a medical negligence action against nursing home. The appeals court upheld a $2 million jury award, nding that the designer of the ventilator was not a health care provider protected by Missouri s statutory cap on noneconomic damages. In Penick v. Christensen, 912 S.W.2d 276 (Tex. App. 1995), a patient who underwent hip replacement surgery required subsequent revisions because the prosthesis was not properly joined to the hip. He brought a medical malpractice action against the surgeon, and a products liability action against the manufacturer of cement used in the operation. SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 46
17 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:4 more expensive, technologically sophisticated services moved into the nursing home setting, government increased both statutory liability and regulatory oversight. Several states enacted elder abuse and neglect statutes that expanded tort liability, while the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 redirected regulation toward reviewing individual cases and reinforcing patients rights, which itself facilitated litigation. 6 Large awards attributed to forum shopping in malpractice litigation also are a consequence of industrialization. Trial lawyers typically use venue to exploit di erences in judge or jury behavior. The incentive for venue shopping has increased as the gap between urban and rural juries has widened in recent years, with the latter remaining more deferential to the judgment of local physicians and hospitals and more modest in their damage calculations. At the same time, there is more opportunity for venue shopping because of the involvement of many health care providers and suppliers in the care of a single patient, the likelihood that some of these providers are corporate organizations with urban headquarters and, most importantly, the acquisition of or contractual a liation with suburban hospitals and physician practices by large urban health systems. 7 In particular, non-pro t health systems may not be able to insulate themselves fully from the 6 See Nursing-Home Tort Liability Rises As Regulation, Plainti s Strategy Evolve, BNA s Health Law Reporter, 8(36): 1480 (1999) ( a key development contributing to personal injury awards has been the court room use of de ciencies in the reports of state surveys ). 7 In Hoose v. Je erson Home Health Care, Inc., 754 A.2d 1 (Pa. Super. 2000), the appeals court reversed a trial court order transferring venue from Philadelphia to a suburban county. The plainti had been treated surgically in a suburban hospital for peripheral vascular disease, but developed an infection during his rehabilitation that required more extensive and disabling surgery. The home health care company had its principal place of business in Philadelphia. The defendants in the case included a physician, a hospital, a nurse, a physical therapist, and an HMO in addition to the home health care company. The HMO had petitioned for venue SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 47
18 1:4 Health Law Handbook legal liabilities of their subsidiaries and a liates. 8 The equities of allowing urban venue in these cases are debatable. On one hand, the behavior of an outlying hospital and a local physician is probably una ected by their a liation with an urban health system. On the other, that a liation may well be a substantial factor in the patient s decision to seek care, or in the coverage made available by the patient s health insurer. Industrialization also o ers potential bene ts in terms of patient safety, which counterbalances liability risk to some degree. As previously discussed, the Institute of Medicine and others emphasize that most medical errors originate in faulty systems design. Signi cant advances, therefore, are likely to come from larger medical organizations rather than solo practices, or from manufacturers of clinical and information technologies. 9 Although the IOM correctly cautioned that an adversarial climate can chill voluntary disclosure and discussion of errors, innovation that improves safety often happens in the shadow of liability. For example, anesthesiology has made great strides in reducing perioperative mortality through a combination of physician leadership, technical improvements in monitoring, institutional workspace redesign, and litigation risk management. As the IOM noted in a subsequent report, moreover, hospitals, large medical groups, HMOs, and similar transfer following an unsuccessful e ort to move the case to federal court. 8 In Gale v. Mercy Catholic Medical Center Eastwick, Inc., 698 A.2d 647 (Pa. Super. 1997), the appeals court held that venue was proper in Philadelphia rather than in a suburban county. The court observed that the defendant medical center s parent hospital regularly conducts business through its Misericordia Hospital division and other o ces, and that the defendant had not established that it operated independently of its parent. 9 Even technology designed to reduce errors will carry its own liability risk. Nicolas P. Terry, When the Machine that Goes Ping Causes Harm: Default Torts Rules and Technologically-Mediated Health Care Injuries, St. Louis Univ. L. J., 46: (2002). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 48
19 Understanding the Malpractice Crisis 1:4 practice settings may also be better positioned than small practitioners to weather liability insurance crises. In the current crisis, for example, physicians unable to nd a ordable individual insurance are increasingly seeking coverage through the hospitals in which they practice. This creates opportunities, discussed below, for policymakers to establish alternative models within these organizations for identifying, compensating, and reducing avoidable errors that avoid the ine ciencies and inequities of traditional tort law. Finally, the industrialization of medicine helps explain a critical aspect of the current liability insurance crisis: its tie to economic development. Health care is an economic engine. It is the largest employer in many communities, with a generally skilled, wellcompensated workforce. According to a recent news report, health care accounted for 9.6% of employment in the Northeast and 8.2% nationally in 2002, 1.5% percent higher in each case than in The service side of health care depends in turn on allied technologies pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, genomics with continued innovation promising further economic growth. For this reason, cities or states with prominent academic medical centers often seek to build high-technology corridors around a critical mass of clinician-innovators. Spikes in physician and hospital liability costs therefore ripple through the medicalindustrial complex, unsettling economic prospects for states and even entire regions. This creates familiar pressure within state legislatures to compete with other states for business goodwill. For example, medical device companies are concerned about the current malpractice crisis only in small part because of their own legal exposure. Mainly, they fear the evaporation of their customer base. Indeed, there is anecdotal evidence that spine surgery has decreased in high liability states as orthopedists and neurosurgeons 10 David Leonhardt, Growing Health Care Economy Gives Northeast a Needed Boost, N.Y. Times, at A1, A14 (Dec. 30, 2002). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 49
20 1:4 Health Law Handbook limit their practices, with accompanying reductions in sales of related surgical hardware. 1:5 Cost containment The two decades that have elapsed since the last nationwide malpractice insurance crisis have been characterized by an almost single-minded focus by both public and private payers on restraining growth in health care expenditures. Insurers and employers no longer pay passively on an indemnity basis but aggressively negotiate discounts, structure services, and question expenses. As a result, price competition, which was alien to medical services in 1975, is cutthroat today. Excess capacity, mainly in hospital beds but extending as well to specialized physician services, has been squeezed out of many markets, while cutbacks in Medicare and Medicaid payment have slashed margins and depleted cash reserves for many medical institutions and physician practices. 1 This implies a health care system that is less resilient to external nancial shocks. When the economic incidence of liability costs was studied in the 1980s, researchers concluded that premium increases were quickly passed through to consumers. 2 In other words, physicians took umbrage at previous premium spikes not so much because the nancial impact was unsustainable, but because they interpreted the increases as a sign of rampant litigation, which was an a ront to [Section 1:5] 1 Although Medicare s resource-based relative value scale for physicians incorporates liability costs into payment rates, these adjustments necessarily lag changes in input prices. These calculations are based on average liability costs within specialities, however, not actual costs incurred by particular physicians. Moreover, independent limits on Medicare s sustainable growth rate have capped physician payment in recent years notwithstanding the underlying reimbursement formulas. 2 Patricia M. Danzon, Mark V. Pauly, and Raynard S. Kington, The E ects of Malpractice Litigation on Physicians Fees and Incomes, AEA Papers and Proceedings, 80(2): (1990). SESS: 1 COMP: 11/24/03 PG. POS: 50
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Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 Gold Edition
All the counter-terror action from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 is now available in one gold edition. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Gold includes both the original Raven Shield and its expansion, Athena Sword. In both games, you'll command the world's most elite multinational force of counter-terrorist operatives in missions around the world. This double-pack provides you with an arsenal of fully customizable weapons, ranging from pistols to assault rifles. You play competitively or cooperatively with your friends in 11 multiplayer modes.
If you're stuck in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 Gold Edition, ask your fellow GameFAQs members for help.
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Fun Facts
Each chapter of Dear Class has fun facts about that country. Here are some of them.
- Even though Harry Potter went to Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station, it doesn't really exist. But so many people go to check on it anyway that there is a Platform 9¾ sign on a wall close to a real platform.
- Paris specializes in showing off its sewers. On what is sometimes called the Bad Taste Tour, you can visit this vast underground world. Among unusual items found there have been teeth and a crocodile.
- The world's largest tomato fight—La Tomatina—takes place the last Wednesday in August in Buñol, a small town in eastern Spain. Some 150,000 tomatoes are thrown at anyone and anything in sight for a messy—a very messy—half-hour of fun.
- Sesame Street puppets in Israel speak Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian. A cousin of Oscar the Grouch is Moishe Oofnik.
- Laughing is a healthy thing to do. There are special health laughing clubs in India where people get together to laugh.
- In Japan the traffic light to indicate GO is called blue, even though it is green. This is because long ago green was thought to be a shade of blue
Country Activities
- Something British for You to Do: A British Word Search (Solution)
- Something Portuguese and Spanish for You to Do: Get the Bull through the Maze (Solution)
- Something Greek for You to Do: Write Your Name in Greek
- Something Indian for You to Do: Make a Rangoli Design


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Fourteen people – including nine children – were hit when Preston Carter, 100, backed his "powder blue Cadillac" onto a Los Angeles sidewalk Wednesday. The sidewalk was across the street from an elementary school, hence the children, who were lined up with a group of parents buying food from a street vendor. Everyone is expected to survive, but four children remain at the hospital after being in critical condition.
Specific accidents involving older drivers aren't something we usually cover here, but there's something so cinematic about this one – the powder blue Cadillac, the elementary school children lined up for after-school snacks – that it seems to be attracting more than it's fair share of media attention. I don't mean to minimize the seriousness of what happened. The horror of the scene is what's making it resonate – and resurrect the debate about older drivers.
Carter, who has a valid driver's license, will turn 101 Sept. 5. He was pulling out of a grocery store parking lot when he backed onto the sidewalk instead of into the street, according to the Associated Press.
"My brakes failed. It was out of control," Carter told KCAL-TV.
Asked about hitting the children, Carter said: "You know I'm sorry about that. I wouldn't do that for nothing on earth. My sympathies for them."
"I think it was a miscalculation on his part. The gentleman is elderly," (Police Capt. George) Rodriguez said. "Obviously he is going to have some impairment on his decision making."
Whoa. Impairment – cognitive, visual or otherwise – in older drivers is definitely a serious concern. But it's upsetting to see people like Rodriguez immediately and broadly extend this assumption of impairment to all "elderly" people. A study published last week in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society reported that drivers over 70 are no more likely than drivers under 30 to die in car accidents.
Want to test your safety skills? Take the Smart Driver quiz. You may also want to check out AARP's Driver Safety program or read more about how to tell if it's time for aging parents to give up the keys.
Thursday Quick Hits:
– Questioning calorie restriction. It's the premise of the popular Longevity Diet book and a growing number of anti-aging gurus, but drastically cutting calories may not matter in terms of lifespan. In a new 23-year study from the National Institute on Aging, monkeys fed a 'severely low calorie' diet didn't live any longer than monkeys fed a normal diet, though they did show some signs of better health.
– Inaccurate care unit? ICU patients are twice as likely to face a fatal misdiagnosis at hospitals, a new study finds.
Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP


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There is an employment company in Germany whose name is Jobs In Town.
Their motto, as you can see, is "life's too short for the wrong job" - - - their
working premise is to match folks with jobs that suit them and that they
will enjoy. One of their advertising gimmicks is putting these 3D posters
on various machines throughout Germany and perhaps nearby countries as well.


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The Kremlin has called the conditions for the failure of the investigation on MH17
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said in a media interview that the investigation of the crash Malaysian "Boeing" flight MH17 is doomed to failure, if you ignore some of the versions and proceed from the paradigm of Russian guilt.
photo: Mikhail Kovalev
Russian officials continue to comment on the preliminary report of the Joint investigation team of the death in the Donbass Malaysian Boeing flight MH17, which was presented on Wednesday.
Thus, the press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov on air of the First channel on Saturday said that it is impossible to conduct the investigation "without taking any of the versions." He recalled that after a few minutes after the tragedy at the official level in the known countries blamed Russia. Peskov said that if the investigation lead based on this paradigm, it is doomed to partiality, is doomed to failure."
We will remind that on Wednesday, after the publication of the preliminary report, Peskov noted that not all countries provided the consequence of such an array of information. He stressed that a number of countries have still not introduced the radar data.
Also, the Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a BBC interview refused to apologize for the death of Malaysian "Boeing", urging not to draw conclusions until the investigation is completed. He also noted that Russia gave the result of new data and it is hoped that these materials will draw attention.
The Collapse Of The "Boeing". Chronicle of events


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Each rehearsal includes both physical warm-ups and vocal warm-ups. Singing actually uses a lot of muscles and needs strengthening and loosening up like a lot of other physical activities.
|A quick physical warm-up after the stresses of a long day!
|A GENTLE massage often ends in laughing!
|Can you see all our "lions"? Just wait 'till you see the "lemons".
|A little dramatic? But, of course.
Phew! No wonder we all sleep so well on Thursday nights!


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Our Partners
MedApplications(TM) works with the leading medical schools, pre-medical student organizations and application firms in North America.
MedApplications(TM) works with the leading medical schools, pre-medical student organizations and application firms in North America.
Canada, US & International Medical Applications
MMI, Panel & MPI Medical Interviews
Mock CASPers, Simulations, Workshops
High School, University, Non-Traditional
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We work with you every step of the way as your personal medical coach. With first-hand experience as practicing medical doctors we know what it takes to achieve success in the medical school admissions process. During application crunch time, we work round the clock to ensure your application is completed to the highest of competitive standards. Find Out More About MedApplications
Our Medical Coaches pride ourselves on offering a premium service by leading physicians in medical school preparation. However, if you do not find your consultation useful, or feel that the consultant is not a great fit, you must let your consultant know at the conclusion of your first consultation or review, prior to finishing and we will contact you to arrange another complimentary session or review with a new consultant. See Terms and Conditions
"I enrolled in a MedApplications Interview seminar one month prior to my first medical school interview opportunity. Before participating in the course, I had very little specific knowledge regarding interview format, question types, emphasis and expectations of the interviewers…


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- Computers & Tablets
Product Review Winner - December 2017
TweetPosted in Company Announcements on 11/1/2018
PB Review Prize Winner for December 2017!
Congratulations to Reginal Naidu who has won a Sapphire wallet, Bluetooth Car Charger, Smartphone Holder, and Corsair Powerbank for our monthly review giveaway for December
Want to get in on the action? Make sure to review our products for your chance to win in our next monthly draw!
Note: To be eligible for this prize draw please ensure you are logged into your online account before submitting a review!Customer Testimonials - See More"Awesome product and prices and delivery was within 24 hrs from Auckland to Kaitaia just amazing :-) great experience thank you"Sonya - 22/03/2018"David Wang at northshore branch you went over and above to give exceptional service. Thank you very much."Stephen - 10/03/2018"Sonia at Henderson branch - you rock! Excellent service. Knowledgeable staff. Consumer focused rather than just focusing on the normal sales pitch. Everything we wanted was available in store AND cheaper than all the electronic stores we had visited. What more could one ask for?"Tasa - 07/03/2018"A great no bull tech shop. It's a reliable source of high end tech without the wait. The service team is awesome too"Nathan - 28/02/2018"Always shopping at PB Tech for anything electronics related. They generally have the best pricing & staff are always helpful."Michaela - 23/02/2018"Great experience in store! A lot of variety of products to chose from, out standing customer service that knew their stuff, gave good advice and knowledge of products."Kelsey - 16/02/2018"I've shopped at PB Tech for over ten years and have always found them reliable, knowledgeable, friendly and good value. Today I talked with sales consultant Eva Song at the Henderson branch about Laptops. She was very knowledgeable and gave me some excellent advice regarding my needs. She was genuinely interested in meeting my specific needs as a customer as opposed to just trying to sell to me. Thanks Eva. Keep up the good work PB Tech"Peter - 29/01/2018"I've shopped at PBTech for years at multiple stores (North Shore, Penrose, Hornby). They byfar have the best service and the best price."Benjamin - 21/01/2018"PB tech has been my go-to tech shop for many years. I get excellent service when I visit a store and prompt delivery when I order online. Overall I am happy with the service and products and will continue to use PB Tech for many more years."Luka - 18/01/2018""I love the products I bought and also the services. I was assisted by your team properly and just got the right products I need. Surely I'll come back. Thanks to you guys. Happy New Year! Cheers!"Raul - 10/01/2018"Very happy with the team at pb tech , placed an online order at about 9.30 pm on 27/12/17 and was notified order was ready to pick up by early afternoon on 3/1/18. Have had many in-store positive experiences in the past also. Have recommended pb tech in the past and will continue to do so. Happy New Year to everyone at pb tech."Hamish - 03/01/2018"This company is top notch. I ordered an HTC Vive controller and I live in Australia. It arrived within a few days and that was just before Christmas when you'd expect things to take much longer. The controller works perfectly and arrived well packaged to protect it during transport. I'll definitely look to PBTech to supply me with anything else I need for my Vive in future."Chris - 02/01/2018"Product shipped promptly after payment. Excellent service and happy with the product."Steve - 02/01/2018"Purchase a device was very quick and got a great discount with my case"Joshua - 30/12/2017"WOW thank you PB Tech Manukau. Big ups to Gavin Ren (Retail Sales Manager) for his expert advise and awesome friendly service, the more i called him Santa the more he said no no no, haaa hoe hoe hoe. Thank you "Santa" Gavin for great discoun etc. I done my purchase through Gilrose finance, Gavin made this happen all very fast & easy for me from the moment i walked in and given are chair to sit down, i stayed seated to the moment i left!!! yes everything was taken care of for me and Gavin even wheeled everything out to my car & loaded it for me ;-) Hey PB Tech Merry Xmas to you guys too. One very happy first time customer."Dean - 22/12/2017"Excellent place to shop with very knowledgeable staff!!"Debbie - 17/12/2017"Will always buy tech stuff here,they have got my business for the foreseeable future"Holie - 14/12/2017"Awesome product, very comfortable and functional. Thanks for the ultra fast shipping :)"Thiago - 12/12/2017"Will always buy tech stuff here, no issues so far."John - 11/12/2017


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Ramon Sessions Reportedly Wants to Return to Charlotte Next SeasonMarch 17, 2014
The Charlotte Bobcats have been one of the NBA's most pleasant surprises this season. At 33-34, they currently hold the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. Barring a late collapse, it seems safe to say that they will make the playoffs.
Count former Bobcats point guard Ramon Sessions among those who like the direction in which the franchise is headed.
Sessions, who signed a two-year deal with Charlotte during the summer of 2012, was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 20. However, Sessions, who will be a free agent at the end of this year, says he wouldn't mind returning for another go, telling the Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell:
Of course, the Bobcats would be the Hornets by that time, but that's beside the point.
When was the last time you ever heard anyone say they'd like to play for this organization? The fact that Sessions would like to return speaks volumes about how much this franchise has turned things around, and the signing of Al Jefferson last summer is a pretty solid indicator of that as well.
First-year head coach Steve Clifford has done wonders for this group, turning it into a top-10 defense (No. 7, to be exact) a year after it ranked dead last in that category. Clearly, players are taking notice of Clifford's potential genius, and that could mean that Charlotte will no longer be a place that free agents shun.
Sessions has been enjoying a very solid 2013-14 campaign in a reserve role, averaging 10.9 points and 3.7 assists in 24 minutes per game. Perhaps most impressive is the rate that he gets to the free-throw line, as the floor general is averaging 6.7 free-throw attempts per 36 minutes.
The soon-to-be 28-year-old (his birthday is in April) is certainly well-traveled, having spent time with five different teams, including two stints with the Bucks, the ballclub that drafted him. Sessions has also been a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers, always managing to be a steady contributor no matter what jersey he is donning.
This might sound strange, but look out for Charlotte in the years to come. It is clearly building something positive.


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Great test report with video here of the Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro.
On a bad day, car criticism is about finding faults with the very things car critics enjoy. You are invited to watch the dreary, bloodless business of marking demerits on a new car's record for shoddy switchgear, insufficient verve or…whatever.
Today, friends, is not that day.
Today, we consider the 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI (yes, that's the one with the V10), a car so well conceived and executed that we haven't the slightest interest in quibbling or equivocating.
This is a great car.
Related news: GermanCarBlog, P4MR, Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro
Source: Inside Line