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About our litigation system for 2019-2020
[By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA]
LINK: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/dr-david-marcinkos-bookings/
Doctors depend on their trusted advisors to be a source of information on a wide variety of complex topics.
As we have seen, one of the areas in which physicians are increasingly seeking guidance from their attorney, accountant, consultant or financial advisor is in the area of risk management, insurance planning and asset protection.
Risk management
The best experts and consultants seek to create safe steady growth and avoid losses and exposures to things like malpractice judgments integrated with asset protection. A natural extension of this stewardship is making sure that the growth and balance of assets are safe from exposure to an increasingly predatory and hostile litigation system. Most doctors have obvious daily risks like malpractice exposures.
Other sources of exposure are more insidious, such as merely being affluent and visible, owning income property, or something as simple as owning and driving a car every day. The numbers are staggering; we are at a point in our litigation system where we have 70,000 lawsuits filed per day in the United States alone, many without any real merit.
Unfortunately being “right” is not enough to keep physicians safe.
Why doctors are concerned?
As illustrated by the numbers above and below, awards continue to spiral out of control, fueled by litigation attorneys who have become partners in lawsuits and who are economically incentivized to create and magnify adversarial relations between parties who might otherwise reach some reasonable, if not amicable, settlement.
So, here are additional facts about our litigation system to consider, for 2015-16:
- The average medical malpractice award is now $3.9 MM, and some authorities put this number substantially higher;
- The average legal costs of settling a frivolous lawsuit is $91,000 – plus the actual settlement amount itself.
The average sexual harassment suit against a small medical practice produces a verdict of $530,000. Employees are suing more often, winning more often and winning proportionally larger judgments. They win 75% of the time. Moreover, only the top 5% of Americans has a net worth of over $1MM. Using this baseline, it’s pretty easy to see where even a doctor who is worth only a few million dollars fits in on the food chain.
Here is more proof why doctors and allied medical providers are sued:
- MDs are high net-worth, high liability, or they will be soon (i.e. new practitioners)
- DOs have assets that would be difficult to replace if lost or reduced
- DPMs have professional surgical liability
- DDSs have employees and own their own practice
- CRNs are highly visible, traceable, and or collectible
- ODs own liability generating assets, i.e. rental property
- NPs and ANPs have a spouse and/or children.
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Assessment
What doctors and all medical professionals must take to heart is that litigation attorneys are in business. Just like any business, including a medical practice, they have weekly meetings in which they examine growth, cash flow, revenue goals and new leads or opportunities. This economic motivation is a key and explains in part why we see awards rising and why plaintiffs’ attorneys regularly seek and obtain awards above the limits of applicable liability insurance policies.
Conclusion
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Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Medical Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com
OUR OTHER PRINT BOOKS AND RELATED INFORMATION SOURCES:
- PRACTICES: www.BusinessofMedicalPractice.com
- HOSPITALS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466558731
- CLINICS: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439879900
- ADVISORS: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org
- FINANCE: Financial Planning for Physicians and Advisors
- INSURANCE: Risk Management and Insurance Strategies for Physicians and Advisors
- Dictionary of Health Economics and Finance
- Dictionary of Health Information Technology and Security
- Dictionary of Health Insurance and Managed Care
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Filed under: Professional Liability, Risk Management | Tagged: Dr. David Marcinko, malpractice insurance, Malpractice Liability, malpractice reform, medical litigation |
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