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Medical payouts scarce
New state data reveal that the payments made under Virginia's medical malpractice system have been consistent for the last three years
Date published: 10/30/2005
By JIM HALL After Thelma Scoon died of heart problems at Mary Washington Hospital in 2001, her husband filed suit. Casimir Scoon sued two of her doctors, a nurse and the hospital, alleging that they had not properly cared for his wife. The case finally reached a Fredericksburg Circuit Court jury last month. The jury heard four days of testimony before rejecting Scoon's claim. They found no evidence of malpractice. The Scoon case illustrates one of the realities of medical malpractice lawsuits in Virginia: Most plaintiffs receive no compensation for alleged injuries. In addition, few malpractice cases actually go to a jury, and when they do, the chances of payment are slim. Juries find for the doctor or hospital five times out of six. New mandatory reporting from the state's 38 private malpractice insurance companies provides these data. The reports also offer a new way of looking at Virginia's medical malpractice system. The figures cover only three years, and describe only one state's experience, but they reveal no evidence of a system out of control. Instead, the reports tell of a consistent, conservative malpractice system, where both the number of claims and the amount paid have been constant. An analysis of the new reports by The Free Lance-Star also shows: For every patient who received a payment because of medical malpractice, three other claimants received no money. Mega-awards, or those of $1 million or more, were rare. Virginia currently caps malpractice damages at $1.8 million. When payments were made, they usually resulted from negotiated settlements. Few claims went to juries, and when they did, juries usually rejected them. "We call it the most Draconian medical malpractice liability environment in the country," said Jack Harris, executive director of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. The trial lawyers lobbied the Virginia General Assembly this year to require the state's medical malpractice insurance companies to report their claims histories. The new law says that private insurance companies must file an annual record of all closed malpractice claims. The first report, due Sept. 1, was for the years 2002, 2003 and 2004. Virginia is now one of a handful of states that require closed-claims reports. The companies forwarded their closed-claims data to the State Corporation Commission. The commission staff spent about a month compiling the data before making it available to the public earlier this month.
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 10/30/2005
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