by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
If you are a trial lawyer in Jacksonville, your ears were probably burning on Monday.
John Nelson, president of the American Medical Association, is in town this week visiting local hospitals and Monday he spoke to the Rotary Club of Jacksonville at the Omni about the good and bad sides of American health care system. Trial lawyers fell into the latter category.
Nelson, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Salt Lake City, talked about many health care issues including a national heath care system and health care costs but his most pointed comments were directed toward what he perceived as flaws in the medical malpractice system.
“We have a broken system,” Nelson said. “Doctors make errors because we are human beings dealing with other human beings. When we are negligent, we should be held accountable. But if you don’t put a limit on pain and suffering, we will break the bank.”
Nelson said the the major sticking point between doctors and the trial lawyers is based on a major difference in philosophies.
“We are on course to follow data and we believe the trial lawyers are lead by emotion,” he said. “We do not contend with them that we are perfect. We believe that we should be liable for the errors that we make. We also believe that when we are negligent we should be held accountable by the law.
“But right now, if I were to care for you as a patient following the currently accepted guidelines, if something happens to you, it’s no one’s fault, but if something happens to you, I could be sued and lose the suit even though I followed the guidelines. That is wrong.”
To fix the system, Nelson said two things need to happen — patient safety legislation needs to be passed and there needs to be a limit on non-economic damages.
If a doctor is sued for medical malpractice under the current system, Nelson said the suit will go away 70 percent of the time and no money will change hands, but it will cost an average of $40-60,000 to defend that case. If a doctor is sued and goes to court, he said 86 percent of the time the doctor is found not to be negligent but will have to pay about $92,000 for defense. If a doctor does get sued, goes to court and loses, Nelson said it will cost about $328,000 to defend the case plus whatever damages are awarded
“It is not a perfect system,” he said. “I don’t think trial attorneys are bad people, I think they are responding to the incentives of the system. So we argue the system needs to be changed.
“If I am negligent, nail me to the wall. I should be responsible for every dollar (of expenses) plus $250,000 for pain and suffering. But don’t give me these $25- $50-$130,000 million verdicts. That is ludicrous. It is breaking the bank.”
Nelson said high medical malpractice verdicts have led to abnormally high insurance costs for doctors, especially in Florida, which he said has one of the highest medical malpractice insurance rates in the country. These high rates have led to a lack of doctors entering some fields, he said.
“We only filled 68 percent of the obstetrics residencies this year,” he said. “When I was a resident many years ago, there were four positions in our medical school. 80 people applied for those positions. Now we can’t fill them.”