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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Ind. Law - More on: Monitoring malpractice
Updating its stories from Sunday on the Indiana medical malpractice law (see ILB entry here), the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial today titled "Malpractice law works." However, it contines, the legislature should review the law:
The cap on malpractice awards is set at $250,000 from malpractice insurance, and up to $1 million more from the state’s malpractice fund, and it has been raised a couple of times since 1975. But most private health-insurance plans are capped at $1 million, and the cost of health care is rising much faster than inflation. So it’s fair to consider raising the cap again to allow people who make successful claims to collect enough to pay off medical bills and finance ongoing health care.Legislators should also address the reasons behind the six-year average time lapse between the malpractice incident and the malpractice payment. When patients have medical bills to pay, justice delayed is effectively justice denied.
The three-member panels that review each malpractice claim are composed of health-care workers, leading to suspicions that doctors, nurses and other panel members may sometime err on behalf of their peers. Lawmakers should consider allowing knowledgeable laypersons to serve on the panels as well.
Physicians must make so many judgment calls in their work that no malpractice system can ever be invulnerable to error. But Indiana lawmakers crafted a system that aims to balance the legitimate needs of both sides in malpractice cases.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 10, 2007 08:27 AM
Posted to Indiana Law