I read with interest your October 16, 2019 article summarizing AON’s take on the increase in so-called Mega-Claims. I find it intriguing that the article, and presumably the AON Report, highlight the insurance industry-perceived causes for an increase in “mega-claims” such as aggressive plaintiffs’ attorneys, plaintiff sensitive juries (I am uncertain what that means), and political factors. I suspect the AON report on these ‘drivers’ is questionable given the concessions in the article that there is a lack of credible nationwide data.
It is concerning that the author of the article, and presumably AON, did not even mention or seem to consider that a cause for a long-term increase in the frequency of mega-claims is the well-known, much studied increase in the frequency of preventable serious harm. Recognized as the third leading cause of death in the U.S., medical malpractice is a health crisis. Perhaps the number of mega-claims would decrease if the insurance industry focused as much time and money on making healthcare safer as it does on trying to implement tort reform.
Why not focus on the cause of the claims rather than rushing to blame the justice system?
Mr. Weitz, while (if true) an increase in medical error would logically equate to increased *frequency* of claims, the author and AON note that frequency is flat; rather, it is *severity* that is increasing.
I don’t pretend to know what is the root cause of mega-verdicts, but as a malpractice claim manager and risk manager, I can confidently say that medical malpractice is not a “health crisis.” Not only is medical error not, in fact, the third leading cause of death in the U.S., patient safety efforts have resulted in a steady decline in preventable serious harm.
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I read with interest your October 16, 2019 article summarizing AON’s take on the increase in so-called Mega-Claims. I find it intriguing that the article, and presumably the AON Report, highlight the insurance industry-perceived causes for an increase in “mega-claims” such as aggressive plaintiffs’ attorneys, plaintiff sensitive juries (I am uncertain what that means), and political factors. I suspect the AON report on these ‘drivers’ is questionable given the concessions in the article that there is a lack of credible nationwide data.
It is concerning that the author of the article, and presumably AON, did not even mention or seem to consider that a cause for a long-term increase in the frequency of mega-claims is the well-known, much studied increase in the frequency of preventable serious harm. Recognized as the third leading cause of death in the U.S., medical malpractice is a health crisis. Perhaps the number of mega-claims would decrease if the insurance industry focused as much time and money on making healthcare safer as it does on trying to implement tort reform.
Why not focus on the cause of the claims rather than rushing to blame the justice system?
Mr. Weitz, while (if true) an increase in medical error would logically equate to increased *frequency* of claims, the author and AON note that frequency is flat; rather, it is *severity* that is increasing.
I don’t pretend to know what is the root cause of mega-verdicts, but as a malpractice claim manager and risk manager, I can confidently say that medical malpractice is not a “health crisis.” Not only is medical error not, in fact, the third leading cause of death in the U.S., patient safety efforts have resulted in a steady decline in preventable serious harm.
See: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/are-medical-errors-really-the-third-most-common-cause-of-death-in-the-u-s-2019-edition/