It’s Med Mal Quiz Time Again!

Hey kids, it’s our favorite time of year – PopTort Pop Quiz time! Our first of 2022 on the important topic of medical malpractice and health care. I just know you've all been studying very hard. So let’s go!

1. What percentage of injured patients who win their cases actually receive what a jury awards them:

1. 100%
2. 70%
3. 50%
4. Less than 30 percent

The answer is "d." According to new research from 6 top medical malpractice researchers, 74 percent of patients receive less than what a jury awards “whether the wrongdoer is a physician, hospital or nursing home.” They say that there is a “large gap” between what juries award and what insurers actually pay, which is far less. Industry campaigns focused on jury verdicts are “disingenuous, based on an incomplete and potentially misleading factual foundation.”

2. The chance of a physician having to personally cover the difference between a large jury award and their smaller medical malpractice insurance policy limit is:

1. 100%
2. 50%
3. 25%
4. Less than 1%

The answer is once again “d.” According to the same new research from 6 top medical malpractice researchers, “in only 0.6 percent of cases did physicians make any out-of-pocket payments, and most of these were relatively small. Essentially, physicians’ policy limits are a hard cap on recovery.

3. A new physician survey finds that roughly 1 in 5 are considering leaving their current jobs to pursue a nonclinical career. The top reason given by physicians was:

1. Risk of being sued
2. General burnout
3. Need to reduce hours
4. The pandemic

The answer is “b" for burnout! According to the survey, risk of being sued is not a factor. And “only 7% put the blame for leaving clinical practice squarely on the pandemic.” However,“Burnout was most often cited as the primary reason for considering a change; 34% gave this reason. Twenty percent said they wanted to work fewer hours.” The risk of being sued is not a factor.

4. True or False: Most doctors who have been sued believe the outcome of the lawsuit was fair.

That would be “True.” According to a new Medscape survey, “A majority — 61 percent — of doctors who were sued “believed the outcome of their lawsuit was fair.” Moreover, “More than half of physicians who were sued reported that there were no attitude or career changes after the experience, which is consistent with results of prior surveys.”

5. When asked if they’d been sued for COVID-related negligence, what percentage of doctors surveyed in 2021 answered "yes, they had been sued":

1. 100 percent
2. 50 percent
3. 10 percent
4. 0 percent

The answer is “d.” When asked whether they’d been sued for a COVID-related allegation, 100 percent of respondents said no.  That's the "wave" of lawsuits some insisted was coming.

6. Surplus - the extra money medical malpractice insurers set aside over and above what they keep for expected losses - did what during pandemic:

1. Dropped
2. Stayed the same
3. Increased

The answer is “c.” According to the October 2021 issue of Medical Liability Monitor, thanks to a stock market windfall, the industry saw “a surplus increase of almost 3% in 2020, bringing total surplus to the MPL sector to more than $33 billion.” Astounding.

Bonus Question:

True or False: More than 140,000 nursing home residents have died from COVID-19.

Sadly, this is "True." According to the most recent government data, as of the week ending December 26, 2021, more than 754,500 nursing home residents had contracted COVID-19 and over 142,300 residents had died from COVID-19

Of course, all of this information and much more can be found in the Center for Justice & Democracy at New York Law School’s new briefing book, Medical Malpractice – By the Numbers!  Study up.  You never know when quiz time will pop up again!