I. GENERALLY

a. Three MM crises:

i. 1975

ii. 1986

iii. 2001 (MO passed statute in 2005)

b. Issues:

i. each involved increasing MM ins premiums

ii. reduced access to MM ins

1. result - some MM ins became DR-owned

2. reduced specialty DR’s

iii. justice is random

1. innocent DR’s are drug thru the system

2. PT’s who are harmed do not always get redress

c. Areas of Possible Reform:

i. (1) Claims Frequency and Cost

ii. (2) Overhead Costs

iii. (3) Liability Costs

iv. (4) Defensive Medicine

v. (5) Supply (access to DR’s)

vi. (6) Quality of Care

d. Facts/Problems:

i. 2/3 of all MM claims are dismissed or abandoned

ii. potential Ps considering filing a lawsuit do not know whether the hosp/DR was negligent or not

iii. in order to learn about care quality, they must file a lawsuit and proceed w/ the discovery process

iv. the need for formal discovery differentiates MM cases from other types of torts

v. High Damage claims are prime candidates for litigation despite poor evidence of negligence (due to high return)

vi. minimum threshold of damages (generally $250k) to justify the significant costs associated w/ pursuing even the clearest cases of MM

vii. Ps atty’s often say that they are often precluded from doing substantial investigation b/4 filing suit b/c they are faced w/ SOL

1. could be caused by Atty delay

could be caused by delay in PT seeking legal representation

	Created by Janelle Gibbs almost 10 years ago

Spring Intersession 2015