Capping Damages does Not Reduce Doctors' Exposure to Malpractice Claims

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently issued a new report containing state-specific data for 2003 on medical malpractice claim payments. As has been reported, the study provides data showing that, while the total dollars in paid physician medical malpractice claims more than doubled from $2.1 billion in 1991 to $4.5 billion in 2003, the number of malpractice claim payments nationwide remained relatively constant during that period (13,687 in 1991, compared with 15,287 in 2003). Also, the report noted that, since the number of practicing physicians increased during this period, the average number of malpractice claims per physician declined relatively steadily over the period, from 25 in 1991 to 19 per 1,000 non-federal physicians in 2003.

The American Bar Association has analyzed the information in the Kaiser study, including the report's new state malpractice data (available at http://www.statehealthfacts.org/r/malpractice.cfm) on the number of paid claims per 1,000 physicians in each state in 2003, the latest year for which data are available. The attached chart lists the number of claims per 1,000 active, non-federal physicians and shows whether the state had caps on noneconomic or total damage caps in 2003. This data shows the number of paid claims per 1,000 active non-federal physicians is not related to whether a state has caps on damages or not. For example, the average claims for 1,000 physicians ranged from 30.5 in Indiana to 5 in Alabama. Indiana had total damage caps in 2003. Alabama did not have caps on noneconomic or total damage caps in 2003.

Developed by the American Bar Association with the assistance of the Standing Committee on Medical Professional Liability. For questions, please contact Lillian Gaskin, Senior Legislative Counsel at 202-662-1768 or gaskinl@staff.abanet.org.

1. The report was prepared for the Foundation by Peter P. Budetti of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and Teresa M. Waters of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The data are based on an analysis of 2003 claims data in the federal National Practitioner Data Bank, where federal law requires that paid claims be reported.