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American Morning

Malpractice Crisis

Aired January 17, 2003 - 08:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The president says that frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals are sending health care costs through the roof. He has a prescription, he says, for fixing the problem. What could it mean for you and your family? To the good doctor in Atlanta once again to join us on this story.
Sanjay, you heard the president yesterday. Where does it stack up?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, really, interesting, a big issue, obviously, near and dear to my heart. The president is certainly outlining a plan to reform medical malpractice. What he is trying to ensure is that doctors don't leave areas with high premiums.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: There are some costs that are unnecessary, as far as I'm concerned. And the problem of those unnecessary costs don't start in the waiting room or the operating room; they're in the courtroom. So you can pretty well blackmail a doctor into settlement if you continue to throw lawsuit after lawsuit, and the system looks like a giant lottery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Jackpot justice they call it, Bill, jackpot justice. About 70 percent, according to a research, 70 percent of all lawsuits against doctors don't result in any payment at all to the plaintiff, but they are increasing the actual costs of actually settling one of those lawsuits, about $23,000 per lawsuit -- Bill.

HEMMER: How bad is it then? You deal with this every day.

GUPTA: Yes, it is a bad problem. And it's a problem that certainly has gotten worse. If you take a look at the map at some of the crisis areas around the country, certain some states worse than others. You see the states there, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, we've been hearing a lot about, but also in Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Texas, a lot of different states are having problems.

Let's take a look at how much these premiums have gone up over the last year percentage wise. Here is some common fields, almost 24.7 percent, internal medicine, almost 24.7 percent, general surgery, 25 percent, OBGYN, 19.6 percent.

Bill, and as know, I'm a neurosurgeon. Let's take a look at some of the neurosurgery malpractice premiums around the country, $267,000 a year to be able to practice neurosurgery in Pennsylvania. That's for malpractice alone. That's how much it costs. Michigan, where I was practicing before, $120,000, and Georgia, about 70,000. So definitely, a significant problem around the country.

HEMMER: And you look at dollar amount and the numbers you just put up there, what about the specific reforms proposed? How would they work? How would they be effective?

GUPTA: Right, well, that's exactly what the president was talking about yesterday. In part, what his plan is modeled after is a plan that's been in place for California for quite sometime. The sort of main focus of this plan is caps, $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages related to a lawsuit, and also caps on punitive damages, and also limits on who can be sued. We are talking about statute of limitations possibly here in terms of doctors being sued, and we're also talking, in part, about lawyers' fees as well. Those are parts of the plan. This plan has been out there for a while, again, in California, and it's also part of something called the Greenwood Bill. That is sort of it.

Look at the Micra Law details there, very similar. That was passed in 1976. To give you an idea of whether or not it worked, in California, over the last decade or so, the malpractice premiums have gone up about 167 percent, around the rest of the country, about 505 percent -- Bill.

HEMMER: It is a big and growing issue. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks. Again, we will look for your show tomorrow, on Saturday.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 17, 2003 - 08:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The president says that frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals are sending health care costs through the roof. He has a prescription, he says, for fixing the problem. What could it mean for you and your family? To the good doctor in Atlanta once again to join us on this story.
Sanjay, you heard the president yesterday. Where does it stack up?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, really, interesting, a big issue, obviously, near and dear to my heart. The president is certainly outlining a plan to reform medical malpractice. What he is trying to ensure is that doctors don't leave areas with high premiums.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: There are some costs that are unnecessary, as far as I'm concerned. And the problem of those unnecessary costs don't start in the waiting room or the operating room; they're in the courtroom. So you can pretty well blackmail a doctor into settlement if you continue to throw lawsuit after lawsuit, and the system looks like a giant lottery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: Jackpot justice they call it, Bill, jackpot justice. About 70 percent, according to a research, 70 percent of all lawsuits against doctors don't result in any payment at all to the plaintiff, but they are increasing the actual costs of actually settling one of those lawsuits, about $23,000 per lawsuit -- Bill.

HEMMER: How bad is it then? You deal with this every day.

GUPTA: Yes, it is a bad problem. And it's a problem that certainly has gotten worse. If you take a look at the map at some of the crisis areas around the country, certain some states worse than others. You see the states there, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, we've been hearing a lot about, but also in Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Texas, a lot of different states are having problems.

Let's take a look at how much these premiums have gone up over the last year percentage wise. Here is some common fields, almost 24.7 percent, internal medicine, almost 24.7 percent, general surgery, 25 percent, OBGYN, 19.6 percent.

Bill, and as know, I'm a neurosurgeon. Let's take a look at some of the neurosurgery malpractice premiums around the country, $267,000 a year to be able to practice neurosurgery in Pennsylvania. That's for malpractice alone. That's how much it costs. Michigan, where I was practicing before, $120,000, and Georgia, about 70,000. So definitely, a significant problem around the country.

HEMMER: And you look at dollar amount and the numbers you just put up there, what about the specific reforms proposed? How would they work? How would they be effective?

GUPTA: Right, well, that's exactly what the president was talking about yesterday. In part, what his plan is modeled after is a plan that's been in place for California for quite sometime. The sort of main focus of this plan is caps, $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages related to a lawsuit, and also caps on punitive damages, and also limits on who can be sued. We are talking about statute of limitations possibly here in terms of doctors being sued, and we're also talking, in part, about lawyers' fees as well. Those are parts of the plan. This plan has been out there for a while, again, in California, and it's also part of something called the Greenwood Bill. That is sort of it.

Look at the Micra Law details there, very similar. That was passed in 1976. To give you an idea of whether or not it worked, in California, over the last decade or so, the malpractice premiums have gone up about 167 percent, around the rest of the country, about 505 percent -- Bill.

HEMMER: It is a big and growing issue. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks. Again, we will look for your show tomorrow, on Saturday.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com