LITIGATION STATISTICS in the NEWS

12.04.07

Malpractice suits pay out over $150m in Australia

More than $150 million was paid out last year to Australian patients and their families who sued their doctors for malpractice following injury or death.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a report on Thursday into medical indemnity insurance that found about 2500 claims were made against doctors in 2005-06.

The average payout was about $60,000.

The government has charged the ACCC with investigating whether the premiums charged by the six medical indemnity insurers in Australia are justified. It found premiums, which had fallen about six per cent since the last annual report to an average of $5,537, were justified. Source: SMH 12.04.07

01.09.06

Claims rise against GPs no cause for alarm
Claims against GPs have risen in the past 10 years, bucking the trend of other medical specialties such as neuro surgery and anaesthetics, the latest medical indemnity industry report has revealed. (Medical Observer, 1 September 2006)

21.08.06

Medical Indemnity Claims Drop

Claiming behaviour in a no-fault system of medical injury: a descriptive analysis of claimants and non-claimants
Marie M Bismark, Troyen A Brennan, Peter B Davis and David M Studdert
Med J Aust 2006; 185 (4): 203-207. [Full text]

29.06.06

Health claim delays
Michelle Pountney
29jun06

MEDICAL indemnity claims against doctors and hospitals take an average of 26 months to finalise and 4 per cent of cases are decided in court, new figures show.
There were almost 6500 current, potential and finalised claims in the public health sector in 2004-05, more than half of which related to women.

Sixty-six claims that were resolved were more than five years old.

Claims related to failures to perform procedures, wrong procedures, procedures performed on the wrong area of the body, post-operative complications, and failures of procedures.

An Institute of Health and Welfare report found obstetrics (18 per cent), accident and emergency (15 per cent) and general surgery (11 per cent) incurred the most claims.

Of claims examined in the report, Medical indemnity national collection (public sector): 2004-2005, 58 per cent related to adults, 19 per cent to children and 10 per cent to babies under one year old.

The claims, recorded in the Medical Indemnity National Collection, also revealed 27 cases were settled in 2004-05 for at least $500,000. Source: Herald Sun News.com.au 29.06.06.

[AIHW: Medical indemnity national data collection, public sector 2004-05]

01.06.06

Why NSW is no longer the state to litigate

NSW has long been thought of as the litigation capital of Australia.

But a Law Council study shows that title belongs to the ACT, with the premier state languishing in fourth place.

For the past decade Canberrans have been up to five times more likely to lodge personal injury claims than residents of other states and territories. Even after the tort law changes of 2002, courts in the national capital have been handing 7.4 claims per 10,000 people, ahead of Western Australia (4.5), Tasmania (2.8) and NSW (2.1).

The report by the dean of the University of Newcastle's law school, Ted Wright, reveals that since 2002, personal injury actions have fallen by up to 80 per cent, with NSW recording a 63.2 per cent decrease.

Professor Wright's study suggests there was no litigation "explosion" leading up to the reforms - a claim rejected yesterday by insurers who said this failed to consider increased payouts and claims that did not proceed to the courts.

The Chief Justice of NSW, Jim Spigelman, has questioned whether the changes went too far and other judges have said the level of impairment required to recover damages is too high.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, said the changes had brought about "significant benefits" in stabilising workers' compensation and liability insurancecosts. He did not refer to personal injury claims, which Professor Wright said had undergone a "breathtaking adjustment".

The ACT was a clear leader in negligence claims that had to be decided in the courts - before and after the 2002 changes. It handled 9.4 claims per 10,000 people before 2002, a figure that has fallen to 7.4. It was followed by Western Australia (8 per 100,000 to 4.5), Tasmania (6.4 to 2.8), NSW (5.7 to 2.1), Queensland (3.4 to 1) and Victoria (2.7 to 0.5).

The president of the Law Council, Tim Bugg, said the changes had "simply diminished the rights of injured Australians to claim compensation".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/why-nsw-is-no-longer-the-state-to-litigate/2006/05/31/1148956417304.html