The High Cost of Malpractice Insurance--Explained

Here we go again. The public is constantly bombarded with misinformation from insurance companies about "the high cost of insurance." What you don't see are the really, really stupid decisions that insurance companies make that lead to them paying more for their lawyers and then more to the patient. Case in point. We represent a very nice gentleman who underwent an operation earlier this year. During the operation a sponge was left inside his body and for several months he suffered. He then had to undergo another (totally unnessary) operation to remove the sponge. There are some lawyers who would immediatly file suit, issue a press release and cause all sorts of commotion. We wrote the hospital and the surgeon, making a reasonable settlement demand. Here's what happens next: Hospital gets lawyer who says, "contact surgeon, it's his fault." We get letter from surgeon's nit-wit insurance company that says "hospital's fault--not my job to count sponges." (In case you think I kid, you can see the letter here.) So there will be a lawsuit and again, there will be cries of "too many lawsuits." Who's to blame?