Capping damages only hurts victims

As an attorney who has litigated medical malpractice claims over the last 12 years, I was not surprised to see the writer of the letter "Doctors can't afford unlimited awards" (Oct. 29) repeat the propaganda that the insurance industry has been feeding the public at least as long as I have been practicing law.

However, numerous studies have shown that the leading cause for the rise in insurance premiums has been poor investments and decision-making by the insurance companies.

And large verdicts have been shown to have little or no effect on these premiums.

Insurance companies often offer below-market premiums in an attempt to gain market-share. They then subsidize those premiums with money from other investments. When those other investments turn sour (such as in the recent decline in the stock market), the insurance companies dramatically raise rates.

Indeed, other studies have shown that there is little to no correlation between caps on pain-and-suffering awards and insurance rates.

Moreover, a large portion of the settlements and verdicts paid by insurance companies are on behalf of a small percentage of physicians who continue to practice poor medicine. Why do they continue to insure these physicians and why are these physicians not being held accountable by the appropriate state agency?

I suggest that the best way to keep insurance costs down is to practice good medicine and weed out those physicians who wreak havoc on the lives of innocent victims.

Matt R. Ballenger

Baltimore

Everyone pays price for huge damage awards

Erika Niedowski's article "Cost of insurance moves physicians" (Nov. 1) provided another opportunity for trial lawyers to bash insurance companies. But to say that premium increases are attributable to "greedy insurance providers" and that "the insurance companies are having a field day" is simply not accurate.

While the industry has been guilty of poor management, poor underwriting and poor investments, it is not having a field day.

Indeed, it is in bad financial shape, losing as an industry more than $8 billion last year.

The real problem is not doctors "making big mistakes" or the insurance companies making lots of money but the legal system, where claimants and attorneys reap huge sums of money from settlements.

I haven't seen many doctors or insurance companies getting rich lately, but I do see law firms prospering. And with class action suits and runaway judgments, all sectors of society are paying a huge cost.

Society at large needs to accept that we do not live in a risk-free society, and people need to accept responsibility for their own actions.

Any time you get out of bed in the morning, you face risk of an accident, injury or setback. We need to understand that the minute we leave the comfort of our bedrooms, we face risk in everything we do.

We also have to realize that doctors do the best they can, but cannot always guarantee a favorable outcome. There are no 100-percent safe procedures, and sometimes life doesn't go as we expect.

Yes, if negligence was involved, someone should absolutely be held responsible, but only for a reasonable amount of damages.

If we really want to solve the medical malpractice problem and skyrocketing insurance costs for all of society, we need to attack the legal system, and institute tort reform to protect us against frivolous suits and unreasonable verdicts.

Lee Rock

Hunt Valley

The writer is a certified insurance counselor and vice president of PSA Financial Inc., an insurance and investment firm.