Is The Need For Tort Reform Overblown?

It’s widely believed that medical malpractice lawsuits and the ease with which plaintiffs can garner lavish payouts are a major factor in high healthcare costs, high med-mal insurance premiums and the widespread practice of “defensive medicine.” Pete Reilly, the Healthcare Practice Leader at William Gallagher Associates Insurance Brokers, says there is strong evidence that it’s not true. He cites some recent articles from prestige medical journals that say payouts have decreased in the last decade or so, and more to the point that in states where tort reform has been enacted (the study looked at Georgia, South Carolina and Texas), it had very little effect on the “intensity” of practice, the cost of healthcare, the purported practice of defensive medicine or the quality of patient care.