Malpractice Litigation: Are Solutions in Sight?

PHYSICIANS in most large metropolitan areas are aware that an immediate crisis in malpractice insurance exists. The rest of the medical community will be exposed rather quickly, because the nonavailability of insurance and the skyrocketing of premiums, even when insurance is available, will spread rapidly throughout the country this year. The causes for this rapid deterioration in the insurance market are legion. Well known to most of us, the frequency of claims against the medical profession has been building year after year, accompanied by spiraling costs. It has been reported that the average cost per claim in California was slightly more than $5,000 in 1969, rising to approximately $7,500 in 1973. Since then it has jumped to $12,000, and over the next five years the estimated individual claim cost will be $25,000. These are staggering figures; yet they are borne by a relatively small contributing population— the medical profession and