Medical Errors in Surgical Patients Cost Nearly $1.5 Billion Annually

Dan Frith

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My wife and I had dinner this weekend with a couple who are our very best friends. The wife is a very successful insurance executive and, over dinner and wine, the conversation turned to the costs of medical care. And guess what? The topic of how medical malpractice lawsuits are driving up the cost of medical care came up! And by the way....I represent patients in medical malpractice claims against doctors and hospitals.

Our friend is a rational and reasonable person. However, she is dead wrong about how medical malpractice claims play a major role in the costs of medical care in America.

For example, an analysis by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) indicates that employers pay out $1.47 billion each year to cover the costs incurred from potentially preventable adverse medical events in surgical patients. As reported in the July 28th issue of Health Services Research, the AHRQ's Dr. William Encinosa and Dr. Fred Hellinger estimated the costs of surgical errors by analyzing data from a nationwide sample of more than 161,000 adult patients who underwent surgery in 2001 and 2002.

The insurance industry needs to come up with another scapegoat for the high costs of medical care.