More TV ads from plaintiffs' attorneys
Brace yourself for more lawsuits. Television advertisements soliciting plaintiffs for medical malpractice lawsuits increased from about 10,150 ads in 2004 to more than 156,000 ads in 2008 nearly a 1,400% increase in four years, according to a new study.
The study showed that spending for these ads increased from $3.8 million to nearly $62 million during this time period a 1,300% increase in 2008-adjusted dollars. Lisa A. Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, which sponsored the study, said in a statement that the finding is a window into what appears to be the growing role of medical malpractice cases in the overall litigation landscape.
"Lawsuits are ultimately a business driven by the plaintiffs' bar, and when you see the marketing of medical malpractice lawsuits exploding [like] this, it tells you that these lawsuits are a growing sector within the lawsuit industry," she said.
This new evidence of growth in plaintiffs' lawyer medical malpractice lawsuits comes amid an increased focus on medical liability reform or lack thereof in the larger health care reform debate.
To understand why tort reform is not part of the current debate, Rickard cited a statement made in August by former Vermont Gov. and emocratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who made a telling statement when he answered a question at a Congressional town hall meeting about the lack of medical liability reform in the current health care reform proposals. Dean responded, "The reason that tort reform is not in the bill is because the people that wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers in addition to everybody else they were taking on, and that is the plain and simple truth."
To see the findings of the plaintiffs' lawyer medical malpractice advertising study, along with the methodology, go to www.institutefor legalreform.com/medmalstudy.
Brace yourself for more lawsuits. Television advertisements soliciting plaintiffs for medical malpractice lawsuits increased from about 10,150 ads in 2004 to more than 156,000 ads in 2008 nearly a 1,400% increase in four years, according to a new study.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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