LITIGATION STATISTICS in the NEWS

17.03.11

Federal: AIWH releases statistics on medical indemnity claims in Australia

According to AIWH's latest report, "Public and private sector medical indemnity claims in Australia 2007-08", in 2007–08 there were 8,555 medical indemnity claims open at some point in time. This included 2,255 new claims, and 2,675 claims that were closed during the period.

Nearly 70% of closed claims were settled for less than $10,000, including 40% where no payment was made or costs incurred in closing the claim. Just 3% of claims were settled for $500,000 or more. Two-thirds (66%) of closed claims were finalised within 3 years of being opened. Close to 10% of claims took more than 5 years to be settled.

The most common allegation for loss related to Procedure—for example, post-operative complications or failure of procedure (2,278 of all claims and 393 of new claims)—followed by Diagnosis (1,679 of all claims, 321 of new claims) and Treatment (1,209 of all claims, 287 of new claims). Procedure, and then Diagnosis and Treatment, have been the three most common allegations of loss for both all and new claims since data first became available for the 2004–05 reporting period.

About one-third of all and new claims alleged the involvement of the clinical specialities Obstetrics and Gynaecology (1,439 of all claims, 227 of new claims) or General practice (1,419 of all claims, 483 of new claims).

Around 60% of all claims (5,052 claims) related to alleged incidents in a public sector health setting, such as a public hospital. Most other claims (2,776 claims, 32%) related to incidents alleged to have occurred in a private sector health setting, for example, a private medical clinic. In 8% of cases the health setting was Other or unknown.

Source: AIHW 2011. Public and private sector medical indemnity claims in Australia 2007-08. Safety and quality of health care no. 7. Cat. no. HSE 90. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 17 March 2011.

Federal: Australia's Public Sector Indemnity Claims

Information is reported on all medical indemnity claims open at some time in 2007–08. There were 1,292 ‘new claims’ with a reserve set in response to commenced or anticipated legal action brought against public sector health providers. The principal clinician specialties most frequently recorded for new claims were Emergency medicine (15%), General practice— non-procedural (13%) and Obstetrics only (9%). There were 3,429 claims open at 30 June 2008, about 40% with reserves less than $30,000.

In comparing statistics from 2003/04 to 2007/08:

• The number of new claims in 07/08 was similar to 06/07.
• The number of claims per annum in 03/04 and 05/06 was approx. 2000, and this has dropped to 1292 in 07/08.
• OBGYN claim numbers have remained roughly the same.
• Accident and Emergency claim numbers have varied - 15-21% of total over this period.
• General surgery claims made up 12% of claims in 07/08, compared with the peak of 30% in 05-06 which was apparently due to claims against the one general surgeon in one State.
• Generally, the proportion of claims closed for $100,000 or more increased: it was 9% in 2003–04 and 13% in 2007–08.
• Generally, claims closed for nil cost also increased over time; they comprised 24% of the total in 2003–04 and 39% in 2007–08.

Source: AIHW 2011. Australia's public sector medical indemnity claims 2007-08. Safety and quality of health care. Viewed: 17 March 2011.

12.04.07

Malpractice suits pay out over $150m in Australia

More than $150 million was paid out last year to Australian patients and their families who sued their doctors for malpractice following injury or death.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a report on Thursday into medical indemnity insurance that found about 2500 claims were made against doctors in 2005-06.

The average payout was about $60,000.

The government has charged the ACCC with investigating whether the premiums charged by the six medical indemnity insurers in Australia are justified. It found premiums, which had fallen about six per cent since the last annual report to an average of $5,537, were justified. Source: SMH 12.04.07

01.09.06

Claims rise against GPs no cause for alarm
Claims against GPs have risen in the past 10 years, bucking the trend of other medical specialties such as neuro surgery and anaesthetics, the latest medical indemnity industry report has revealed. (Medical Observer, 1 September 2006)

21.08.06

Medical Indemnity Claims Drop

Claiming behaviour in a no-fault system of medical injury: a descriptive analysis of claimants and non-claimants
Marie M Bismark, Troyen A Brennan, Peter B Davis and David M Studdert
Med J Aust 2006; 185 (4): 203-207. [Full text]

29.06.06

Health claim delays
Michelle Pountney
29jun06

MEDICAL indemnity claims against doctors and hospitals take an average of 26 months to finalise and 4 per cent of cases are decided in court, new figures show.
There were almost 6500 current, potential and finalised claims in the public health sector in 2004-05, more than half of which related to women.

Sixty-six claims that were resolved were more than five years old.

Claims related to failures to perform procedures, wrong procedures, procedures performed on the wrong area of the body, post-operative complications, and failures of procedures.

An Institute of Health and Welfare report found obstetrics (18 per cent), accident and emergency (15 per cent) and general surgery (11 per cent) incurred the most claims.

Of claims examined in the report, Medical indemnity national collection (public sector): 2004-2005, 58 per cent related to adults, 19 per cent to children and 10 per cent to babies under one year old.

The claims, recorded in the Medical Indemnity National Collection, also revealed 27 cases were settled in 2004-05 for at least $500,000. Source: Herald Sun News.com.au 29.06.06.

[AIHW: Medical indemnity national data collection, public sector 2004-05]

01.06.06

Why NSW is no longer the state to litigate

NSW has long been thought of as the litigation capital of Australia.

But a Law Council study shows that title belongs to the ACT, with the premier state languishing in fourth place.

For the past decade Canberrans have been up to five times more likely to lodge personal injury claims than residents of other states and territories. Even after the tort law changes of 2002, courts in the national capital have been handing 7.4 claims per 10,000 people, ahead of Western Australia (4.5), Tasmania (2.8) and NSW (2.1).

The report by the dean of the University of Newcastle's law school, Ted Wright, reveals that since 2002, personal injury actions have fallen by up to 80 per cent, with NSW recording a 63.2 per cent decrease.

Professor Wright's study suggests there was no litigation "explosion" leading up to the reforms - a claim rejected yesterday by insurers who said this failed to consider increased payouts and claims that did not proceed to the courts.

The Chief Justice of NSW, Jim Spigelman, has questioned whether the changes went too far and other judges have said the level of impairment required to recover damages is too high.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, said the changes had brought about "significant benefits" in stabilising workers' compensation and liability insurancecosts. He did not refer to personal injury claims, which Professor Wright said had undergone a "breathtaking adjustment".

The ACT was a clear leader in negligence claims that had to be decided in the courts - before and after the 2002 changes. It handled 9.4 claims per 10,000 people before 2002, a figure that has fallen to 7.4. It was followed by Western Australia (8 per 100,000 to 4.5), Tasmania (6.4 to 2.8), NSW (5.7 to 2.1), Queensland (3.4 to 1) and Victoria (2.7 to 0.5).

The president of the Law Council, Tim Bugg, said the changes had "simply diminished the rights of injured Australians to claim compensation".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/why-nsw-is-no-longer-the-state-to-litigate/2006/05/31/1148956417304.html