Medical malpractice rates dropped for fifth straight year.
Medscape (10/10, Lowes) reports, "undermining a talking point of organized medicine about tort reform, premiums for medical malpractice insurance for 3 bellwether specialties dropped for the fifth straight year in 2012, according to a new report published in Medical Liability Monitor (MLM)." According to the article, "the American Medical Association and other medical societies have argued that a broken medical liability system boosts insurance premiums for physicians." Medscape notes, however, that "rates for obstetrician/gynecologists, general internists, and general surgeons decreased on average by 1.7% in 2012, following declines of 0.2% in 2011, 0.5% in 2010, 2.5% in 2009, and 4% in 2008, according to MLM's annual rate survey." However, these declines are overshadowed by annual premium increases that topped 20% in 2003 and 2004.
