A whole lot of suing going on...

A local malpractice attorney runs an ad on a local radio show everyday.

Unfortunately, I always hear it on my way to work, while trying to listen to sports radio to get an update on all the scores from the day before.

The attorney, in the ad, notes that he believes most doctors are good and states that over 90% of malpractice is committed by less than 10% of physicians.

Recently I read one of my medical newspapers.

The headline stated, "Study: Most Doctors Face A Malpractice Claim by age 65."

In low risk specialties (family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry), 36% of physicians were projected to face their first claim by age 45 and 75% by age 65.

In high risk specialties (neurosurgery, general surgery, OB/GYN), an estimated 88% were projected to face their first claim by age 45 and 99% by age 65.

A staggering 19% of neurosurgeons face a claim EVERY year!

While most claims do not result in a payment to the patient, they still involve significant monetary costs to both the physician and the insurer and results in loss of productivity because a physician is often unable to see patients as they defend cases.

I haven't mentioned the emotional effect of being named in a suit (all who have been named will know what I'm talking about).

So while I believe the ad that the attorney runs, there's still a whole lot of suing going on.

Gee, maybe we have too many starving attorneys?

Just a thought.