In Vermont, Number of Paid Medical Malpractice Claims Down, Claim Size Up

Statistics gathered by the The Kaiser Family Foundation and published on its website statehealthfacts.org, shows that in 2011, 14 medical malpractice claims were paid in Vermont totaling $$3,622,500. That places Vermont 48th on the list when ranking states from highest to lowest in total dollars paid. The average claim size of $258,750, is slightly higher than the previous year. (In 2010, 19 paid medical malpractice claims totaled $4,551,250 for an average of $239,539 per claim).

Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), Public Use Data File (NPDB1110.POR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, Division of Practitioner Data Banks; accessed 3/27/12. For more on Kaiser's state-by-state medical malpractice claims data at Statehealthfacts.org.

Leahy Bill Would Hold Generic Drug Makers Liable

MONDAQ Abstract: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced legislation on April 25, 2012, to counter the effect of the Supreme Court's June 2011 decision in Pliva v. Mensing, 131 S. Ct. 2567 (2011). Mensing held that patients who claim injury from generic drugs cannot sue the manufacturer for failure to warn, even though patients who take the same drug, but the brand name, can. Senator Leahy's bill is intended to undo this perceived inequality. If it succeeds, the bill would not only place a heavy burden on generic manufacturers contrary to the intent of the Hatch-Waxman Act, but it would also ignore the reality of how prescription drugs are used in the healthcare system.

You can read this article on Mondaq: Bill To Undo Mensing Decision And Allow Patients To Sue Generic Drug Makers For Failure To Warn - 26 April 2012

Article by James W. Huston, Julie Park and Erin Bosman

Vermont Second Lowest in Medical Malpractice Payouts

According to the 2012 Medical Malpractice Payout Analysis for Physicians by Diederich Healthcare, Vermont ranks second from the bottom in total payouts for medical malpractice. The analysis shows that six states represent 51.4% of the total payouts for 2011. They are:

New York = $677,866,050
Pennsylvania = $319,710,250
Illinois = $242,108,800
New Jersey = $221,170,750
Florida = $218,123,050
California = $215,519,200

States on the other end of the list are:

South Dakota = $3,033,750
Vermont = $3,938,250
Wyoming = $4,235,000
North Dakota = $4,852,500
Alaska = $6,347,500.