| NEW YORK
- May 7 - A startling new statistic released by the New York City-based consumer group, Center for Justice & Democracy, shows that the total verdicts for New Yorkers injured or killed by medical negligence was less than what New Yorkers spend on cat and dog food. In addition, the verdict figure is far less than what insurers actually pay out and what injured patients actually receive, since it does not take into account the many verdicts that are later reduced, overturned on appeal or settled for a lesser amount.
According to the most recent data from New York Jury Verdict Reporter, which publishes approximately 75 percent of cases that are tried, medical malpractice verdicts in New York for 2001 totaled $493 million. Extrapolating to a full 100 percent of cases, total medical malpractice verdicts in New York approximate, at most, $657 million.1 By comparison, New Yorkers spend about $780 million on dog and cat food.2
Said CJ&D Executive Director Joanne Doroshow, “New York insurance companies and their business cronies should be ashamed of themselves for pushing cruel legislation that would prevent New York men, women and children who suffer brain injury, amputation, paralysis, quadriplegia, cancer and other devastating injuries, from being fully compensated for their harm. Less money goes to these New Yorkers than goes to feed some of our pets.
“Moreover,” said Doroshow, “this figure is an incredible bargain for the insurers of doctors and hospitals that commit medical negligence, since eight times as many patients are injured by medical malpractice as ever file a claim and 16 times as many suffer injuries as receive any compensation at all. Insurers are paying for only a fraction of the harm their clients cause New York citizens. And when the insurance companies don’t pay, it’s you and I who often must pick up the tab in the form of taxpayer-funded health and disability programs.”
For more information, see http://www.centerjd.org
1. Extremely high verdicts are atypical, to say the least. Only six verdicts were responsible for $408 million of this total, and all involved cases involving severe brain damage requiring 24 hour care, unthinkable disabilities, a lifetime of suffering and/or imminent death. Moreover, some cases are still on appeal.
2. This is an extrapolation, based on population, from the Pet Food Institute national figures of $11.142 billion for 2000.
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