September 10, 2024 by matray

Below are some headlines and article synopses from the September 2024 issue of Medical Liability Monitor. To read the articles in their entirety, please subscribe today.

Michigan Wrongful Death Act Precludes Recovery of Future Earnings
The Michigan Supreme Court determined last month that families are not eligible to sue for recovery of a loved one’s future earning capacity in wrongful death lawsuits. The ruling overturns precedent and reaffirms that the state’s Wrongful Death Act does not permit an estate’s recovery of lost future earnings …

Study Chronicles Adverse Events in The Outpatient Setting
A new study examining the prevalence of patient harm in outpatient settings — like primary care visits, specialty care appointments, day surgeries, visits to the emergency room and other settings where patients receive most of their care — discovered that 7% of patients who received treatment at 11 outpatient care facilities in 2018 experienced at least one adverse event and 1.9% experienced at least one preventable adverse event …

MPL Association Analysis of Loss Reserving Finds Continued Redundancy
The medical professional liability industry has historically experienced favorable loss reserve development. According to the MPL Association report, cumulative favorable development exceeded $17 billion between 2004 and 2018. However, this positive trend has experienced a significant decline as of late, with total favorable development amounting to less than $2 billion between 2019 and 2023. Despite this contraction, the report’s findings suggest that the industry’s reserves remain largely redundant …

Direct Written Premium Continues Rising, Easing Expense and Indemnity Payment Pressures for MPL Specialty Writers
Mirroring the first quarter of 2024, MPL premiums during the second quarter continued to grow. The composite’s direct written premium increased by 1.4% relative to the second quarter of 2023. Although this marks the composite’s seventh consecutive year of premium growth, its second-quarter 2024 was a bit muted when compared to the previous three years. Yet while this year’s second-quarter premiums fall short of the mid-year peak in 2005, they do represent the third-highest premiums in the data’s 20-year history …

ATRA Designates Five States Lawsuit Infernos Due to Expanding Liability
The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) last month designated Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire and New York “Lawsuit Infernos” in its latest Legislative HeatCheck report, citing the pursuit of liability-expanding laws by those states’ legislatures as reason for continued scrutiny. The ATRA’s Legislative HeatCheck report evaluates a select group of states’ progress — or lack thereof — in enacting meaningful tort reform measures during their most recent legislative sessions …

California Bill Aims to Regulate Private Equity in Healthcare
A bill pending in California’s legislature to ratchet up oversight of private equity investments in healthcare is receiving enthusiastic backing from consumer advocates, labor unions and the California Medical Association but drawing heavy fire from hospitals concerned about losing a potential funding source. …

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