European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday March 11, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17 physicians and surgeons malpractice claims 1983-84 top 10 allegations As reported to the St. Paul allegation number of. Claims 1. Surgery Post of complication 1,442 2. Improper treatment birth related 703 3. Surgery inadvertent act 546 4. Failure to diagnose cancer 478 5. Failure to diagnose fracture dislocation 452 6. Improper treatment drug Side effect 380 7. Surgery inappropriate procedure 379 8. Failure to diagnose pregnancy problems 313 9. Improper treatment fracture dislocation 309 10. Failure of diagnose infection 273 average Cost 1983-84 $33,444 80,969 36,860 56,340 22,954 40,694 26,250 37,648 38,648 65,297 average Cost includes total paid and reserved allocated Legal expense and no Cap on individual claims. All claims reported from 1983-84, evaluated As of 3/85. Source St. Paul fire and Marine insurance co. Doctors is. Lawyers a real Nasty fight by Joel Brinkley new York times a round the United states doctors an lawyers Are at War Over malpractice suits and in the last few weeks Washington has become an especially important Battlefront. Doctors say fee hungry lawyers Are filing too Many suits against them. Lawyers say there Are too Many incompetent doctors. Washington lobbyists for the two professions Are recruiting unusual new allies for the struggle. The oratorical skirmishes have grown rancorous almost violent. It s a real Battle a real Nasty fight said Kirk Johnson general counsel of the american medical association. There has never been much love lost Between the two professions natural rivals for stature and influence. For years Many doctors have viewed trial lawyers As Little More than hucksters. The doctors say they Are in the business of saving lives the Healing profession As they put it. Lawyers have Long resented this medical Sanctimony. And now suddenly the tables have turned and the Legal profession is saying it is the one on the Side of god. We represent the people that Are the injured victims of society Peter Perlman of the Washington based association of american trial lawyers said in a recent televised debate with the opposition gazing skyward As he spoke. The Public fighting started a year ago when the Ama proclaimed that a new medical malpractice crisis had begun. Doctors insurance rates were soaring and the doctors association cited numerous statistics showing that More and More patients were filing malpractice suits. In Large part the medical association blamed trial lawyers saying the 30 percent contingency fee Many of them charge was driving up settlement costs and consequently doctors insurance premiums forcing numerous physicians out of practice. Immediately the lawyers association countered that the medical association s whole Contention was nonsense. The Law group said the real problem was incompetent doctors. So it went and goes. In California the los Angeles county medical association opened a Telephone hotline that physicians could Call to see if prospective patients were on their lists of people deemed Likely to sue. The los Angeles trial lawyers association retaliated with its own Telephone hotline that patients could Call to find out which doctors had been named As defendants in suits. In Maryland doctors wives recently formed an organization citizens for liability Reform. One wife proposed a new bumper sticker that would read support your lawyer. Send your child to medical  in state after state doctors have been rallying at Legislatures pushing for Laws to make it More difficult for people to win Large malpractice awards. While the regional skirmishes continue in Washington the two sides have been signing on powerful and in some cases unlikely new allies. The doctors Are spending a lot of time urging Congress to adopt possible solutions but the american bar association is urging Congress to reject the doctors proposals. The 65,000-member lawyers association had been fighting the doctors almost by itself. Now to their Mutual Surprise the lawyers and Ralph Nader of All people Are finding that they Are Allied against the Healing profession. The medical association meanwhile has joined a new organization the american tort Reform association which represents about 100 business and professional groups from the american association of Community and Junior colleges to the National paint and coatings association. It is headed by James Coyne a former one term congressman from Bucks county a. Less than a month after the new organization opened its offices a few blocks from Capitol Hill Coyne actually engaged in a Public shoving match with the opposition. Coyne who Calls the trial lawyers vultures says it is Well known that they have been giving Large sums of Money to Nader his friends and associates including the National consumer insurance organization. That is not a Nader affiliate although we Are spiritual bedfellows said Jay Angoff the insurance organization s counsel. Angoff has what he considers unkind words for Coyne s group which he says is a creation of the heritage foundation the conservative research organization that is a favorite of the Reagan administration. But at tort Reform Headquarters which is in the same building with heritage an official said we Are not associated with heritage in any Way. There Are lots of other people in this  showed up at a National consumer insurance organization news conference in Washington recently. At the microphone were insurance organization officials and Nader and As Coyne stood among the news reporters who were asking questions he suddenly asked where Nico and Nader got their Money saying it had been widely alleged that the trial lawyers Are paying Nader substantial sums of  As Coyne described it later Angoff got up in a rage and ran right at me shouting get out of Here " this Guy pushed me outside right in front of All the cameras Coyne said. He would t even let me get my  for his part Angoff said i was not exactly proud of All my behaviour but he insulted our personal dignity. He s the one who started  most of the fighting is on a higher plane. For example sen. Orrin g. Hatch a Utah recently introduced a Bill at the medical association s Behest that would encourage the states to simultaneously set limits and restrictions on malpractice suits while enhancing the ability of state medical boards to discipline incompetent doctors. Though Hatch introduced the Bill with some fanfare an aide acknowledged that the senator does not have great Hopes that it will pass at least not without significant amendment he said. After All the aide added it s not often that a Bill like this has such Large Well heeled influential and dedicated groups fighting on either Side