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Show Liability msmraince balding it's toE5 By JUDY JENSEN The spiraling cost of liability insurance in-surance is taking its toll on local hospitals and physicians and these cost increases are passed on to the patients. ACCORDING to Lindel L. Car-riger. Car-riger. Director of Risk Management Manage-ment at Lakeview Hospital, the cost of malpractice insurance has increased as much as 80 percent in the past few years. He said obstetrics is "being hit the hardest and the rationale is strange. People expect to always have perfect children and nature doesn't always provide perfect children." Carriger said the increase in-crease of malpractice suits transmits trans-mits to increased charges to patients. pa-tients. He said five years ago the hospital charge for the normal de livery was well under $1,000, and today the cost is over $1,200. BRENT Rufener, Health Economist Eco-nomist for the Utah State Medical Association , said the reason for the increased cost is that the number of suits has increased and the amount awarded has increased and insurance insur-ance premiums are based on "past experience projected into the future." Rufener said Utah has enacted . several reforms which should help with the problem. Three were passed pas-sed in 1983 and three in 1986. The first reform eliminated the Collateral Colla-teral Source Rule, a rule which stated information about other payments that might have been received re-ceived for the same injury could not be introduced into trial therefore there-fore some claimants were receiving double payments. Next a pre-trial screening panel has been approved. They review evidence prior to going to court and "weed out meritless cases." Third a limit has been set on attorneys' fees to one-third of the damages. Fourth, a $250,000 limit has been set on damages dam-ages awarded for "pain and suffering." suf-fering." FIFTH, periodic payments of damages has been approved, allowing the defendant to pay set tlement of future damages over a period of years. The last reform was sponsored by the Utah Coalition Coali-tion of Torte Reform and allows for the elimination of Joint and Separate Sepa-rate Liability, the former practice which allowed claimants to collect an entire award from any one of the people involved. The new bill allows for the claimant to collect only the portion each party in the suit is liable for. |