For the second year in a row, Illinois’ largest insurer of physicians has announced its base premium rates will not go up — the result, many say, of the state’s stabilized legal environment brought by a medical malpractice law in 2005 that capped awards for “pain and suffering.” ISMIE Mutual Insurance Co., of Chicago, announced it would not raise the base rates because of a decrease in claim frequency, as well as drops in payouts for verdicts and out-of-court settlements. Shastri Swaminathan, the president of the Illinois State Medical Society, said the stabilization of rates shows two positive trends: that the number of frivolous lawsuits is declining, and the size of awards in such cases is shrinking. “So I think the award experience and climate is getting better,” said Swaminathan, a psychiatrist who practices in downtown Chicago.
Please click on the link below to read the Belleville News-Democrat article:
http://www.bnd.com/homepage/story/422732.html
For more information on defending medical malpractice and nursing home matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at The Citron Law Firm, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.
