Indiana Medical Malpractice Act - Indiana's Patient's Compensation Fund's 2005 Annual Report
The Indiana Medical Malpractice Act ("IMMA"), I.C. 34-18-1-1, et seq., created a Patient's Compensation Fund for the purposes of collecting and receiving monies to be used to pay patient's claims for medical malpractice. The Indiana Commissioner of Insurance adminsters the Fund..
These monies are received by the Fund in the form of surchages paid by physicians, which are then invested and managed by the Fund, and made available for payout to patients making claims against the Fund.
The Fund publishes annual reports, which provide a substantial amount of data, statistics, and information about the type and number of malpractice cases that are filed and settled in a given time period.
The IMMA requires, among other things, that all claims against health care provider qualified under the IMMA be reviewed by a panel of 3 doctors, known as a Medical Review Panel. The Panel renders opinons concerning the quality of care provided by the defendants. I've always believed that the Panel process has an inherent flaw in that it asks physicians to pass judgment on their colleagues in their home state, or even in their same locale, which would result in less than obejctive Panel reviews.
The Fund's Annual Report for 2005 appears to support this conclusion. The Report discloses that from 1976 through 2005, medical malpractice plaintiffs have filed a total of 20,035 medical malpractice complaints, resulting in 9441 Panel opinions through 2005. Of those opinions, the Panel has rendered 2049 opinions of "malpractice", representing 21.17% of the Panel decisions. I do not believe this number accurately reflects the actual number of meritorious claims filed during this time period and supports the conclusion that the Medical Review Panel process is skewed in favor of physicians.
Barry Rooth
