medical....

Medical Malpractice – Both Sides of the Line
Because obstetricians are sued more often, and because claims against them have higher values than most other medical specialties, medical malpractice insurance premiums for this specialty are significantly higher than most other medical classes. Physicians testifying as plaintiff’s experts against physicians help drive the cost up, although other physicians do not appreciate the practice.
An article in this mornings Wall Street Journal (see here, $$$) describes the career challenges of a physician, Barry Schifrin, who has advocated proper use of fetal monitors in the medical community and has also been paid to testify as an expert for plaintiffs.
Dr. Schifrin has worked with fetal monitors for his whole career and is something of an expert in the field (see a 1999 article here). He also believes that improper use of fetal monitors can impact patient care and safety, and has testified in medical malpractice cases against his peers. As a result, maybe, the American College of Obstetricians (ACOG) and Gynecologists censured him. According to one report (see here):
Schifrin's censure is the result of an ACOG campaign to quell testimony against its members in medical malpractice cases
The WSJ article estimates that Dr Schifrin has reviewed more than 1,000 cases, given 600-700 depositions, and testified at 150 trials in return for earning of approximately $2.25 million.
Rightly or wrongly, the process has increased the costs of medical malpractice according to the New York Times (see here), and this specialty has one of the highest claim costs.
In New York State, for example, the Medical Liability Mutual Insurance Company has paid out more than $79 million in 75 of the 420 claims filed against obstetrician-gynecologists since 1975.