Fewer malpractice claims were filed against doctors last year than the year before, continuing a three-year downward trend, but the cost to defend each case rose significantly, according to a report released yesterday by state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler.

Kreidler's report was based on statistics from the top five medical-malpractice insurers covering the state's physicians and surgeons.

But it did not include information for other companies, including those who often insure higher-risk doctors, or for doctors covered by self-insured hospitals or clinics.

The report released yesterday, called the "Medical Malpractice Closed Claim Study," covered July 1995 to June 2005. It was the second such report Kreidler's office has released this year. A similar report in February covered July 1994 to June 2004.

Both reports were deemed "unremarkable" by Kreidler's staff, who said the reports show no huge spikes in the number of malpractice claims or payouts.

But because yesterday's report comes a month before two competing medical-malpractice initiatives will appear on the November statewide ballot, it was seized upon by the supporters and opponents of each to make political points.

As she presented the latest report yesterday, Deputy Insurance Commissioner Beth Berendt said that she had expected to see extraordinary claims, high damage awards and far more verdicts for patients, based on anecdotes she had heard during debates on the issue.

Information

State report on Web:

www.insurance.wa.gov.

But, she said, "it just wasn't there."

In fact, the report showed there were only 45 jury verdicts favoring plaintiffs out of 10,212 closed cases for the 10-year period, down from 50 in the period reported in February.

Including out-of-court settlements, there were 48 payments for damages that topped $1 million between 1995 and 2005, up from 44 in the earlier period. Additional information supplied by Kreidler's office showed that payouts above $1 million vary from year to year without any clear trend. Last year, for example, there were 6 such cases, totalling $10.1 million — an average of about $1.7 million per case.

In the February report, overall damage awards were increasing by more than 4 percent a year. The latest report shows that increase has slowed to 3.2 percent a year.

Meanwhile, defense costs per case have been increasing sharply the past three years. This year, the average cost to defend each claim was more than twice what it was in 1996. However, the reports don't show how "non economic" damages — awards for pain and suffering, for example — factor into the payouts.

Those types of damages have been a key issue in the debates over the two medical-malpractice initiatives on the November ballot.

Initiative 330, supported by doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, would cap jury awards to injured patients for non-economic damages and limit the fees attorneys could charge in malpractice cases.

Initiative 336, sponsored by lawyers and consumer advocates, mandates disclosure and punishment for negligent doctors and changes in insurance practices.

Barbara Flye, chair of the "No on 330" campaign, said Kreidler's report proves that claims of a "crisis" in malpractice litigation are false.

"Paid claims have dropped 13 percent in the last two years, and the malpractice-insurance industry in Washington state is bringing in record profits," she said.

Higher defense costs simply reveal a "strategic choice" by insurers to "out-spend, intimidate and overwhelm" patients injured by medical negligence, she said.

On the other side, I-330 supporters derided the report as "bad data," because it left out many insurance companies and doctors covered by self-insured organizations. They estimated that adds up to as many as a third of doctors in the state.

In particular, doctors in high-risk specialties are more likely to be insured by companies not included in the study, said Tom Curry of the Washington State Medical Association and the I-330 campaign. Because those specialists may incur more claims and higher payouts, the report is inaccurate.

Curry also questioned releasing the report five weeks before the election, noting that Kreidler opposed I-330. Berendt, the deputy insurance commissioner, said the report was issued to help inform "public-policy makers." Asked if it was also meant to inform voters, Berendt declined to answer.

As for the incomplete data, Kreidler acknowledged in a prepared statement that the study is limited. He said he supports creating a law to give his office authority to "better assess the health of the medical-malpractice market."

Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com