The Medinnovation blog has an entry dedicated to the question of why the Midwest is different than everywhere else.

In my last blog, I brought attention to the fact that the lowest malpractice premiums are in a tier of Northern Midwestern states – Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas.

As I looked at this 2007 data from the Medical Liability Monitor, I asked myself – Why does this swath of states have such low premiums?

Having spent 1975 to 1990 as editor of Minnesota Medicine, I decided to find out. I called Chuck Meyer, an internist who now serves as editor-in-chief of Minnesota Medicine. He referred me to Mark Odland, a surgeon at Hennepin County Medical Center who has assumed the role of Group Chairman of the Minnesota Medical Insurance Company (MMIC), which directs malpractice traffic for the Minnesota Medical Association.

What follows is pretty interesting, but I’d need to know if the other states he mentioned are following the same practices and trends to know if his answer about Minnesota really explains all the states.

(The earlier entry is also well worth reading.)

Still, the practices he mentions may be helpful. The bottom line is that he recommends doctors vigorously oppose frivolous suits and do everything else they can to show that they are not going to be “easy pickings” for overly-litigious aggressors.

Makes a lot of sense to me. If the risk of filing a frivolous claim is low, then why not file the claim? One might win the jackpot despite the odds. But if the risk goes up, then lawyers have a motivation to be more careful in how they sue.