Medical errors are still a problem, three years after the Institute of Medicine's blunt assessment of such. The IOM's report concluded that medical errors [read:malpractice] kill more people than breast cancer, AIDS or traffic accidents. According to this article, there is much activity, but not much progress in improving healthcare.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post says that "It is an embarrassing but no longer well-kept secret that despite health care spending of about $1.3 trillion a year -- including about $25 billion in federally funded research -- many Americans receive medical care that is not terribly good."

Maybe we're seeing more big verdicts because juries are now becoming aware of these problems, and maybe this is their way of saying, "clean up your act and provide better care." If true, we shouldn't be ignoring that message, and we sure shouldn't be rewarding doctors and Big Insurance for malpractice by imposing liability caps.