Most Americans support reforms to the civil justice system according to the Common Good, a coalition dedicated to restoring the ability to make common sense choices and promoting legal reform. According to several surveys released in April 2004, a substantial majority recognizes that excessive litigation and unreasonable jury awards are making healthcare more expensive and less readily available. The recent surveys, commissioned by liability-reform advocates and by the Insurance Research Council find: 82% of Americans are concerned that their access to health care could be impacted as doctors and health care providers leave due to increasing liability cost; 73% of Americans favor a law limiting the percentage of a client's award that a personal injury trial lawyer can receive in fees; 72% of Americans believe health care costs are rising because of medical liability lawsuits; 72% of Americans favor a law that guarantees full payment of lost wages and medical expenses but reasonably limits the amount that can be awarded for 'pain and suffering' in medical liability cases; and 55% of American feel that the number of liability lawsuits is higher than is justified.
According to the American Tort Reform Association survey of doctors practicing in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia - states where jury awards are among the highest in the country - found that: nearly all doctors believe that unnecessary lawsuits increase the cost of patient care (three-quarters believe that lawsuits impact the cost of care 'a lot'), doctors are changing the way they practice medicine because of their concerns about medical litigation (9-out-of-10 doctors are concerned about the effect of medical litigation on their practice of medicine.
According to a recent Insurance Research Council study: 8 in 10 Americans say that people today are more likely to sue for personal injury than in the past; 77 % say the size of damages awarded in personal injury lawsuits is larger than in the past; more than half say the number and size of class action lawsuits have increased in the past few years; half say that pain and suffering award in personal injury lawsuits have become 'too large'. A high percentage of Americans support civil justice reform measures, in to include: making it easier for class action members to understand their rights (86%); imposing limits on attorneys' fees (82%); requiring sanctions against attorneys who file frivolous lawsuits (73%); and requiring that large, nationwide class action cases are tried in federal courts rather than in state courts (53%).
A Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive Poll from March 2003 also found:
* 16% of those surveyed said they would oppose new legislation to limit the costs of medical liability and reduce the costs of medical malpractice insurance, while three times that number (58%) would favor it (a full 25% said they "don't know."
* Two-thirds (66%) of adults think that malpractice claims are brought against doctors when there has been no malpractice "very often" (26%) or "somewhat often" (40%).
* 59% feel that malpractice suits against doctors and their fear of being sued harms the quality of care to patients.
* Half (48%) favor a cap on malpractice liability damages while a quarter (26%) opposes it, and 25%) said they don't know.
* 62% favor having medical malpractice cases tried in special courts presided over by medical professionals and other experts
to review and decide injury cases while only 17% oppose, and 21% don't know.