Brain, My son-in-law is a Pediatrist/surgeon and he says 1/3 of his annual expense is mal-practice insurance. If wasn't for that he could charge a lot less for his services. His wife works for a group of mal-practice lawyers. On a personal note I think a cap should be put on mal-practice payouts after all most people seek out doctors to fix their ailments and should bare some of the responsibility for not so good results. I have always said hospitals should sell 48 hour mal-practice insurance policies to patients like the airline life insurance policies.