jdub, I can only assume you are an attorney. Most doctors have been sued for malpractice, awards are out of control, and in most cases jury awards exceed coverage limits. I have limited the scope of my practice to limit my liability exposure, as have most physicians. Twice I have been called into an operating room emergently to save the life of a patient dying from a complication I had nothing to do with, and was sued both times, despite successful and uneventful recoveries. Makes me think twice about responding to such calls.
The solution to the malpractice problem is twofold: loser pays, and expert witness reform. Lets prosecute this "expert witness" whores and the plaintiff attorneys that lie their a$$ off for money. We don't need caps on awards, just a level playing field. As it is now the jackals have nothing to lose when they sue everybody in sight.
In your case, where you were sued when you performed appropriate services, was the case pursued to judgment, did your insurer settle, or did the plaintiff non-suit you before or during trial?
There would be benefits to a loser pays system, but there will be costs too. Those with valid claims will be afraid to submit them to the whim of a jury when the result may be that not only were they wrongly damaged, but in trying to recover their damages they end up in debt to the person who wronged them for the rest of their life.
On expert witnesses, I am in total agreement. A whore that one day will testify X is the undeniable truth, and the next that X could not possibly be the truth shouldnt be a trusted source of information.