AAJ debunks drug-maker study and shares real doctor numbers.

The Fight for Justice Communications Campaign scored another win in January by debunking a phony study sponsored by big drug makers that claimed that law-related Web sites were improperly providing medical advice.

The report was produced by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI)--a project of the industry-funded anti-tort group Pacific Research Institute--in tandem with the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA).

By responding quickly to debunk the study, AAJ saw to it that the media coverage was minimal. AAJ President Kathleen Flynn Peterson immediately issued a statement saying that ATRA and CMPI "should be ashamed to issue a report whose dubious methodology consists of nothing but Google searches."

News of the report appeared in a negative story in the Legal Times blog. In an online column for WebProNews, editor Jason Lee Miller said bluntly that CMPI "is a medical industry think tank, fronted by former Bush administration FDA officials."

'Physician flight' debunked

Also in January, AAJ distributed to state trial lawyer associations and third-party allies new information on the number of physicians practicing in the states. Using raw data from the American Medical Association (AMA)--perhaps the loudest voice claiming "physician flight" from many states--the analysis dispels many of the myths about physician supply that tort "reformers" have propagated.

The analysis compared data for 2006 (the most recent year for which information is available) to figures for the previous year. Some key findings:

* The number of doctors is increasing across the country. There were 921,904 physicians in the United States in 2006, nearly 20,000 more than in 2005. Despite the alleged "flight" crisis, the number of physicians rose in every state except Louisiana, which had a total decrease of seven doctors.

* The number of doctors is increasing faster than population growth. There were 303 physicians per 100,000 people in 2006, an all-time high nationwide; that's twice as many physicians per capita as when the AMA began tracking figures in the 1960s.

* State doctors-per-capita rates outpace population growth. In most states, the number of physicians per person increased. Alaska, Arizona, and Georgia experienced slight decreases. In Texas, allegedly the model for medical malpractice "reform," the ratio stayed the same.

* The number of physicians per 100,000 state residents is much higher in states without caps on noneconomic damages (311 versus 280). Since 2000, the physician-to-population ratio in states without caps has increased twice as much as in states with caps.

Rapid response and accurate, useful information for journalists continue to be hallmarks of the Fight for Justice Communications Campaign.