Hedge Funds Finance Medical Malpractice Claims

An entirely new industry has cropped in recent years as trial lawyers set their sights on making money off physicians, corporations and other targets particularly financing malpractice suits through hedge funds. In 2010,hedge funds invested $1 billion in these types of suits, much of it for medical malpractice cases. In most malpractice suits the physician prevails but usually at a great cost to his insurer, thus driving up tort insurance premiums, resulting in defensive medicine, higher fees and ultimately higher health care premiums. Forbes has a good editorial here.