Anybody know what the malpractice climate is like in Nevada? (Las Vegas: insurance, attorneys)

[FloridaMD]

My other half has been dying to move out to Nevada. Really don't know if we would like big city (Las Vegas or Reno) vs. small town, but I have bad feelings about the malpractice climate out there. I previously practiced in South Florida for a few years, and basically there were ambulance chasers on every block and it seemed like everybody was sue-happy down there. After getting dragged in on more than one frivolous suit (which I got out of as they didn't even involve me, but still got pulled in due to practice partners getting named), I got the heck out of there. Not sure I would want to end up in the Vegas area (or Reno) getting back into that type of climate.
For information, I am a Family Practice physician. Have spent most of my career working with seniors, mostly frail, homebound elderly type, but can make myself at home with almost any type of practice.
Just looking for anybody that knows what the overall climate is like. I have heard malpractice insurance rates are high, but often groups will subsidize the costs of that.

[JDinNV]

I practice insurance defense, but I haven't done any real med mal work in town. Clark County/Las Vegas is a VERY pro-plaintiff jurisdiction. The judges will always err on the side of the plaintiff. This is ultimately good for providing lots of defense work, but costs insurers more money. Juries trend towards more conservative, so if you go to trial, it balances out a bit. There's probably a good reason why malpractice insurance rates are so high.

Reno/Washoe County is not nearly as bad as Las Vegas from what I understand. It is a much more balanced jurisdiction. If you have a choice, Reno area would probably be safer as far as med mal liability goes. However, I could be wrong about that as I have not personally practiced there (but did work for a firm that had an office up there).

[FloridaMD]

Good to know someone who has some working knowledge of the situation. I can see just from my numerous visits to Vegas that Personal Injury work seems to be a booming business. I have never seen so many billboards for PI attorneys in one town. That's what's got me concerned about the medical mal side of things out there. It really is terrible that some places have such high rates of these things. It really generates so many unnecessary and invasive tests/studies, and really doesn't let physicians be free to trust their training and instincts and think for themselves when confronted with certain patient complaints. It is probably for me the top one or two frustrations with out healthcare system that takes the joy out of practicing medicine (the other being rising healthcare costs to run a practice and the need to see 30 to 40 patients a day to cover escalating insurance and overhead costs...really leaves patients and their doctors dissatisfied with the lack of time able to be spent with each patient to discuss all their problems.)