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tazzygirl -> RE: Canada's system so good that newfoundland's Premiere travels to Miami for surgery (2/25/2010 6:12:28 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: cadenas
Average award of malpractice lawsuits: $42,607.03. That number is from 2001, but hasn't changed significantly over the last decades.
Many states have capped awards at very low levels.
If a doctor does such shoddy work that his practice gets destroyed from a malpractice lawsuit, then that's the way it is intended to be.
Defensive medicine is a bogus claim. If a procedure isn't medically necessary, then there is no risk for a lawsuit, either.
If there is a problem with malpractice lawsuits, they should do what the American Society of Anesthesiologists did in the 1980s: analyze where the problems are, and find ways to eliminate medical errors. Today, their insurance rates are at 1985 levels. The University of Michigan did something similar in 2002, and their malpractice spending is down two thirds.
So the solution is not to do shoddy work, and you won't get sued.
quote:
ORIGINAL: Sanity
Jury awards can be so massive though that they can destroy a practice, and so the resulting defensive medicine costs due to these awards dramatically drive up the price of health care. The damage to our health care system from ambulance chasing lawyers may be indirect, but its a problem just the same.
quote:
ORIGINAL: cadenas
The lawsuits are a non-issue. Lawsuit awards are 0.58% of total health care expenditure (that number has remained unchanged well below 1% for the last 30 years, and there is no indication that it is increasing). If you add the total cost of lawsuits, you are still at around 1% of health care cost.
"Defensive medicine" is nonsense. Remember, you can't file a lawsuit unless somebody got harmed. Are they afraid that 85 year old woman will die during childbirth? If a hospital really did that testing, it was insurance fraud, not defensive medicine.
So if a doctor is confident that a patient doesn't have a condition, testing for it anyway won't protect him in any way, shape or form. And if the doctor was wrong in his confidence, then the lawsuit is justified.
quote:
ORIGINAL: Thadius
Indeed, the skyrocketing costs of medical care in this country is related to the ungodly amount of lawsuits (many of which are frivolous). It is the reason malpractice insurance rates have been so damned high, and it forces hospitals and doctors to do everything to cover their own asses. Like giving 85 year old women pregnancy tests when they visit an ER. Hell, I understand the purpose of malpractice suits, and even support them in cases of malpractice. There just has to be some sort of way to protect innocent doctors and facilities from the insane costs associated with fighting these things.
Another aspect that is being overlooked are the number of Drs who should not be in practice. Each state requires its own licensure. Many Drs hold liscenes in more than one state. Screw up in one, get complaints, lawsuits ect, skip to the next, clean slate... there.
The AMA needs to police their own more stringently. The ANA does, many others do. Drs tend to be allowed to "make mistakes".. sometimes small ones... sometimes major ones. National Licensure would go a long way in helping to prevent Drs from skipping across state lines after their screw-ups.
Its called the "practice of medicine" for a reason... there are no finite answers. However, when Drs make bad decisions... not mistakes... just bad, bad decisions... then people should be allowed to sue, and Drs should have to forfeit licenses.
Also, take this into consideration. We pay into SS. Yet, to gain disability, you have to hire a lawyer. A lawyer who takes 1/3 in many states of the settlement after years (sometimes) of fighting for what you are entitled too.
Personally,. i believe the whole system is rigged. Lawyers have managed to imbed themselves into our health care system in ways so many do not understand. Add to that the bean counters who base everything upon profit margin, and Joe Smith is pretty much screwed.
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