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According to an article recently posted on Insurancenewnet.com, by the Associated Press (AP), “Health Negotiators Look At Malpractice Changes“, President Obama has begun to compromise on the need for alternatives to medical malpractice lawsuits. Opponents to changing the malpractice system insist that malpractice reform will have an insignificant impact on lowering the cost of health care.  I strongly disagree with this opinion.  Tort reform is a major piece of the health reform puzzle and deserves ample attention as we work to achieve a better health care system.

Tort reform is not “The Answer” to the health care problem but to put your head in the sand like some legislators have on the issue is insanity.   Most proponents of tort reform for medical malpractice believe (and this was echoed by President Obama in his speech last Wednesday) that fear of lawsuits drives doctors to perform unnecessary tests sometimes in redundancy in order to escape malpractice suits.  How does the practice of over testing to protect against lawsuits not add to the ridiculous cost of health care in America?

There are three solutions outlined in the AP article that used in conjunction with one another may have a positive impact.  

The first idea involves incentives to doctors and hospitals for “early disclosure” of mistakes and offering restitution outside of the court system. 

The second idea involves creating a body of experts that would screen malpractice cases before they were allowed to go to trial in an effort to weed out frivolous lawsuits(according to the AP article this was enacted in Tennessee last year, malpractice lawsuits dropped 69% and malpractice premiums are estimated to drop 2.5% next year). 

The third idea involves the creation of new court system specifically designed to handle malpractice cases.  All judges that would preside in this court would have to be experienced in the medical field.  The idea being that judges with medical backgrounds would be able to make more informed decisions with less emotional bias.

As I mentioned early tort reform is not the answer to the health care crisis.  But it is my opinion that any and all avenues that may reduce the consumer cost of health care should be explored.

Thank you and I look forward to your comments,

Ryan H.

Malpractice Health

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There is a major effort to undertake health care reform going on at the moment. Reform is definitely needed because the cost of health insurance has gone through the roof the last two decades. Whether the current plan being offered is a good one or not is up for debate, but what is clear is it does not address one of the factors in rising health care costs – malpractice lawsuits.There was a time when just about the last thing a doctor had to worry about was being sued for malpractice. Most doctors were tied into their community and new their patients on a very personal basis. When problems or mistakes occurred, an apology was issued and remedy was searched for. Those times are long gone. The health care industry has become, well, something of an industry. The personal relationship between doctor and patient is now a cold one in most cases. When mistakes inevitably occur, the patient tends to look to the courts for a remedy.Medical malpractice lawsuits are on the rise in a big way and so are the premiums doctors pay for errors and omissions insurance. Still, what does this have to do with the cost of health insurance going up so dramatically? Well, there is a direct causal relationship. Doctors are paranoid about being sued. To limit their risk, they order just about every diagnostic test and treatment that could possibly tell them anything. Why? They don’t want a lawyer asking them why they didn’t do a certain test.One can hardly blame doctors for taking this approach. Everybody guards against being sued if they can help it. The problem is this approach has a very practical effect of driving the costs of health care absolutely through the roof. Insurance companies will discount these costs to a certain extent, but sooner or later they have to pay a good chunk of them. Guess who the carrier is going to past the costs onto? Yes, the people paying the premiums on the insurance policies. That would be you and me.I am not suggesting in any way that negligent doctors should be let off the hook when it comes to malpractice claims. The point of this article is simply to suggest that there are many reasons our health care system is out of control from a cost perspective and the possibility of fixing them with one health care reform act is not realistic.

Malpractice Health

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Over the past handful of decades, malpractice insurance costs for medical professionals have been on the steady rise. While everyone agrees that malpractice insurance is a necessity, has it become an expensive dinosaur that needs to be reigned in?

The Average Opinion

Ask the average American and he or she will tell you that they want the right to sue for millions in a malpractice case and that health care cost are too high. Both of these things that will say with the same breath. Also, at the same time that they complain that doctors are being payed too much, they will tell you that its OK that their favorite sports star makes millions for tossing a ball around.

Skewed Priorities

So who is actually to blame for skyrocketing health care costs? The fact is, that Americans have more say so then they realize on the issue but they are just too damn easy to manipulate by those who they elect into office. Also, there are those who will argue that Americans have their priorities screwed up as it pertains to health care.

Cheap Health Care

One item worth examining is the cheap cost of health care in many foreign countries where doctors are in fact scarce. In many of these countries the right to sue for malpractice is very limited and the patients don’t seem to mind. To them, the idea of bringing financial ruin to a doctor who made a mistake while trying to help them runs counter to their sense of decency and what is just.

On the Rise

The fact is, that malpractice insurance costs and health care cost are directly connected and until Americans make the decision to institute some type of comprehensive malpractice insurance reform, costs to the consumer are just going to keep on rising.

Malpractice Health

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Malpractice attorneys around the nation have been dealing with an incremental amount of medical malpractice cases in recent years. One of the major trends in providing the platform for medical malpractice to occur is the high price of medical insurance coupled with the increasing cost of medical malpractice insurance. The fact that it costs so much money to cover both ends of the spectrum of health care is the biggest issue the medical care currently faces. Individuals literally cannot afford health care for their families and are forced either to forgo treatment, worsening their current conditions, or try to attend a free clinic. The problem with free clinics is that they are very limited in their capabilities and the number of patients they can see per day is very limited. In doing this people who cannot afford medical care in the first place are forced to skip work and wait in long lines usually being unsuccessful. Most of the time the free clinics will have to refer patients to other doctors because they do not have the man power nor technical power to help. Malpractice attorneys are seeing this trend force a greater distance from the working poor to middle class. This gap is aiding to the delinquency of our current health care program, as more and more people cannot afford health care.

On the other side of this matter are the doctors whose cost of medical malpractice insurance keeps increasing, literally forcing them out of their practice. Individual practitioners cannot afford to keep their practice running with their insurance bill per month being $50,000 or greater. This forces doctors to resort to other measures to try to reduce costs, such as decreasing their technology and equipment. The health care industry is like a bubble that is about to burst, and hopefully after the 2008 Presidential Election changes will be made. Malpractice attorneys are urging victims of medical malpractice to step out and talk about their experiences. We can only learn for our mistakes, so if we have all of the available information as to what was done wrong we can start to make strides to make things right again. In these trying economic times, no side of the equations has the time or money to afford occurrences of medical malpractice. From the increase in insurance costs and lawsuit costs to settlement figures and loss of wages no one has the extra income to afford these extraneous costs.

Malpractice attorneys around the nation are coming together to gain awareness on the pressing issue of medical malpractice. If our health care system comes together as a whole and figures out a reliable solution to this matter, everyone involved will benefit. In order to do this victims of medical malpractice need to share their experiences so that we can learn from our mistakes. If you or a loved one has been directly affected by an act of medical malpractice, contact a Malpractice attorney as soon as possible.

Malpractice Health

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My MD brother spends more on malpractice insurance than on his entire staff.

Malpractice Health

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Do you know how much malpractice insurance costs?

Malpractice Health

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Parent A is in the hospital. Child A has health care proxy & power of attorney (in addition to being the executor of the will). Child B wants to sue the hospital for malpractice (possible case, though not airtight). Child A doesn’t want to sue at all. Does Child B have any right to sue on behalf of Parent A (still living at this point)?

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