Tort Reform and Health Care Sticky Issues

Added: (Wed Dec 30 2009)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Tort reform sounds like a good idea on the surface, until the full facts are known.

Today in America, most doctors practice defensive medicine simply because they have no other options open to them. Americans are a very litigious lot. Is it any wonder then why people do file medical malpractice lawsuits if they think they have been harmed by a medical professional?

In the meantime those physicians who continue to practice what they love have to shell out a whole lot of money for insurance. Estimates on the cost of the malpractice insurance may run up to about 10 percent of the total dollars spent in health care. That number is staggering. What that says about the system is yet another matter. In addition, take a look at the next hospital bill that arrives in the mailbox. It is going to be horrendous.

Evidently tort reform is supposed to fix things like this, and tort reform is something that was proposed by the current administration while on the campaign trail. Right now there is an unfortunate Grand Canyon gap between the concerns about defensive medicine and the desire to fix it, and the hard fact that trial lawyers raised millions for the President’s campaign. Those same trial lawyers oppose tort reform.

The reasons the trial lawyers oppose tort reform are numerous and may have some merit in the greater scheme of things. In essence, their position is that tort reform would hurt victims of medical malpractice who have had their whole lives ruined by malpractice.

Most medical malpractice lawsuits that go to court are the cases where a victim has sustained very serious injuries; injuries that altered their lifestyles in a manner that they now require ongoing medical care. They may also now need medications, therapy, regular treatments, counseling, in-home care and in-home renovations. For case like this, juries have a habit of handing out high awards for such grave damages.

Tort reform stacks the deck against victims. Doctors and hospitals currently have a significant advantage here because med mal cases have the shortest statute of limitations. Mounting a complex med mal lawsuit in a year is virtually impossible.

Add to these facts the tidbit of information that a medical malpractice lawsuit cannot be filed against a doctor or hospital unless it’s certified by a qualified medical expert to be meritorious. This is to weed out frivolous lawsuits.

The question that begs to be asked here is since virtually everything seems stacked in favor of the doctors, who speaks for their victims and will they be able to get the justice they seek?