The President and Republicans sparred over health care in yesterday’s “bipartisan” meeting. One of Republicans’ favorite talking points is so-called “tort reform”- or restricting patients’ ability to hold negligent doctors and hospitals accountable for injuries they cause. They argue that liability limits will reduce health care costs.
The news out of Texas is that its comprehensive liability restrictions have not lowered costs at all. Despite its efforts to shield bad doctors, Texas health care costs have risen dramatically over the last six years.
Access to court is the only way that individuals can hold more powerful, sophisticated industries, such as doctors and hospitals accountable for wrongdoing.
Public Citizen sent a letter to Congress yesterday urging that it not include malpractice system changes in the health care bill, and to focus instead on the patient safety crisis facing the country.
citizenvox.wordpress.com 
You are absolutely right Christine. The number of mistakes that are made in health care each year are astounding. Having worked in medical care for years myself (and leaving 10 years ago!), I know that the vast majority of physicians and health care workers are very professional, ethical, and compassionate.
IMHO, I felt that staffing at medical facilities was never adequate, in an attempt to keep costs down, resulting in staff overload and burnout, and unintentional neglect of patients. Adding HMO’s over the past 2 decades only made it worse as they added bureaucracy but continued to advocate for reducing costs, which ultimately leads to even further reductions.
I believe we would have fewer mistakes and less liability and need for legal intervention if money were spent up front for adequate staffing at medical facilities.
Saying that tort reform is the answer is baloney.
Just my two cents.
For years we have heard that defensive medicine, as a result of malpractice suits, is driving the cost of healthcare upward. What is rarely heard, except through organizations like Public Citizen, is that the practice of modern medicine is dangerous and represents one the top reasons Americans die. Why are we such lemmings on this issue? … See MoreIncompetance of doctors and the pharmaceutical industry need to be sued and sued largely, until they get that the current model of human expermentation is unacceptable. What America could use is a real healthcare system, not more of the same old sickness care system. Republicans who are championing the tort reform concept are just playing into the hands of big pharma and the AMA et. al. This is the result of there awesome lobby and PAC. One day, and I hope soon, we will get that the American political system and the American sickness care system are unholy in bed together. It is truely scary what they are doing to mankind these days.
So what is the solution?
In my opinion the only way to improve patient safety is make it too expensive for the American medical industry NOT to improve patient safety. Raise medical malpractice caps and increase the time limits whereby injured patients may bring suit.
On October 12, 2001 I went into the Mayo Clinic, (St. Luke’s Hospital) Jacksonville, Florida for open-heart surgery. I was told I would be in there for six days. Due to a careless mistake the Mayo punctured my stomach in two places. I was their involuntary guest for almost five weeks. While in the Mayo one of my lungs collapsed, I contracted MRSA, peritonitis, pneumonia and my gall bladder stopped working. When I went home it was as a decrepit invalid with drainage bottles hanging from me, infected with invasive candidiasis (from which, four out of ten people who get it, die), a collapsed lung, suffering from excruciatingly painful bedsores and an agonizingly painful wound in my abdomen which, despite following the Mayo’s recommendations to the letter, would not heal.
Regretfully, it seems that the only thing the U.S. medical industry cares about is money. Due to their mistake, the Mayo Clinic nearly killed me, caused me much agony, took over two years of my life away, and then, after agreeing to cancel their bill (to see the Mayo’s letter agreeing this, please view page 6 at http://www.mayovictim.com), waited until the time limit for filing a medical malpractice suit ran out and then, in May 2005, sued me. A time line, copies of documents, letters and photographs detailing my Mayo Clinic experiences and subsequent events may be found on this site: http://www.mayovictim.com
If you’ve read this far – thanks.
MayoVictim
To say that doctors never make mistakes is to pay an undue compliment to the medical profession
(Paraphrased statement of the late Dean Prosser. Does tort law expertise ring a bell for anyone?)
I learned too much the hard way, in Texas and the GOA investigative report by Senator Grassley’s group confirmed that every state and federal oversight agency (paid for by “we the people”) was infiltrated and corrupted by the very industries which they are assigned to police. As I fought to keep my mother from being drugged to death in 3 Texas nursing homes, I was banned from seeing my mother, after complaints about drugging and restraint. Hood County Probate court turned the guardianship into an arena of deceit by the Attorney AdLitem (who was supposed to serve and protect Mom) to protect the nursing homes and “big pharma”. I bought the court transcript to prove the felony crime by the Ad Litem (brother of the District Judge (R)); but, the D.A. and the Texas Attorney General refused to prosecute, and only apologized to me. The common factor between the 3 nursing homes was that Mariner (a large n.h. chain, and contributor to Texas politicians) owned the pharmaceutical services provider company (contracted with the state to monitor and help prescribe drugs at it’s own nursing home and all area nursing homes. This battle started in 2001. After exhausting myself seeking justice, care, and accountability from every level of gov., which I now consider “the disgraces in care and protection”(giving up my career, and going broke to do so): I started working with Allen Jones from the state of P.A., to expose the TMAPS (a plan that Bush started as Tx. Gov. with pharma, which mandated the reported and deadly and high priced drugs. Finally in 2004 only after other states took actions, due to Allen’s whistle blower reports, Texas A.G. sued the pharma companies and said the state was conned into TMAPS which has defrauded Medicare of billions of dollars. Now, finally action against Mariner by the Boston FBI, for reported taking bribes and giving bribes to prescribe the same TMAP drug. Lies, and cover-ups by every level of gov., thousands of elderly in nursing homes, and children in the state’s foster care harmed and killed with the same drugs, and none of the criminals have gone to jail or even had their hand slapped. Never kid yourself, pharma, and other industries rule, through their bought and paid for favors to gov. officials.
Base on hearing form many victims, “Tort Reform” is a license to kill. It’s almost impossible to hold the killers accountable for the most egregious and even intentional harms. We must stop the bought and paid for favors with “election reforms”, and we must demand accountability by removing immunities that any gov. representative or agency has. We don not want what’s happened in Texas to continue to spread to other states, as Bush’s TMAPS did. Of-course the state got pennies on the dollars for the frauds, and the victims and their caring family members get nothing but the horrible memories and pain. More victims than the event of 911, and nobody goes to jail. Who are the terrorists?
Incompetent doctors must be treated the same as incompetent teachers.