Question for doctors about Medical Malpractice Law

[Dacs]

I was reading this thread (http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showthread.php?t=248165) and I stumbled upon this (http://www.pinoyexchange.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13375195&postcount=5). Since I feel that what I have to say is off topic to the thread concerned, I decided to create a new one.

My reply should have been this:

This is off-topic, but I can't help but comment regarding the post about medical malpractice.

We, as engineers in a nutshell, if we screw up, we're done for. There are laws for that. I read the post for medical malpractice, and to be honest, it made my face go WTF?!

To be honest, I've heard cases of medical malpractice from my friends, and I watched some over the news. Don't get me wrong, but the gist of the post, at least the way I interpret it, is that doctors are somehow should be immuned for their screw-ups.

I might have opened up a can of worms by posting this, but shouldn't we be accountable for the consequence of our actions, whatever the outcome might be? Granted that in case of doctors, some patients might go into sue-happy mode and recklessly sue their doctors for money, but how about patients who have suffered and died and could have been avoided had the doctor been more careful with his job?

Can anyone in the medical field elaborate on this? I mean, how can medical malpractice law be detrimental to the industry?

[GR8_GUY]

Doctors are human beings and make mistakes too. It follows that patients who are harmed by medical mistakes must be compensated for the (1) medical expenses they incurred, (2) loss of income and (3) non-economic damages like "pain and suffering", "lack of consort", etc that resulted from malpractice. There's no opposition to that from the medical community and the medical malpractice insurance companies. You can reliably get the exact dollar amount for (1) and (2), but how do you determine the dollar amount for (3). What's out of control is the amount the jury awards for "pain and suffering" which are arbitrarily assigned dollar amount that can run into millions of dollars. The medical community asks to cap awards for non-economic damages (pain and suffering, loss of consort, etc. ) that result from malpractice to $250,000 but the trial lawyers are against that because that's where they get their fee which is 40-60% of the award in a contingency fund.

The medical malpractice insurance premiums in states that don't have caps on non-economic damages are higher, hence they are losing doctors to states with caps and lower medical malpractice insurance premiums.. As an example, an interventional cardiologist practicing in Illinois pays 4-5 times the amount for malpractice insurance compared to those practicing in Wisconsin and Indiana, two border states of Illinois with caps on awards for non-economic damages, hence lower malpractice insurance premiums.

How can medical malpractice law be detrimental to the industry? None if followed exactly for what it is intended-- to compensate and help harmed patients from medical malpractice. When abused and misused for easy money and million dollar payouts, it can lead to increase in frivolous lawsuits, ambulance chasing, high medical malpractice insurance premiums and eventually defensive practice of medicine. High malpractice insurance premiums means higher charges to all kind of patient encounter (office, emergency and hospital visits, surgery, stress tests, etc), higher health insurance premiums and higher cost of healthcare delivery due to defensive medicine (the practice of ordering as many tests possible even if not cost-effective just to cover oneself in the event of future litigation). The ripple effect is countless.

The malpractice law in the Philippines is in its nascent stage. I hope it will not evolve into something like what we currently have in the USA. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America is extending its reach and influence globally with Japan one of its main targets. I've read and heard that the Philippines is making medical malpractice a criminal offense, something unheard of in first world countries. If true, that's insane but then again when did we ever have sane legislators?

[followyoudown]

To see the full extent of medical malpractice suit's effects on the industry, you need to look at a scenario where they come very often, and are almost encouraged: in the US legal system.

It's common knowledge that in the US, anyone can sue anyone else for anything. Much more medical malpractice.

The problem this presents to the healthcare system is this: it drives healthcare fees sky-high.

Why is that?

Doctors are forced to make tests on patients that they feel, in their professional medical opinion, are unnecessary. More often than not, these tests are unnecessary. Why do they do them? Doctors get sued for not exhausting every possible avenue. Doctors usually win these lawsuits, but to prevent the hassle and expense of a trial, they go through with needless tests anyway, just to put the patient's fears to rest.

Second is that these doctors pay lots of fees in insurance, just in case they get sued. These expensive legal fees cause doctors to charge higher.

Third is simply the idea that these doctors are sued at all. It wastes their time. To make up for the losses in revenue from not being able to work because they go to court, they charge higher.

In short, the American legal industry is preying on the medical industry. And it's making things more expensive. Fine, a degree of accountability is important. But when this accountability is blown up to proportions it shouldn't reach (just like if we get medical malpractice suits out of hand), things get worse for everyone.

[followyoudown]

Well, the gist of it is, medical malpractice suits tend to make people more sue-happy, than, say, engineering malpractice. (Of there is such a thing. Hehe.)

One could argue that medical cases are emotionally-charged. Meaning that people are more likely to make less rational decisions and get sue-happy.