RSS Feed
THE QUESTION
How Significant Is the Malpractice Problem?
How significant is the malpractice problem? What can be done to reduce defensive medicine and still protect patient rights?
Posted by Ceci Connolly on September 14, 2009 10:47 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Malpractice Matters. We Can Do Better.
Generally, neither jurors nor judges are medical experts, so there's wide variation in the quality of rulings. Lawyers receive contingency pay, so bigger settlements mean bigger income. There's no penalty for filing frivolous lawsuits. Together, these factors generate strong incentives for plaintiffs to bring suit and for innocent defendants to pay settlements to avoid litigation and increased risk.
Posted by Robert F. Graboyes, on September 17, 2009 3:49 PM
Incentives for Quality, Not for Quick Answers
The current Medicare and private insurance payment systems encourage professionals to rush through patient encounters and get quick answers, since health care professionals earn more by doing more activity, and earn nothing extra for better quality.
Posted by Michael Critelli, on September 16, 2009 7:56 PM
A Growing Circle in the Pond of Medicine
As a chronically ill patient and a former nurse of many years, I see malpractice as an ever-growing circle in the pond of medical care. The threat of lawsuit eats at the judgment of good, well-trained physicians.
Posted by Sue Falkner Wood, on September 16, 2009 3:01 PM
Not an Exact Science
Frivolous lawsuits, unrealistic patient and family expectations and jurisdictions consistently friendly to big settlements all contribute to defensive medicine. Medicine is anything but an exact science.
Posted by Richard Norling, on September 15, 2009 11:14 AM
Bending the Curve
In my days of clinical practice I was sometimes swayed by peer and market pressure to order tests that were against my conventional wisdom. I was fortunate to have trained under some of the most brilliant doctors of our time and the best lesson I learned was that there is nothing more valuable than a detailed patient history.
Posted by Sreedhar Potarazu, on September 15, 2009 10:36 AM
This Does Not Constitute a Physician-Patient Relationship
I often jokingly preface my comments with my friends and co-workers when they ask for medical advice (and yes...every physician has been asked for free advice at some point!) that "this does not constitute a physician-patient relationship."
Posted by John J. Whyte, on September 15, 2009 10:21 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
Yankee_Lady: If you do your research, you will find that malpractice lawsuits are nowhere near the amount of actual malpractice injury. The vast majority...
Hunter: I'm all for malpractice reform, for three reasons. 1) Cost and overtreatment. 2) Evidence that most patients who suffer from medical mistak...
wpcdias: The malpractice problem as measured by the number of suits and the dollars awarded does NOT constitute the "MALPRACTICE PROBLEM". It is the...
