How does everyone feel about health care and lawsuits?

[Czolgosz]

I’m researching public attitudes about health care, access to health care, how lawsuits affect the standards for health care and access to health care, whether caps on awards in lawsuits against health care providers would be good or bad and what effect, if any, such caps might have.

I would be very grateful to hear how you all feel about these issues.

[cthrumatrix]

1. limits on lawsuit awards have NOT resulted in lower insurance costs

at least it's that way in Florida.

I think it's a scam to help big business and limit damages.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Caps are not what is needed. Insurance reform is needed

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/healthcare/fs/

LOADS OF INFO at that site

[Czolgosz]

6. Just so you know, I agree with you. I am finding that even among

progressive voters, there are people who have different viewpoints from ours about these issues, and I am looking into what facts motivate people to reach different conclusions about these issues.

If there was ever a time when you felt differently than you currently feel, do you remember what facts or experiences lead you to hold your current views?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. I've never felt differently

I graduated law school in 83 ..one of the first cases I worked on was a med mal case where a 4 month old child was given a flu vaccine at a county hospital...she was left quadriplegic due to brain damage from the medication...we sued the hospital, the doc and the drug company.

I feel for docs who feel the cases against them lack merit, but it is THEIR insurance companies who screw them by inadequate defenses.

All cases go to conferences prior to proceeding. If they lack merit, they are tossed.

[ultraist]

9. I agree! NO CAPS for big corp insurance companies

This is our only recourse. Most medical negligence causes far more damage than $250,000 covers. It's obscene that someone can be damaged and not compensated for it.

I'm with Nader on this one. This issue is not really about doctors, is about big corps, insurance companies. The doctors should pressure the big corp insurance companies to stop passing off costs to them.

Even so, it accounts for only 1% of insurance costs. Those insurance companies are making HUGE profits. Perhaps they should cut their CEOs multi million dollar salaries a bit rather than passing the cost on to consumers and doctors.

It's important to remember that lawsuits have forced companies to be more accountable. Seat beats and other safety devices are a result of lawsuits. The LAST THING we need to create is LESS Corporate ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY. Big corps get away with murder as it is.

The big corps like insurance companies get enough breaks as it is. NO CAPS!

[merh]

18. See post 16

The weed that would be king lies!!! :puke:

[m_welby]

3. I feel that

insurance companies already make too much money and protecting them from lawsuits really doesn't make much sense.

[AllegroRondo]

4. As far a lawsuits - the 7th Amendment is clear

you have the right to sue and have your case heard.

[bryant69]

5. How do lawsuits affect the Standards for Health Care?

They increase Health Care Standards as doctors are more concerned about being sued.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[newportdadde]

7. Stocks go up - Doctors insurance stays the same or slightly higher.

Stocks go down - Doctors insurance rates go through the roof. Thats what its all about. Talk to your physician, I did and her rates barely moved in the late 90s.

[Czolgosz]

11. I have talked to my physician. He's a good guy, conservative Democrat.

But you cannot talk to him in any detail about lawsuits because he's 100 percent convinced that "my premiums have gone up 80% because of frivolous lawsuits which are driving good doctors out of practice and threatening access to health care" (of course, when I ask him to name any doctors who have retired due to frivolous lawsuits, the only doctors he can name are either just about 65 years old or, if younger, they have still "retired" to their former vacation home).

[Cleita]

8. If there were no malpractice insurance, there would be very

few lawsuits. Sometimes insurance causes the problems. I would like to see malpractice addressed as part of a universal health care plan administered by the government. This would free doctors to practice medicine not watching their backs.

[spunky]

10. I'm not sure if this counts in the healthcare category

but I for one was appalled when watching the SOTU and Bush refered to "frivilous asbestos lawsuits." First time he has ever left me completely speechless. I sat there with my mouth agape for about 90 seconds before I could manage to utter a word.

My grandfather died from Meselthelioma (sp???) which is caused by asbestos, and I would hardly call suits related to something that KILLS PEOPLE (in a very unplesant way I might add) as "frivilous."

That said, I'm not one who thinks people should neccessarily get rich off such suits (we can't sue here, my grandpa was a Brit and was exposed to asbestos while in the RAF.), but if something is not fully studied and lead to painful deaths, the company should pay.

Ditto for malpractice. If a doctor doesn't do his job right, a patient has right to compensation. Now how much is a different question. I don't think you should get rich off such suits, but if the malpractice impairs your ability to earn an income, then you should at least get a settlement large enough to live comfortably for the rest of your life.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. I think more responsible medical care is in order

but in until that happens we'll need to sue without caps- let me just relate a tragic story here:

5 y.o. comes to emergency room screaming in agony. His sister is with him, they have just been in a car accident. The nurses want to admit both of them, but the EM doctor says no, just the girl (who is not screaming). The boy is clearly in pain, and later begins vomiting blood. The nurses plead with the doctor to admit him, but he says no- the boy is just in emotional shock from the accident.
The mother takes him home, he is still screaming all night, and finally quiets down, but only because he is dying.
The mother takes him again in the morning because he is unconscious, and they cannot revive him. It turns out he had a stomach laceration and he dies from blood poisoning. Tragically, the girl was O.K., but hey- the hospital still got insurance money for admitting her!

Now, I would rather the boy (a friend's nephew) was still alive, but in lieu of that, suing the hospital for all its worth is the next best thing. Unfortunately, this is in a state with caps, and the limit is like 300,000. As it is, in an open and shut case, the lawyer will get 30%.

This is the kind of story that devastates me, and makes me want doctors to be 100% liable for their mistakes.

[atre]

22. If that case has not already settled...

... you may want to inform the couple that they might have a claim under the federal statute, EMTALA, to impose additional liabilities on the hospital.

[Czolgosz]

23. What Tommy Thompson did to EMTALA is disgraceful.

[sandnsea]

14. They don't want government regulation

I'm sure most people would willingly trade strict government regulation with serious fines and penalties for malpractice suits.

These suits are part of the free market. It's what keeps businesses honest. Civil suits are THEIR plan.

Capping awards is all about helping big business at the expense of citizens. Nothing more.

[Heddi]

15. I'm a nursing student, and all the nurses and other health care profs

I work with are ALLLLLLL against these 'Caps" to malpractice suits.

Actually, I shouldn't say "all". I live in a very rural part of WA, and the demographics are quite republican-based.

There's one nurse I worked with who is an OB nurse, and she went on and on one day about how it's JUST BULLSHIT that someone can sue a doctor for MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS blah blah blah.

So I asked her about capping awards. SHe's all for it. Thinks $250k is TOO MUCH. "People shouldn't be getting rich off of innocent mistakes" She said. "What about NEGLIGENCE? What about NON-INNOCENT mistakes that cost people life and limb?" I queried.

"Well," she said, "they should just be LUCKY they got treated to begin with?
???

And this is someone who's caring for people in their most vunerable states?

So I asked her how she would feel if she went in for a routine surgery and as a result of medical negligence lost use of her legs, therefore causing her to lose her job as a nurse etc.

Of course THAT was a different situation to her. THAT should be punishable.....so I said "Would $250k be enough for YOU if you lost use of both legs? Or if medical negligence caused the death of your child? Or what if the negligence caused your child to have severe brain damage and for the REST OF YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CHILD'S LIFE you had to have 24-hour care, tubes, IV's, medications, surgeries, etc? $250,000 would account for MAYBE 6 months worth of care in that situation"

Her only response was that she had no response other than "People should know what they're getting into when they go to the Doctor. Alot of this can be avoided if patients would EDUCATE themselves"

uh. yeah. right.

Aside from her and a few others who share the same attitudes, everyone else I go to school with and work with believe that INSURANCE companies are the blame for high medical costs, and that medicine SHOULD NOT BE FOR PROFIT, nor should medical care be only for those who are lucky enough to afford it.

All of my professors have been very vocal about supporting universal health care to all US citizens and taking the power away from pharmaceutical and insurance companies and putting it BACK into the hands of the health care providers.

[merh]

17. Please print out the report linked at post 16 and give it to that

silly nurse!

It's just another lie of the boy blunder!

[Heddi]

19. She's a total dolt

I think I could print a page saying that the sky is blue, but she'd argue to the death that it's bright green with purple spots.

I shudder to think that she cares for people during their most vunerable times.

[merh]

16. Just another lie of the administration!

Lawsuits have nothing to do with the increase in malpractice insurance.

Just another lie that the boy blunder KNOWS IS A LIE. How can he lie when his own accounting office has debunked the myth? LIAR!!!

The Government Accounting Office released a report that found:


Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed
to Increased Premium Rates (27-JUN-03, GAO-03-702).

Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates (27-JUN-03, GAO-03-702). Over the past several years, large increases in medical malpractice insurance premium rates have raised concerns that physicians will no longer be able to afford malpractice insurance and will be forced to curtail or discontinue providing certain services. Additionally, a lack of profitability has led some large insurers to stop selling medical malpractice insurance, furthering concerns that physicians will not be able to obtain coverage. To help Congress better understand the reasons behind the rate increases, GAO undertook a study to (1) describe the extent of the increases in medical malpractice insurance rates, (2) analyze the factors that contributed to those increases, and (3) identify changes in the medical malpractice insurance market that might make this period of rising premium rates different from previous such periods. -------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- REPORTNUM: GAO-03-702 ACCNO: A07395 TITLE: Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates DATE: 06/27/2003 SUBJECT: Insurance premiums Malpractice (medical) Physicians California Florida Minnesota Mississippi Nevada Texas Pennsylvania

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/multidb.cgi

[OETKB]

20. The Silent Ruse

Medical lawsuit payouts are but a small fraction of the health care dollar. Also much of the rise in malpractice premiums is to make up for poor investment returns by the insurance company. Unfortunately many doctors have a visceral response to this subject and it is difficult to get their attention to real solutions. And, of course, the Republicans are making sure it stays that way.

However, this is the unstated part. The war on malpractice awards is the camel's nose under the tent. By using the emotional smoke screen they will extend this frivolous law suit mantra to other industries, thus helping companies like Halliburton, phamaceutical companies, tobacco firms from having to pay out larger awards. This slight of hand maneuver is becoming a Repug trademark.

[KT2000]

21. Doctors are a protected class anyway

if we are going to change the rules of the game we have to look at the whole picture.
Aside from malpractice suits, what redress does a patient have when it comes to incompetent care? State medical boards are in charge of disciplining and many times protecting doctors. Medical boards determine which cases they will address and they turn down some complaints. This is a process that sometimes protects the incompetents, especially the older ones who have been in the community for a long time.

It would be interesting to compare the doctors who have had complaints filed against them, had them dismissed and those who were disciplined with the doctors who had cases where large awards were made. Large jury awards are generally made for a reason - to punish not just errors but coverups and intentional malpractice.

The result of capping malpractice suits would be to further disable the power of individuals in an already stacked deck.

[barb162]

24. Caps would be disastrous for all Americans. It is a civil right that

would be discarded. Health care is going to the dogs in this country as the insurers have controlled much of the decision-making. We need national health care desperately. Malpractice should be dealt with my fellow MDs or state licensing boards(kicking the jerks out of their profession) rather than capping awards of those who are injured or killed by malpractice. Access to health care is becoming more and more limited in this country.