Med-Mal Reform -- Write your Senator

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According to a report by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, comprehensive reforms in medical malpractice laws could improve access to health care, particularly for women, low-income individuals, and rural residents, as well as increase the number of Americans with health insurance by as many as 3.9 million people.

Make your voice heard:

http://capwiz.com/aoa-net/home/

Yes, I too was surprised to see how the information could be twisted to serve the interests of the legal beagles.

For facts on how lawyers' frivolous suits hurt American healthcare visit:

http://www.everypatientcounts.org/

Sheesh!

Great website, deepz. I'll fire off a few emails in the am.

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Specializes in I know stuff ;).

love the website deepz

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Specializes in Anesthesia.

Haha, you're funny. Come on here giving orders like that and then boohoo that so many people love to hate lawyers. Hate? Who said anything about hate but you? You are a lawyer, right?

Frivolous is frivolous. Except by lawyers apparently, it is widely understood what frivolous is. Frivolous lawsuits are widely recognized to be one major PART of the med-mal problem.

Having been on the receiving end of a frivoulous lawsuit myself, I can attest that plaintiffs exist who will sue a provider at the drop of a hat, since with the contingency setup, it's even cheaper than a lottery ticket and (rarely) will pay big. And speaking of the contingency setup, am I correct in my understanding that contingency arrangements wherein lawyers receive 30-40-50% of the judgement $$ are not allowed in the rest of the civilized world? -- are in fact viewed as unethical?

??

First, define "frivolous lawsuit." In your own words. Second, a lot of information in the "every pt count" interestingly leaves out A LOT. Anyone with good reasoning and analytical skills could ask a TON of questions that would probably shoot a million holes in such weak arguments.

By the way, do you know what a mega-judgement is? HINT: You never get one with a "frivolous" lawsuit.

THINK about it. Do your RESEARCH of FACTS. The lawyers are NOT the problem.

It's funny. So many people love to hate lawyers. Yeah, til they need one.

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Z, you and I agree 100%. I find it amazing that anyone actually IN clinical practice (as opposed to sitting in an office or classroom and never seing a patient much less actually working with one) would even question the amount of money that gets eaten up by frivolous lawsuits. The only ones that ever really win are the attorneys - ever. Most of them have no intention of actually going to trial. It's far too easy to scare up a $25-50k settlement, of which they'll take 35-50%. The costs of litigation (again, the lawyers win) are so high, settlements are often far cheaper, even if no one is to blame.

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Z, you and I agree 100%. I find it amazing that anyone actually IN clinical practice (as opposed to sitting in an office or classroom and never seing a patient much less actually working with one) would even question the amount of money that gets eaten up by frivolous lawsuits. The only ones that ever really win are the attorneys - ever. Most of them have no intention of actually going to trial. It's far too easy to scare up a $25-50k settlement, of which they'll take 35-50%. The costs of litigation (again, the lawyers win) are so high, settlements are often far cheaper, even if no one is to blame.

Its quite scary that I am agreeing with you old foogies. I was going to use another adjective, but my warning meter goes up everytime I turn around.... :nono:

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Specializes in ICU.

Perhaps what is truly needed is an Ombudsman/woman/person. Someone to review cases for merit. You would have to have legislation supporting this but let the Ombudsperson be the buffer. That way the frivolous lawsuits can be filtered without payout and the real lawsuits can be also addressed.

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Amennnn. It is all the insurance industry's doing. Sure lawyers can be easy targets, but they are not the villains here.

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Specializes in ER (new), Respitory/Med Surg floor.
Yes, I too was surprised to see how the information could be twisted to serve the interests of the legal beagles.

For facts on how lawyers' frivolous suits hurt American healthcare visit:

http://www.everypatientcounts.org/

Sheesh!

My problem is while yes there are lots of law suits that occur and probably are ridiculous therefore taxing the system how can you just in general put a $250,000 cap on medical law suits. THAT is wrong.

Perhaps what is truly needed is an Ombudsman/woman/person. Someone to review cases for merit. You would have to have legislation supporting this but let the Ombudsperson be the buffer. That way the frivolous lawsuits can be filtered without payout and the real lawsuits can be also addressed.

Maybe that would be the best solution. But legislation to cap without taking into consideration each case is not the way at all. Now my mother didn't have malpractice issues, well could have but anyway her hospital bill came to just about 250,000. So if someone's had malpractice and on care rest of their life how can you cap that based on others lawsuits and gernalize it to that amount?

Also I agree it's not just lawers but the entire system: lawyers, MDs, and insurance companies. It used to be the insurance would cover and the difference the MD charged and the insurance covered was let go. Not anymore so if that's the case prices can just skyrocket. I know costs are needed but wow something's gotta give. I also had an ER md charge $25 extra just for serving in on a sunday. Come on. Maybe I'm being harsh, he needed compensation.

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Specializes in Anesthesia.
........ how can you just in general put a $250,000 cap on medical law suits. THAT is wrong.......

Bad information. No one proposes a 250K cap in GENERAL. Actual damages, punitive damages, those are not capped. As I understand it, pain and suffering -- which seems to be the basis of many outrageous awards -- that would be capped, as it has now been in California for some time, with major improvements in the Med-Mal climate in that State, and in other states that have adopted similar caps. But several States have now become magnets for frivolous lawsuit abuse. Ergo, the need for national reform legislation. The Senate is the bottleneck.

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My problem is while yes there are lots of law suits that occur and probably are ridiculous therefore taxing the system how can you just in general put a $250,000 cap on medical law suits. THAT is wrong.

Maybe that would be the best solution. But legislation to cap without taking into consideration each case is not the way at all. Now my mother didn't have malpractice issues, well could have but anyway her hospital bill came to just about 250,000. So if someone's had malpractice and on care rest of their life how can you cap that based on others lawsuits and gernalize it to that amount?

Also I agree it's not just lawers but the entire system: lawyers, MDs, and insurance companies. It used to be the insurance would cover and the difference the MD charged and the insurance covered was let go. Not anymore so if that's the case prices can just skyrocket. I know costs are needed but wow something's gotta give. I also had an ER md charge $25 extra just for serving in on a sunday. Come on. Maybe I'm being harsh, he needed compensation.

Learn some facts before you make such poorly informed statements. Caps only apply to "non-economic" damages. Actual damages (hospital bills, lost wages, costs of rehab, costs of nursing homes, costs of ANYTHING) are NOT capped.

And there's a difference between liability and health insurance - you're mixing and matching. One has nothing to do with the other EXCEPT that the costs of CYA tests so that you don't get sued are a large part of health care costs.

And just so you understand - healthcare providers often provide care at no cost or even a loss - who the hell do you think pays for healthcare for illegal aliens? Who do you think pays for healthcare for crack addicts? It's not private insurance.

Most insurance companies pay far less than what actual charges are. "Usual, customary, and reasonable" is an insurance company myth - they pay what they want to pay, period. And even if we wanted to write off a patient's bill or not bill them for the difference that we're ENTITLED to, we can't - it's called insurance fraud, or worse, Medicare fraud. Yes, you read that right. When Medicare pays us whatever percent of their allowable charge, we MUST charge the patient the remaining balance BY LAW. If we don't, it's considered Medicare fraud.

It's clear from your posts you have no idea what you're talking about.

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How can you say that a cap of $250,000 would not be an injustice?

My son or daughter who has no economic damages (lost wages) but just pain and suffering would not be justly compensated if they were in an accident which caused them to be completely and permanently incapacitated or died by medical error with just $250,000. Your suggestion is absurd!

Secondly, it is us, citizens, as jurors who decide cases. Our system presumes that we, the people, must decide whether a case is frivolous or whether a person is entitled to damages and how much. It is not lawyers who make these decisions. We have the authority and power as jurors to say no to frivolous suits as jurors. Society doesn't need law-makers who have not listened to the facts of the case to render a cap of $250,000 for a person's pain and suffering. This authority should be left up to us as citizens as jurors.

Lndcrsr2000

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There are some valid lawsuits out there. Many are not...they come from all the ambulance chasers, those with there smiling mugs up on billboards and commercials trying to make some bucks. Those that follow police reports and send letters out trying to rack up some business.........it's poaching and it's disgusting. Of course since lawyers make and interpret the laws you have a hard time changing them. Shakespeare was right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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