Currently there is a bill being considered in Congress that would change medical malpractice standards across the country. This bill would lower the amount of non-economic damages available in any malpractice case to $250,000. An article found on the Hill’s website shows that many state legislatures are against putting a one-size-fits-all malpractice standard in place. Many think that such a bill would undermine the authority of the state to initiate reform related to health care. However, one Republican Representative from Texas, who is also one of the major proponents of the bill and a doctor, reports that he has sent a letter to Obama about this subject, and has received no reply. He feels that the country could institute a medical malpractice reform similar to the one instituted in Texas.
While searching for information on this topic, I found a few sites that I show good arguments for and against such a reform. One site discusses the pros and cons of malpractice reform. There is a large list of for and against arguments so I won’t really go into all of them, but I found it interesting that many of the arguments for malpractice reform point out the fact that malpractice causes doctors to focus on other things besides healthcare. According to the list, doctors, worried about lawsuits, spend more time practicing defensive medicine rather than curing the patient. Also some doctors are retiring because medical malpractice premiums are too high. I didn’t know exactly how much the premiums might be so I looked it up and found the answer. For an OB/GYN the cost of malpractice for one year can be anywhere from $37,122 (Houston, TX) to $127,083 (Chicago, IL). According to CNN’s salary calculator, the average salary for a gynecologist in these areas is$248,341 and $265,614, respectively. So why is there such a big difference between the malpractice insurance premiums if the salaries are almost the same? The difference is the fact that in Texas there has already been a serious malpractice reform, but in Illinois there hasn’t been one. By lowering the possible malpractice damages, insurance premiums will go down, doctors will want to work longer. So what can we do? Is a country-wide reform of malpractice laws necessary to change this growing problem? Or will states do what should be done?
I had no idea about this malpractice law thing. Very interesting!
This is an interesting subject, it is amazing that malpractice insurance can cost more than some people’s salaries. I like the idea that it allows doctors to focus on curing patients rather than worrying about being sued.