For several years now there has been this Republican talking point which concerns medical-malpractice lawsuits. The crux of the complaint has been that with all of the frivolous lawsuits filed against innocent medical types, has driven up there cost of doing business (read insurance) as well as killing their profits. Sending them either to practice their craft in some far flung place, or given it up all together.
So, I was quite surprised to find that an article in the New England Journal of Medicine said that although doctors do indeed pay high malpractice-insurance premiums and that it was true that litigation is expensive for all parties, those who win such lawsuits are exceedingly rare. And, are far outnumbered by those cases in which a patient is injured by medical error and goes uncompensated.
Insurance money went to those who had been injured rather than those who had made baseless claims. This, they said, suggested that "moves to combat frivolous litigations will have a limited effect on total costs."
Plaintiffs, said the study, lost four-fifths of the lawsuits that actually went to trial. About 85% of all cases were settled out of court.
Perhaps looking at the Scandanavian model would be of more use than blaming the victim. In that model, special courts abitrate medical disputes.
Yet another Republican talking point takes a shit. Wonder why the MSM didn't spread the word on that one?
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to relegion. - Aristotle
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