Consumer Law

Health care tort "reform" arguments exposed as false, mythical

By Kia Franklin

Barbara O'Brien's third and fourth parts to her series on the health care debate and tort "reform" are up and running and ready for you to read and debate.

In part three, she highlights the lies that are being offered as fact about tort "reform," health care costs, and medical malpractice. She deconstructs the argument that doctors are quitting their profession or moving to escape malpractice lawsuits, based on data from the American Medical Association that reveals that states without damage caps have more physicians per 100,000 than those that do have damage caps.

A sneak peak of her article:

I am not arguing that personal injury law in the U.S. is perfect, or that it is never abused. Further, there are a number of thorny issues that need to be resolved regarding specific types of claims, such as mesothelioma resulting from decades-past asbestos exposure, if the law is going to be fair to both complainants and defendants.

My argument, however, is that before citizens allow state and federal legislatures to reduce their rights to take grievances to court, we all need to clearly understand the arguments being made for tort reform. Some of those arguments have some validity, but many of them are just flat-out false. (Read full article)

Definitely worth the read. And here's the link to part 4. More soon.

Full post as published by TortDeform.com on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).