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Virginia Lawsuits Against Doctors and Hospitals for Medical Errors are not a Main Reason for High Health Insurance Costs

By Jim Lewis

Anyone in Virginia Beach/Norfolk, Virginia (VA) who watches the news knows that the country has an extremely expensive medical system that doesn't always deliver quality care. In figuring out the solutions, some of the loudest voices are the lobbyists for the doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies who often try to blame injury lawyers and medical malpractice actions as the reason for 'defensive medicine' and higher healthcare costs. However, this argument has been shown to be false by various researchers who have studied the problem. Healthcare costs and health insurance premiums continue to rise whether the state is like North Carolina where there are no medical malpractice caps or the state is like Virginia where there are unfair limits as to the maximum award no matter what the harms are caused by medical errors.

In fact, Virginia lawyers making claims against the medical insurers for doctors and hospitals tend to increase the quality of care and decrease medical mistakes by weeding out incompetent and forcing health care providers to obey the medical guidelines. For example, some hospitals have been adopting better pre-surgical procedures, at least in part because of preventable errors pointed out by lawyers for patients who were victims of past errors. In Virginia Beach now most operative reports show a pause before the procedure begins to make sure that the hospital is operating on the right patient and that the surgeon and nurses know what procedure is to be performed and on what body part. By checking these things the hospital staff make sure that their operating rooms are not making obvious mistakes like doing a procedure on the left knee when they are supposed to be doing it on the right knee of the patient. When consumers and lawyers stand up and demand that changes be made, good things happen both in terms of improving health outcomes and making sure that families who have been harmed get restitution from those who were at fault.

To read more about how medical malpractice lawyers are part of the solution, not the problem, please click here.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal My injury lawfirm (VA-NC law offices) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY, who handle car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Jim Lewis

Full post as published by Norfolk-Portsmouth Personal Injury Lawyer on June 29, 2009 (boomark / email).