Personal Injury Law

Consensus on Health Care Still Elusive in Congress

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

The White House tried to cool Republican opposition to its health care overhaul by announcing a $25 million preliminary program aimed at eventually revamping the nation?s controversial medical malpractice legal system. The malpractice plan was authorized by a two-page ?presidential memorandum.? Early next year, selected states, localities and health care systems will get up to $3 million each for experimental projects aimed at better protecting doctors from frivolous lawsuit while assuring patients fair settlements in medical malpractice cases. The White House has outlined a plan that would put patient safety first to reduce preventable injuries, promote better communication between doctors and patients and reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits. Illinois has already looked towards reducing the number of lawsuits by requiring certificates before a medical malpractice goes forward. It is also vital that health care looks towards reducing preventable medical errors, because 98,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors. However many tort reforms that focus on ideas such as medical malpractice caps hinder victims from obtaining justice. To read more about the health care census, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).