Consumer Law

Huff Post Repost: Doctors Don't Need Tort "Reform" - They Need A Shrink

By Joe Consumer

About a year and a half ago, the New Yorker magazine published a widely-circulated article by Dr. Atul Gawande, called "The Cost Conundrum; What a Texas town can teach us about health care," which explored why the town of McAllen, Texas, "was the country's most expensive place for health care." The following exchange took place with a group of doctors and Dr. Gawande:

"It's malpractice," a family physician who had practiced here for thirty-three years said. "McAllen is legal hell," the cardiologist agreed. Doctors order unnecessary tests just to protect themselves, he said. Everyone thought the lawyers here were worse than elsewhere.

That explanation puzzled me. Several years ago, Texas passed a tough malpractice law that capped pain-and-suffering awards at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Didn't lawsuits go down? "Practically to zero," the cardiologist admitted.

"Come on," the general surgeon finally said. "We all know these arguments are bullshit. There is overutilization here, pure and simple." Doctors, he said, were racking up charges with extra tests, services, and procedures.

Now we know why they keep repeating, in the words of this general surgeon, such "bullshit."

Yesterday, the University of Iowa issued a news release about a new study done by David Katz, M.D., associate professor of medicine with University of Iowa Health Care (and several other authors), called, "Physicians still fear malpractice lawsuits, despite tort reforms." They found (full study in September 2010 Health Affairs) that doctors have a "fear of suits that seems out of proportion to the actual risk of being sued."

Several explanations are suggested. 

Keep reading.

Full post as published by ThePopTort on December 16, 2010 (boomark / email).