Consumer Law

Deficit Reduction and Medical Malpractice

By Joe Consumer

Nothing personal against former Sen. Alan Simpson and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, but have they been spending too much time at the medical marijuana clinic?  You may have heard that they just released their deficit reduction recommendations.  It's a mess.  Mike Lux, who worked with Bowles in the Clinton White House, called it, ?one of the worst policy documents I have ever seen.? 

So, can?t say I was too surprised to read this recommendation to ?reduce the deficit?: 

?Enact comprehensive medical malpractice liability reform to cap non-economic and punitive damages and make other changes in tort law.? 

Whatever that means.  Ok, let?s imagine what that means ?let?s say it?s all the things that the Congress Budget Office envisioned when they found a paltry 0.5% in overall health care cost savings, i.e., such extreme and cruel restrictions on the legal rights of patients that no single state in the nation has imposed all of them collectively on patients in their states, and many have been found unconstititional.

Sure, let?s reduce the deficit by ensuring that patients who have been brain damaged, blinded, mutilated or rendered paraplegic as a result of medical negligence cannot obtain compensation from the culpable party, become destitute and are forced to turn to Medicaid to survive.

And sure, let?s reduce the deficit by forcing Medicare and Medicaid to lose funds that the government would otherwise be able to recoup as a result of litigation.  (Yes that is right, whenever there is a successful medical malpractice lawsuit, Medicare and Medicaid can both claim either liens or subrogation interests in whatever the patient recovers, reimbursing the government for some of the patients? health care expenditures.).

And sure, let?s reduce the deficit by serverely weakening the system?s deterrence and accountability function, so we have more injuries and deaths and added health care costs.

Am I asking too much for a little common sense here?

Full post as published by ThePopTort on November 11, 2010 (boomark / email).