Yahoo! News - WHO WANTS TO BE A MEDICAL MALPRACTICE MILLIONAIRE?

This is a lovely article. I haven’t read a lot about “tort reform” in any of my online groups. Mostly just stuff about Iraq. I think that a lot of people are being brainwashed into thinking that this country is going to hell in a handbasket because people have the utter gall to sue doctors and corporations for their negligence. Of course, the Bush administration is pushing for this, because it saves his political donor millions of donors and takes away their responsiblity to respect the public good.

Imagine you’re in a car accident. Your leg is damages and you need it attended in a quick and efficient manner. The ambulance takes you to a nearby hospital where it’s determined that you need surgery. The doctor on call is someone who hasn’t slept in 72 hours and is jittery from too much caffeine. He messes up. You not only lose the affected leg, but because of the mistake you lose your other leg too. Who should be held responsible? You can no longer work to support your family, but the government has decided that the most your leg is worth is $250,00. Is that right?

Ok, this is an extreme example. What about the old lady who sued McDonald’s because she spilled coffee on herself (and had no idea it was hot coffee). Well, in my opinion the courts are fixing themselves when it comes to lawsuits like that. More and more judges are throwing these kind of suits out. That guy who was suing the fast food companies because he’s a fat ass didn’t make it very far. And that’s the way it should be. There’s nothing wrong with our system right now. Whenever someone really wants to sue for something stupid they can always go on “The People’s Court” and hash it out. Hell, that’s a good show. I love the way Judge Milan deals with stupid people (Judge Judy sucks, IMO). “But”, you say,” that’s a court of law!! You’re making my point.” The People’s Court is not a court of law. It’s arbritration. The parties sign an agreement that the decision is final, blah, blah, blah, and they won’t take the case back to real court.

Anyway, most lawsuits don’t even make it to court. The really good ones are settled. It’s only when the defendant has some kind of arrogance that their wrongs will be overlooked or the plaintiff is just greedy that these kind of things make it before a jury. And then, well, someone’s going to get screwed. Fix the jury system. Fix the judicial system. I don’t think there’s really a need, but leave the awards part alone if something really must be done.

“But,”you say,”medical insurance is through the roof. We’ve got to do something!” The AMA has already stated that tort reform is not likely to affect insurance premiums. And really the insurance companies are going to raise their prices over anything. They are out to make money. They are going to make money. Tort reform is only going to make their losses a little less. The insurance companies are now getting too big and too powerful. I think that something should be done about them

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