Module 5 Discussion 2
Module 5 Discussion 2
A point in the video with which I agree:
I agree with the point that the cost associated with malpractice insurance is considerably on the higher side. It certainly eats up a sizeable part of a medical professional’s income. It also substantially raises the overall medical cost for the patient. However, medical professionals are left with little choice but to bear the costs associated with malpractice insurance so as to limit and/or eliminate the exposure to mal practice law suits. At the same time, malpractice law suits cannot be done away with in its entirety as many times there are genuine cases of negligence and the damages awarded in such law suits are necessary to meet the ends of justice.
A point in the video with which I disagree:
I do not agree with the fact that medical malpractice suits are not burdening the overall cost of the American health care system. From the video, it appears that almost 2/3 of the cases never go to trial. The costs of such cases that do not go to trial are also USD 23,000 per case. This indicates that a sizeable portion of the malpractice suits are frivolous. In order to avoid mal practice suits, medical practitioners indulge in prescribing defensive medicine/treatment that consequentially adds on to the overall medical cost. Further, the cost of malpractice insurance premium can also be attributed to the mal practice suits which eventually increases the overall healthcare costs. I therefore do not agree to the foregoing point.
Reforms in the current system
The current system leaves much to be desired. In order to avoid frivolous mal practice suits, costs should be imposed on the litigants who initiates frivolous law suits. Further, in case a medical practitioner intends to provide service free of charge to the needy, then such medical practitioner should not be burdened by additional insurance premium cost. The organization and/or the government should be made to bear the insurance premium cost of such medical practitioner. Aside to this, in an article by B. Sonny Pal (Nov 26, 2008) it has been stated that many states have introduced a host of measures to reform the malpractice suits, including, but not limited to limiting contingency fees that a lawyer can claim to cover fees and expenses. Reforms have also been introduced at the federal level. Further, (B Sony Pal. From Web)
REFERENCE LIST
- B Sony Pal (Nov 26, 2008). An Introduction to Medical Malpractice in the United. Web. States. US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2628513/.
