Richmond Speaks Public Forum

Everybody talks about how to pay for health care.  Nobody seems to be saying much about reducing the cost of health care. 

Why do doctors charge so much.  Two reasons and they are related.  Lawsuits where plaintiffs are awarded millions of dollars in so called damages.  These lawsuits result in higher malpractice premiums.  In order to protect themselves against lawsuits, doctors order extra diagnostic tests which may not really be necessary.  Now the premium for the patients medical insurance goes up because of the cost of the extra testing.

Finally, it’s back to the excessive awards from jurors who have no earthly idea the difference between a hemostat and a thermostat.  They listen to the tear jerking arguments of the plaintiff’s lawyers, and feel sorry for the patient and believe nobody is being hurt because “the doctor is covered by insurance”

An interesting suggestion that I heard of just today, is to create a separate court system specializing in medical malpractice.  Just as courts specialize in Juvenile offenses, divorces, bankruptcies, and others, these medical courts could be in a position to make more educated and less emotional decisions protecting both the doctors, as well as those patients who have been legitimately harmed.

This is not a be all, end all soulution.  There are other issues that need to be addressed, but  medical malpractice courts could go a long way to reducing the costs of health care with little cost to the government (meaning you and me).

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