Malpractice Reform

Medical-legal issues always reside in the back of the mind of any provider whether the fear is realistic or not.

In the article, A Failed experiment: Health Care in Texas Has Worsened in Key Respects Since State Instituted Liability Caps in 2003,  it states that the evidence proves that medical testing does not decrease even in a provider friendly malpractice environment.

Attempts at reform include caps of pain and suffering, full-disclosure programs, provider education, provider education with the malpractice statistics have not fundamentally changed the "Adversarial Relationship" that providers have with attorneys.  Physicians are unable to internalize this as a "cost of doing business".  The long-term psychological effects on the defendants are real but hard to quantitate.

A plan of action is to adopt the New Zealand no-fault workers' compensation type system that eliminates the blame game and hopefully makes the patient whole.  The best solution to a malpractice suit is never to be named at all.