Our healthcare system has been driven into over-diagnosing every ailment with lab tests and imaging we haven’t had access to before. 

Are these tools worthless? Of course not. The medical profession can now use some amazing resources, without which we would suffer more and die sooner. However, we’ve forced some doctors to become tour guides, telling us the stops on the decision-tree they must follow to avoid looking negligent in deciding what they often already knew. 

Why do they follow this process? Because in those rare cases where a physician’s education and experienced judgment fails, one mistake can ruin a lifetime of good work through a catastrophic lawsuit. Without taking these extra steps, doctors’ malpractice carriers won’t insure them, their peers won’t support them and their lawyers can’t defend them. 

And who pays for these extra tests and medications? Doctors’ liability insurance companies and defense attorneys? No; you, your employer and the insurance carriers do. 

How to fix this issue: All professionals need national tort reform. Certainly the consumer who’s been wronged needs the right to recover for true negligence. But the unlimited risk that professionals face in their practices forces too much defensive work, which compromises time doing productive work and adds unnecessary costs to an already sluggish administrative system.

As always, please post your thoughts or comments.  If you have enjoyed our second healthcare reform posting, check the archives for the first.

Filed under: General by Mark Patrick