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Medical malpractice is going to effect my future |
Current rating: 0 |
by maya patterson
Email: monkeypatterson (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!) |
14 Nov 2004
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Doctors have to pay too much money to practice healthcare and lawyers are the only ones benefiting. |
Is it right to sue a well-trained, competent doctor? E.N. Hetherington, in his letter to the News Gazette titled Malpractice Suits Don’t Protect Patients, seems to think no. I called him and interestingly enough he is a doctor and he’s been sued three times. Paul Manion, a lawyer, also wrote a letter to the News Gazette. When I called him, he thought that everything is right the way it is.
What we want to accomplish is to get health care costs lower and health care quality better. But our current system is making doctors pay lots of money and lawyers earn lots of money. Also, health care costs are going crazy high and health care quality is not so good. The only ones that seem to get the benefit of this system are the lawyers. But I do think there needs to be a way to make sure doctors are well trained and give good care.
What if, when doctors get sued, the money that they pay goes to a course of better training? I think there should be a maximum amount of money lawyers should sue doctors for and much of the money, if the lawsuit is won, should go to improving health care.
This affects me as a child because my mom and dad have to spend a lot of money on health care and we can’t get a lot of other important things we need. It also affects me because it is very hard to get a good doctor now. I had a very good doctor but she moved and we have tried very many doctors and it doesn’t seem they take their job very seriously. I just heard that a good doctor in our town is retiring because he had to pay $250,000 for malpractice insurance last year and he can’t afford to keep practicing as a doctor. That’s probably why we can’t find a very good doctor. The malpractice problem needs to get solved very soon, or who knows what our futures are going to be like.
Maya Patterson
Age 11 |
This work is in the public domain. |
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Re: Medical malpractice is going to effect my future |
by Sascha Meinrath
sascha (nospam) ucimc.org (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
15 Nov 2004
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this is the second in a commentary series by local youth concerning issues affecting society today. |
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Re: his is the second in a commentary series by local youth concerning issues affecting society today. |
by Faith Swords
faith (nospam) ucimc.org (verified) |
Current rating: 0
15 Nov 2004
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... and that is AWESOME.
go maya! |
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Re: Medical malpractice is going to effect my future |
by Zippo
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
15 Nov 2004
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I don't think it's fair to generalize this, Maya. Some people go to medical school and mostly see the big bucks that they are going to make in practice. Others go primarily because they are interested in medicine and/or in healing, perhaps facinated with the human body, and some primarily simply want to help. Some study hard because they want to learn, and some just to get passing grades, just like in any other field.
[Maya Patterson] "Is it right to sue a well-trained, competent doctor?"
How can you tell if a medical practitioner is competent before being treated ? I would say that some ARE incompetent and may deserve to be sued and more, some may deserve to be subject to criminal penalties.
Thems my thoughts.
Peace, Joy, Light,
Zippo |
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Re: Medical malpractice is going to effect my future |
by gigi
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Nov 2004
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Maya, I'm very impressed with your thoughts and your imaginative suggestion.
In my experience it's the lawyers that work for the clinics....who protect the clinic's interests at all cost ...(never mind the poor patient)... who are the real bandits. And since they're just doing their job ...it's actually the entity that employs them (the Clinic) that benefits tthe most in this town. C/U lawyers are actually not willing to take on legitimate, indesputable malpractice cases against the big corporate giant. Patients who have suffered malpractis, utter incompetance and the most disgustig arrogance from MDs, are further injured by threats from clinic lawyers. It's quite a scam they have going. One way or another the patient is screwed. |
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Medical malpractice affects us all |
by 5
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
17 Nov 2004
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Unfortunately, what most people don't know until they try to file a malpractice claim is that you can't actually sue unless:
you have permanent damage as a result of a doctor
you have enough damages to make it worth the effort. Your claim will have to be certified by 3 doctors before you can move forward. That costs money.
When I attempted to get re-imbursement for medical care I needed (for infections and medical procedures) as a result of a doctor's negligence, 3 attorneys all told me, Yes, the doctor was negligent and, yes, you deserve to be re-paid, but since I only wanted to be re-imbursed my expenses (around $2,000) and I wasn't permanently injured (because I sought treatment elsewhere), no one could take the case. I was told just expenses for a malpractice case would be $10,000, so a judgment of $30,000 would be the minimum you can ask for and still be cost-effective for the attorney involved.
So in other words, if a doctor injures you and it isn't permanent and you haven't incurred more than $10,000 in expenses, tough luck. If car accidents were litigated in the same way, I could crash my car into yours, and if the damage wasn't permanent (or unfixable) and was less than $10,000, you would have to pay for my mistakes. Seem fair to you?
I can think of things that could fix this situation. For example, another class of claim other than malpractice---like negligent care---which requires a doctor to pay out-of-pocket the costs a patient incurs fixing the doctor's mistakes. That way insurance doesn't get hit and people who are injured can be reimbursed.
By the way, even the doctor's insurance wanted to pay the claim, but the doctor refused to allow it. Needless to say, I will *never* go to this doctor again. And I make sure to tell people the problems I had with this doctor. |
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Re: Medical malpractice is going to effect my future |
by rbknight
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
17 Nov 2004
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You have to be an ignorant mouthpiece of the Bushies to beleive this. It's just the corporations that want this - so that they can make more money off of people's illnesses. The drug companies want people to be sicker so they can profit from our misery as well.
Why don't you go onto your own websites and spout your hate? We don't want it here. |
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Re: Medical malpractice is going to effect my future |
by Mark A. Morenz
morenz (nospam) life.uiuc.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
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Hello Maya:
Thank you for this article. This is a very important issue.
I would just add that much of what you will hear and read in the mainstream media will present a very slanted viewpoint...namely that of the medical-insurance industry.
Here're some facts (please feel free to google such items as "medical" "malpractice" and "myth" to verify some of my sources...the center for justice and democracy is a good place to start)
Studies show that about as many people die each year from medical malpractice as from car accidents, AIDS, and breast cancer combined. So it's important for patients to have some legal resource to make sure that large medical establishments have some rational reason to not just keep cutting costs at the expense of patients.
Studies also show that about 1-3% of hospitalized patients suffer from malpractice. A very small percentage of those (1-10%) actually file suits. Only about 30% of those that file suits actually win damages. And that the average damages are about $30k. All added together the costs of lawuits equal about 1/2 of 1% of the total costs of health care in our country.
Skyrocketing premiums have more to do with the predatory and sometimes incompetent business and accounting practices of the insurance industry. For solutions that do more than just scapegoat the victims we might want to start there.
Again, thanks so much for bringing this very important issue (medical malpractice) to light. Be well.
:-{)]
Mark Morenz |
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Re: Medical malpractice is going to effect my future |
by mrs. rbknight
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Nov 2004
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in response to rbknight who probably didn't notice that he was speaking to an 11 year old....or worse yet,... did notice and decided to spout off like an ignoramous....we, on the left, really don't appreciate a Rush Limbaugh approach to an otherwise intelligent dialogue. |
