The MalPractice Myth

I feel it's neccessary to post something to counter the rhetoric of those who believe/perpetuate the hyperbole concerning the supposed link between a patients right to sue and the rising cost of healthcare.

Des Moines Register
The malpractice myth
By Register Editorial Board
07/11/2003
President Bush said in his State of the Union address this year that the threat of lawsuits against doctors and hospitals was one of the "prime causes" of rising health-care costs. Bush's words suggest a correlation between health-care costs and the premiums physicians and hospitals pay to protect themselves in lawsuits.
Yet between 1988 and 1998, U.S. health-care costs increased 74.4 percent while malpractice premiums increased 5.7 percent. The total premiums paid in 2000 added up to 0.56 of the nation's total health-care bill.
Bush asked Congress to "pass medical-liability reform" that would limit malpractice awards. The House passed it. Senate Democrats thwarted the bill this week. Bush wants Americans to believe that if insurance companies have to pay smaller damages to injured patients, physicians will have lower premiums and health-care costs could actually be held down.
Wrong again.
New information in a national database that collects reports of every judgment and settlement paid in malpractice demonstrates just the opposite. An analysis of that data by a consumer-advocacy group reveals malpractice payouts decreased by 8.2 percent between 2001 and 2002. Meanwhile, doctors" premiums didn't go down.
Damage awards greater than $1 million decreased more than 10 percent between those years. Doctors" premiums weren't affected.
There's simply no correlation between lawsuits and insurance rates. Rather, insurance rates are tied to the climate of the stock and bond market, where insurance companies invest much of their money.
Granted, the way doctors practice medicine could be affected by the threat of lawsuits. They order tests as "defensive medicine" for fear that not doing so could land them in a heap of trouble. Limiting damage awards wouldn't assuage that fear. It would, however, unfairly hurt patients who deserve compensation.
Limiting damages to wronged Americans would have no impact on health-care costs. The president should stop perpetuating the myth that it would.

For More fact-filled Links try these:
http://www.abota.org/education/archive/mythsandfacts.asp

http://www.texmed.org/pmt/lel/cln/pa_myth_reality.asp