The Ownership Society
May 9th, 2006 at 7:05 am by Susie
The Republican philosophy is, if someone cuts off the wrong leg, it’s your problem and not the person’s who did it to you:
The Senate on Monday once again rebuffed a Republican effort to limit jury awards in medical malpractice cases, taking the issue — a high priority for both President Bush and the majority leader, Senator Bill Frist — off the agenda for this year.
In back-to-back votes, Republicans fell far short of the 60 senators necessary to proceed on two malpractice-related measures. The first would have capped jury awards in all lawsuits against doctors and health care institutions; the second would have applied caps only to cases involving obstetricians, who have been especially hard-hit by malpractice rates.
Three Republicans — Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Michael D. Crapo of Wyoming and Richard C. Shelby of Alabama — joined with Democrats in blocking the measures from consideration. It was the fourth time in the past three years that Republicans had tried, and failed, to bring medical malpractice legislation to a vote in the Senate. [...]
“The explanation for these premium spikes can be found not in legislative halls or courtrooms, but in the boardrooms,” said one Democratic opponent, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
I am related to a lot of doctors, and so medical malpractice, tort reform, and abuses by insurers are common topics of conversation. In the context of those discussions, I am told (no independent confirmation) that total malpractice awards for the last year for which reports are available (probably 2004) in Minnesota were in the $23,000,000 range, and that the compensation for the state’s largest medical insurer’s CEO was in the $143,000,000 range. That seems extreme, but illustrative of where the problem lies. There is room for improvement in all sectors of the system by which patients get treated and victims get compensated, but where the problem is money the solution will be found where most of the money is going, and that is not in victims’ pockets, or even in their lawyers’ pockets.
When Insurance companies declare they loss money , lets look at where the losses really are. Poor investments in the market low/lost returns. Malpractice insurance companies lose money in the stock or bond market and cry for caps on the most innocent party to the problem. This is what I see with 8 years experiance in the trading pits of Chicago. The insurance companies are not losing money!
And we now have 3rd world county infant mortality rates, because more and more OBGYN’s can’t afford insurance rates. My Uncle Howard left 2 years ago. His kids where out of college and he didn’t need the grind anymore.
Oops, Wrong Leg…
Another view on medical malpractice is that it keeps the medical profession honest…….