Like others who’ve looked at the question of how to close the federal government’s vast budget deficit, it finds promise in the idea of curbing liability payouts and defensive medicine. Trial lawyers are vowing to fight. [National Law Journal, Point of Law]
2 Comments
The problem is the Commission merely recommends damages caps. That doesn’t begin to address the root of the problem, which is too many frivolous suits that proceed at great expense due to our extraordinarily liberal and expensive discovery rules. Damages caps are essentially subsidies for frivolous suits.
How about improving patient safety? If doctors and hospitals stop butchering over 100,000 individuals per year to death as a result of medical negligence, wouldn’t that begin to close the deficit on healthcare spending?
How about eliminating frivilous defenses?