- After residents’ access to Texas care is threatened, New Mexico passes law making clear that care given in other states is subject to those states’ laws, not N.M.’s [Texas Alliance for Patient Access, earlier]
- Shkreli notwithstanding, “the big news about generic drugs is good news. Generic drug prices are falling” [Alex Tabarrok]
- Party of Science? Bernie Sanders has steered federal backing to alternative medicine [Skeptical Raptor]
- “There is no problem so bad that government-imposed remedies cannot make it worse, spawn new problems or both.” For instance: crackdown on opiates [Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune/syndicated; related upcoming April 29 Cato event with Jeffrey Miron, David Murray, and Tim Lynch]
- Struggle against “sanism” might push egalitarianism too far, or maybe it’s a natural [Scott Greenfield on Michael Perlin program at National Association for Public Defense]
- Once again — how many times does this make? — malpractice reform proposals in U.S. Congress run aground for failure to anticipate federalist objections [The Hill, ABA Journal, Dean Clancy, my 2011 take]
Filed under: Bernie Sanders, disabled rights, illegal drugs, medical malpractice, New Mexico, pharmaceuticals, psychiatry
2 Comments
Why is Malpractice Reform being rejected? The legislators who are objecting to correct what has allowed physicians, hospitals to get away with legally harming patients is getting paid to object. I would think that if a law is being created and it caused harm, it is unconstitutional….1.5 million people are dying a year and all it takes is for the medical community to go talk to their friends to help keep the public from legal remedies that are constitutional rights. How many people have to die should be the question? This is not about frivolous lawsuits, but it is about the fact the insurance companies are no longer providing med/mal insurance because of the medical malpractice suits so this campaign of untruths continue to sweep our country.
If mainstream media and national newspaper allow us to voice our concerns the truth would be seen.
The malpractice reforms don’t prevent harmed patients from going to court & receiving compensation from their injuries.
What they limit (not eliminate) are the punitive damage awards which constitute punishment for the tort on top of the compensation.
If medicine were an exact science where when a physician is presented with tests indicating a, b & e then treatments m & q would always work then stricter liability might be reasonable. But medicine is not like that. It’s full of judgement calls and treatments that work for 65% of people with a certain condition, do nothing for 33% and actually harm the remaining 2%.
There are actually good reasons besides cost control to limit punitive damages. Some bad outcomes are true incompetence type malpractice. Many others are ordinary mistakes, the kind everybody makes. And others are because there is frequently not an exact match between symptoms & proper treatments so even the best doctors will prescribe an incorrect treatment without actually doing anything wrong.
But juries, lacking any medical training, and getting conflicting information in court will often award punitive damages primarily depending on how bad the outcome is – not how liable the doctor is.
Compensation for injuries is one thing. Punitive damages are quite another.