Subject:  Re: Republicans ARE to blame for "tort reform" in many states. |
Author:
Gina
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Date Posted: 09/ 4/04 3:52pm
In reply to:
DivaFonda
's message, "Republicans ARE to blame for "tort reform" in many states." on 09/ 4/04 1:06am
I agree that there is no amount of money that can compensate a person for such a loss - which is exactly why I don't see such huge awards. Those families definitely deserve to have the very best medical care and a decent amount of money to punish the hospital of it's negligence.
However, I think of it this way: When hospitals and insurance companies are liable for such huge amounts what happens? Well, first of all the insurance companies raise their rates to the doctors and the hospitals. In turn the hospitals and doctors raise their rates to offset the increased premiums. All doctors, not just the guilty ones - ALL of them have to pay higher premiums, even the good, clinically excellent ones. Some can't make it and they end up going out of business, give up medicine and have to find another profession. The loss of good doctors is no small matter in many communities - it can be devastating.
Once the doctors, hospitals and insurance companies raise their rates, take a wild guess who gets to pay - that's right - you and me.
We pay in the form of increased premiums for private insurance, or increased medicare premiums (which BTW are going to increase in 2005 by more than 17%, and that's to people on fixed incomes). We pay in decreased benefits in the hospitals; we pay in increased costs in the workplace for the same coverage. We all pay and pay and pay for less and less. And all because a jury somewhere awarded one family more than $30 million dollars.
Now tell me this: What can one family do with $30 million that they cannot do with $10 or $15 million? What benefits does one get with $30 million over and above half that amount? You'll have to tell me because I really don't know, and I've given it a LOT of thought. For me it's like going to a five star restaurant and paying $200 for a plate of food. Sure you get excellent service, but you get excellent service in restaurants that charge a tenth of that. So it's the food - right? Now tell me what can you do with food that makes it worth $200 a plate?
I believe in juries and I believe that once a verdict is rendered, failing any legal error, the verdict should stand. I believe that attorney's should be amply compensated and aside from lying, they should be able to present their case with all the passion they can muster.
But I also believe there should be a limit that would compensate the families but not bankrupt everyone else down the line.
When I was in nursing school a really gifted Pediatrician told my class that the problem with medicine today is that we are saving lives that we shouldn't save. In a more reasonable time, babies born with terrible birth defects who had no hope for a normal life would generally die. IOW, God took over. Now, we have all this sophisticated, state of the art equipment that not only can save lives, but often bring the clinically dead back to life and with all that entails, brain damage, pain and no quality of life. To sum it up - he felt that we are "saving lives that would be better off in heaven." Well, I don't know how others feel about that, I think a case could be made on either side of that debate, but I personally agree.
We all complain about the cost of living. Now we need to ask ourselves why.
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