Another Doctor Against Tort Reform
side note: Most doctors in the United States support tort reforms that would make it more difficult to sue for medical malpractice, arguing that this would decrease the cost of healthcare. This doctor’s essay makes the opposite claim. When you start thinking of how much money is spent on malpractice insurance for doctors, $22 billion, compared to the overall expenditures spent on healthcare ($2.6 trillion), you start to see why the med-mal industry shouldn’t be the first part to overhaul.
Today’s Salon features an essay from Rahul K. Parikh, M.D. on how restricting the legal rights of injured patients won’t lower costs or improve health care. Dr. Parikh – instead of resorting to the empty rhetoric and dubious statistics of tort reform groups – examines the actual data and academic research that’s out there.
He finds no evidence of an epidemic of malpractice suits, and that it’s not a cost-driver either.
