http://www.washingtontimes.com/natio...1234-1949r.htm

The American Medical Association lists North Carolina's current health care situation as a "crisis" and blames it on medical-malpractice lawsuits such as the ones that made Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards a millionaire many times over.During his 20 years of suing doctors and hospitals, he pioneered the art of blaming psychiatrists for patients who commit suicide and blaming doctors for delivering babies with cerebral palsy, according to doctors, fellow lawyers and legal observers who followed Mr. Edwards' career in North Carolina.
"The John Edwards we know crushed [obstetrics, gynecology] and neurosurgery in North Carolina," said Dr. Craig VanDerVeer, a Charlotte neurosurgeon. "As a result, thousands of patients lost their health care."
"And all of this for the little people?" he asked, a reference to Mr. Edwards' argument that he represented regular people against mighty foes such as prosperous doctors and big insurance companies. "How many little people do you know who will supply you with $60 million in legal fees over a couple of years?" Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Edwards declined to comment beyond e-mailing his and John Kerry's "real plan for medical-malpractice reform."
The plan calls for one measure that Mr. Edwards previously had said is meaningless and does not impose caps on verdicts for economic damages or limits on attorneys' fees. "He was very good at it," said Dr. John Schmitt, an obstetrician and gynecologist who used to practice in Mr. Edwards' hometown of Raleigh. "But the science behind a lot of his arguments was flawed."
In 2003, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a joint study that cast serious doubt on whether events at childbirth cause cerebral palsy. The "vast majority" of cerebral palsy cases originate long before childbirth, according to the study.
"Now, he would have a much harder time proving a lot of his cases," said Dr. Schmitt, who now practices at the University of Virginia Health System.

This is s red herring. Lawsuits are used as the boogie man for blaming the cost of health care but if you analyze the detail reports from the major Health Insurance carriers you will find out that the medical HEALTH CARE costs are fulEed by hospital fees, testing/lab fees, "Skilled Nursing fees' etc etc. Outrageous jury awards get the press because they are news, they Spike out. Most states that enacted limits on awards have not shown any decrease in Insurance costs of any kind.

There is a counter arguement to this. Malpractice suits cause the system to be self checking. I'm not an expert on this, but there are two sides.

It is silly to blame Edwards for the crises -- this is just right wing bunk. Edwards is a guy who fought for the little guy against the big insurance companies. I find it funny as_hell To listen to the Republicans_(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) about lawyers. You'll notice that THEY have a ARMY of lawyers willing to attest to their point.

The reason healthcare has gone up is due to demand.

Also, maybe part of the problem is incompetent doctors who aren't properly trained because of 1) demand 2) poor education standards, etc.

I WANT to be able to HOLD DOCTORS ACCOUNTABLE!!!!! Especially as I get older.

All I'm saying is the jury is still out on this -- so to speak.

I would be interested to hear some specific cases -- the exact suit and the awards that were given -- if anyone has that information.

__________________
"What does a former president's son know about the Iraq war anyway?"
-- GW Bush when asked about Ron Reagan's negative comments, 6/25/2004.
www.BushZombie.com

New 2002 Government Data Dispute Malpractice Lawsuit "Crisis"

Malpractice Payouts Declined as Insurance Premiums
Spiked; 5.2 Percent of Doctors Are Responsible for 55 Percent
of Malpractice Payouts

The number of medical malpractice payouts decreased by 8.2 percent, from 16,669 in 2001 to 15,304 in 2002, according to a Public Citizen analysis of new National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) records for last year. The total damages paid to victims declined by 6.9 percent, from $4.5 billion in 2001 to $4.2 billion in 2002, the analysis found. When adjusted for medical services inflation in 2002 the decline was even ore dramatic - 11.2 percent. (See Figure 1 in fact sheet, available at http://www.citizen.org/documents/MedMal_Update.pdf ) The cost of medical care typically represents the greatest cost in a medical malpractice payout.

The number of awards greater than $1 million decreased by 11.5 percent, from 454 in 2001 to 402 in 2002

The mean payment per malpractice victim increased by just 1.4 percent in 2002, lagging behind the increase in health care inflation of 4.8 percent during that year for an inflation-adjusted drop of 3.3 percent

In 2000, the total premiums paid for malpractice insurance constituted 0.56 percent of all health care expenditures.

"The American Medical Association says that 100 doctors were put out of business last year in West Virginia because of rising medical malpractice insurance rates, yet the damages paid out in West Virginia dropped by 31 percent during the same period. If that $15 million in savings didn't help, how would damage caps solve the problem?" Claybrook asked

http://www.njccj.org/medicalmalpractice/crisis.htm

When a doctor's mal practice insurance goes from $30,000 a year to $300,000 a year, that cost is past on to the consumer. Meaning us & our medical insurance premiums. There was a special report on this a couple of months ago. Medical mal practice insurance has gone through the roof. It has put a lot of great doctors out of business. They can no longer afford to pay for mal practice insurance.

And it also puts children at risk for head trauma injuries. The report stated, that one child with serious head trauma was taken to a local emergency room. There were qualified doctors in the emergency room, "that did not have the correct mal-practice insurance to treat the child." Why? They couldn't afford it, so they elected NOT to treat children with head trauma. The mother was horrified. They ended up flying the child to two different states in order to find the doctor who would treat this child, that had the correct mal practice insurance, & would take the risk for a future down the road law suit. Critical hours were lost in treating this 9 year old boy. The claim. They could treat this child easily in the local emergency room. But, when this child grew up & didn't get the grades in school, that he or the parents wanted. The parents & the child could suit the hospital & doctors & get awarded millions of dollars.

President Bush's plan of limiting "punitive" or punish damages to $250,000 is a good idea. The patient, if injured by a doctor or hospital, would be taken care of medically, loss of income for life, if necessary, rehabiitation, etc. But the "punish" award would be limited to $250,000.

John Kerry, has absolutely no plan whatsoever to reduce or even stabilize the ever increasing cost of health insurance. He wants to tax the so called 2%, over $200,000 a year income, to pay the medical insurance for the other 98% of the population. Now, does that make any sense at all to you?

John Edwards is a major part of the problem with the rising cost of health insurance. He has made millions & millions of dollars suiting doctors & hospitals. John Kerry also a lawyer is not going to vote for Bush's plan, or even bring it up, if elected.

THE BRAKES NEED TO BE PUT ON THE EVER RISING COST OF HEALTH INSURANCE. That's the problem! Once that is done, we can look to measures to have 98% in this country covered.

When a doctor's malpractice insurance goes from $30K to $300K a year he's been ripped off by his insurance company. But by all means don't let silly little things like facts and statistics interfere with your anti-Kerry theories, keep blaming it all on Edwards, keep believing that insurance companies are not in business of ripping off their customers. Ignorance is a bliss and you'll feel so much better voting for Dubya if you just keep your blind faith in him alive and ignore the facts.

...there won't be a need for malpractice insurance..

The healthcare industry needs to weed out the bad doctors and stop sheltering them...

THEN healthcare costs go down....

__________________
The last time this country mixed politics with religion, people got burned at the stake.

All of a sudden the doctors and nurses upped their prices ? for what. The fact is the malpractice insureance forced it. We are not just talking hospitals here. Pravite practice, private offices all of them are being run out.

Hospital spending has overtaken drug costs as the leading driver of health inflation in the U.S., according to a new study. Hospital spending is increasing at a rate not seen since the early 1990s, due to a combination of looser restrictions by managed care plans that have increased utilization, rising labor costs due to the nursing shortage, and increases in payments from insurance companies to hospitals, according to a report from the Center for Studying Health System Change.

* Hospital spending increased in 2000 around 2.8 percent on the inpatient side and 11.2 percent for outpatient care. o Together, both accounted for 47 percent of the overall increase in health spending.

* By comparison, 27 percent of the increase is attributable to more spending on drugs.

* Spending on physician services increased by 4.8 percent, accounting for 25 percent of the total.

The overall health inflation rate of 7.2 percent in 2000 is the largest increase in a decade. According to the study, the lagging economy means that employers are far less likely to absorb the premium increases.
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/hea/pd100101d.html
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Its a combination of things actually.
Am I mistaken or is insurance suddenly deregulated? id it still not closely watched so just the idea you propose dose not happen?

I never get sick so I am not as firmilar with this subject.