In this article we're going to look at the ugly political side of malpractice which is most likely the main reason that malpractice laws are not toughened.This article is focusing mainly on the problem that they are having in PA in the good old United States, the worst country for malpractice suits in the whole world.Pennsylvania is in the midst of a terrible health crisis, including medical malpractice which is at the top of the list. The legislature is constantly debating remedies to the problem but nobody is coming up with a solution.
The main problem is that there isn't enough data to determine if a cap should be put on malpractice claims, the amount of money one can get from a claim. Plus they're not even sure if putting on this cap is going to lower insurance premiums or not as that is out of their control.The most recent proposal was to put a $250,000 cap on any malpractice claim for what they term "pain and suffering." Because medical malpractice premiums are so high in this state it is believed that is the reason why so few new doctors are setting up shop in PA and why others are actually leaving the state. There are actually documented cases of premiums going up from $20,000 to $60,000 to cover malpractice insurance in just one year and that's for people who have never been sued.Sam Marshall, a lobbyist representing the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, predicted that malpractice premiums would go down by about 20 percent if caps were put in place on malpractice suits.
But there is no real evidence to support this claim, not with premiums going up for doctors who have never been sued.The opposite end of the argument insists that medical malpractice premiums wouldn't go down by more than one half of one percent, according to Howard P. Weiss, a former insurance executive. He said since very few pain and suffering awards even come close to $250,000 the cap would have little to no effect on those claims.The main problem though seems to be between republicans and democrats in congress.
The trial lawyers are the republican's enemies. The republicans want to embarrass them because they support the democrats. The democrats, on the other hand, want to stick it to the doctors who mostly give their money to the republicans. So in English, the democrats who are against the doctors want to see them pay, thus have no desire to see a cap on pain and suffering cases.
As far as they are concerned, malpractice premiums can go through the roof. The republicans, of course, take the opposite stance. This back and forth, in the meantime, basically brings all progress to a standstill because nobody can get any laws passed.If the two parties would just put their partisan differences aside, something they are unable to do on many issues like social security and Medicare, then maybe a solution to this problem could be found.At the rate the two parties are going, this is unlikely.
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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Malpractice
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By: Michael Russell
