Post by Denise on Jun 6, 2011 10:16:41 GMT
By Sidney P. Cominsky
Before we blame the medical malpractice crisis upon the victims of malpractice and their advocates, I would like you to consider the following:-
ÖIn 1998, the Harvard Medical Practice Study published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that 98,000 people die as a result of malpractice committed in hospitals each year.
ÖIn 2000, the Institute of Medicine published an article entitled, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” which stated that in any given year, more people die as a result of medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents (43,458) or breast cancer (42,297) or AIDS (16,516).
ÖIn 2003, the Congressional Budget Office found that there were 181,000 severe injuries attributable to medical negligence.
ÖIn 2004, HealthGrades, the nation’s leading health care rating organization, found that “The United States loses more American lives to patient safety incidents every six months than it did in the entire Vietnam War. This also equates to three fully loaded jumbo jets crashing every other day for the last five years.”
Ö In November 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported, “An estimated 1.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced an event that contributed to their death, which projects to 15,000 patients in a single month.”
Ö In January of this year, the obstetrics department of the Cornell Weill/Columbia Presbyterian Obstetrics and Gynecology Department in New York City published a study that showed that they had reduced their malpractice premiums, and more importantly, their malpractice claims by an astounding 99 percent by simply re-examining and redoing their policies and procedures. There was no cap placed on their creativity.
Given these horrifying findings of the scientific community, how does a limitation of rights help either the past or future victims of malpractice or make medicine better? Will taking away the rights of patients and their families result in less malpractice, or will better medicine reduce the cost and incidence of malpractice?
The blame for the high cost of medical malpractice rests not upon the victims, but on the shoulders of the medical profession, the medical device industry and the pharmaceutical companies.
Sidney P. Cominsky is a lawyer with a practice in Syracuse.
Before we blame the medical malpractice crisis upon the victims of malpractice and their advocates, I would like you to consider the following:-
ÖIn 1998, the Harvard Medical Practice Study published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that 98,000 people die as a result of malpractice committed in hospitals each year.
ÖIn 2000, the Institute of Medicine published an article entitled, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System,” which stated that in any given year, more people die as a result of medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents (43,458) or breast cancer (42,297) or AIDS (16,516).
ÖIn 2003, the Congressional Budget Office found that there were 181,000 severe injuries attributable to medical negligence.
ÖIn 2004, HealthGrades, the nation’s leading health care rating organization, found that “The United States loses more American lives to patient safety incidents every six months than it did in the entire Vietnam War. This also equates to three fully loaded jumbo jets crashing every other day for the last five years.”
Ö In November 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported, “An estimated 1.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced an event that contributed to their death, which projects to 15,000 patients in a single month.”
Ö In January of this year, the obstetrics department of the Cornell Weill/Columbia Presbyterian Obstetrics and Gynecology Department in New York City published a study that showed that they had reduced their malpractice premiums, and more importantly, their malpractice claims by an astounding 99 percent by simply re-examining and redoing their policies and procedures. There was no cap placed on their creativity.
Given these horrifying findings of the scientific community, how does a limitation of rights help either the past or future victims of malpractice or make medicine better? Will taking away the rights of patients and their families result in less malpractice, or will better medicine reduce the cost and incidence of malpractice?
The blame for the high cost of medical malpractice rests not upon the victims, but on the shoulders of the medical profession, the medical device industry and the pharmaceutical companies.
Sidney P. Cominsky is a lawyer with a practice in Syracuse.