Tort Reform And Medical Malpractice

Authors Note: This paper is being submitted on the 18th of March 2013 for the winter semester of Medical Law and Ethics section 05.

For decades doctors have been revered, respected, and regarded as “saviors,” but what medical practitioners and health officials do not reveal is that there are some doctors that are unlawfully practicing medicine, and nothing is being done to stop them. Medical malpractice is the illegal or improper practice of medicine. Unfortunately, this is far too common. The people that are victims of malpractice often get no compensation for the problems a physician has created. Although doctors are trusted individuals and have a right to provide medical advice, perform surgeries, and prescribe medicine, patients should also be able to have more control and security in their medical dealings through new laws and regulations.

The threat of liability, of ruining the good names of the anesthesiologist and the hospital, of increased insurance premiums—all of these add to the reasoning behind the anesthesiologist’s decision to alter the patient’s history and lie about what truly happened. As portrayed in The Verdict, one of the most challenging features of a retributive approach in malpractice suits is that it instantly

Health risk the growth of mal practice and the deposition of quality care needs improvement, many patients are not receiving the fair treatment due compensation. Patients liability should be upheld within any health facility The safety for patients and medical liability is important in healthcare because many physicians have obligations required to be fulfilled by law to make sure the quality of care is done in a professional manner.federal law has created an legal system that still faces issues dealing with quality of care.Many health physicians still lack accuracy when it comes to a patients liability. Malpractice has not made the right changes to set forth better effort to the improvement of quality health care.The way courts handle

Medical malpractice claims have risen dramatically over the past 40 years alongside the financial claim awards (Kessler, 2011). Currently, America’s medical tort system is regulated and enforced primarily by the states (“Medical Tort System,” 2016). The main focus of tort law is to preserve the peace between two parties, to determine fault and discourage wrong doing (Pozgar, 2016). Most physicians today carry medical malpractice insurance to protect themselves from the high defense costs of claims and potential financial awards (Kessler, 2011). As the number of medical claims increase and jury awarded punitive damage skyrocket, medical malpractice insurance premiums have also risen dramatically (Kessler, 2011). Malpractice insurance

Across the country, there are calls for medical malpractice tort reform based on the perception of frivolous lawsuits by patients with patients without valid claims and less-than-scrupulous lawyers are willing to prosecute them. On the one hand, the fact that some plaintiffs have received enormous settlements as a result of their medical malpractice lawsuits further fuels the debate that tort reform is needed to avoid these types of settlements that are incongruent with the facts. On the other hand, though, few observers would likely argue that some type of medical malpractice protections are required in order to protect patients from truly substandard and dangerous medical care practices and to compensate them for their injuries when these eventualities occur. One state that has implemented reasonable malpractice statutes and procedures that avoid these two extremes is Ohio where legislators passed tort reform laws in 2002. By contrast, many of the State of Michigan's laws on medical malpractice date back 40 years. This paper provides a description of the provisions of the medical malpractice statutes and procedures from these two states, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Malpractice is the failure to provide professional services with the skill usually exhibited by responsible and careful members of the profession, resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the party contracting those services. Though accountants, lawyers, and other professionals can be charged with malpractice, the term is most commonly associated with medical professionals (e.g., doctors, nurses, hospital technicians.) Liability in malpractice depends on whether "a physician meets a legally required standard of care" (Greenberg 2011). Most medical malpractice suits are for negligence on the part of medical professionals in providing this expected level of care. In recent decades, partially as a consequence of medical costs, there has been a considerable expansion of medical malpractice suits, though the number of malpractice claims represents only a small percentage (about 3%) of all cases of actual negligence. State tort provisions do "influence litigation risk and malpractice insurance is used to mitigate this risk" (Linville 2011).

Alexis- Negligence and Intentional torts both contribute to the health industry. Negligence is something that most people sue for, and all health professionals should understand how to avoid these situations. For example: the physician should make sure he/she has a complete understanding about the individual medical need, before releasing them. By doing this they can avoid the chances of misdiagnosing or creating mire problems. Protecting the patients right is and should a mission for each health provider to avoid a potential law suit. All professional should be knowledgeable about the importance of intentional torts a how to avoid crossing that path. Fastidious discussion post for this module, keep up the good work.

First, what is a medical malpractice insurance policy? A professional liability insurance policy can cover physical injury, property damage, and mental injury of another person, real or perceived, which occurred during interaction with them as a healthcare

A common concern in healthcare today is the lack of quality care and the rising costs of services. The low quality care brings forth medical errors, administrative fees, overtreatment as well as under treatment. All of which lead to higher costs. Patients are left dissatisfied and physicians, frustrated. With these two forces aggravated with a system where they both see no benefit, lawsuits are foreseeable. However, attorneys repeatedly argue that the looming threat of lawsuits creates incentives for healthcare providers to administer careful and quality care. Yet, lawsuits have proven to only further harm the already flawed system. Lawsuits encourage all parties to participate in a practice known as defensive

Medical malpractice cases are quickly rising all across the United States and the situation is no different in Iowa as well. It has now become important to understand how malpractice occurrences can be identified and the people empowered to rise against such issues and claim their due monetary compensation.

In the healthcare field, one of the rudimentary rules first learned is maleficent, “to do no harm.” However, medical malpractice seems to be skyrocketing throughout the years. In 2010, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), the United States was experiencing its third full blown medicine liability crisis with many physicians’ practices becoming limited due to increasing malpractice costs (Ellington, 2010). According to Sage (2012), United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and a high rate of litigation. Under the healthcare delivery system, it is viewed as far from perfect and the primary cause for high unjustified medical spending. As well as, the largest financial damages awarded to successful plaintiffs

Malpractice actions are different from state to state, but I don’t think it’s consistent with the public’s generally held beliefs about malpractice because people want physicians to be liable for damages and

In “Judicial Approach to Medical Malpractice Reform”, Barbara G. Taft addresses the constitutional debate between state supreme courts and state legislation in regards to amending medical malpractice for their unconstitutional rulings. Taft adds that even though states have “sovereignty” over medical malpractice responsibility, congress holds the capacity to overrule state statutes through the “Commerce Clause of the U.S Constitution”.

Negligence happens when a “person’s actions fall below a certain level of care. Negligence can involve doing something carelessly or failing to do something that should have been done.” (Fremgen, 2009, p. 35). In order to prove negligence the plaintiff must present the following elements: 1) duty to care, 2) breach of duty to care, 3) injury and 4) causation (Pozgar, 2012, p. 33). Duty to care is the first element which deals with the care that the defendant (physician) owes the plaintiff (the patient).