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It's hard to be an efficient system when everyone demands the highest level of testing for every little thing. With a customer-service oriented society that litigates the second they don't get their way, it's hard to dole out the care appropriately without major CYA action.
Location: In a Galaxy far, far away called Germany
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Originally Posted by hammertime33
Yeah, but as far as the developed 1st world goes, no healthcare system wastes more on bureaucratic/administrative costs as the US healthcare system. We run the most inefficient and wasteful system out there. It's shameful. American should be the best, not the worst.
A lot of that is due to hospitals & insurance companies having to cover their butts because of the litigational buzzards are always circling overhead. Lawsuits alone shot up healthcare to the extreme levels we have (this is not to say that some lawsuits are not legitimate).
A lot of that is due to hospitals & insurance companies having to cover their butts because of the litigational buzzards are always circling overhead. Lawsuits alone shot up healthcare to the extreme levels we have (this is not to say that some lawsuits are not legitimate).
Not really. Medical malpractice constitutes a very small percentage of healthcare costs.
Location: In a Galaxy far, far away called Germany
4,300 posts, read 4,408,318 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hammertime33
Not really. Medical malpractice constitutes a very small percentage of healthcare costs.
My sister is a doctor with her own practice and she says that up to half of her insurance costs deal with malpractice protection and that the only way for her to cover them is to pass it on to her patients (their insurance company - really). It is far more than a small percentage. There is also the preventative precautions by ordering extra tests, scans, appointments and medicines just to make sure a lawyer doesn't have even the slightest of an opening to introduce a malpractice.
Not really. Medical malpractice constitutes a very small percentage of healthcare costs.
That is such malarkey. A huge percentage of the testing I do is because I might have to some day prove out my thought process. Not because I really need the test to treat the patient.
Not to mention the courses in risk management we have to take. The multimillion dollar documentation systems we have to keep. The multilayered PI we have to do, etc, etc, etc.
All of you in this thread who keep slamming the lawyers and malpractice insurance, I'd like to remind you that not one lawyer or judge has ever decided an award for malpractice. Awards in a malpractice suit are determined by a jury of peers. That's right, average citizens and your next door neighbor determine the amount of malpractice awards.
The point about future payments tied to the continued treatment of the litigant is also a reason for large awards due to the fact that no private insurance is available due to pre-existing conditions after the fact. If we had universal health care then the large sums awarded would go away for the most part as treatment would be provided by the system after the award.
As far as contributing to the practice of defensive medicine, that is a probability but not because of lawyers but because of doctors and medical institutions.
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. I was wondering about that too.
