Christian MD: Legal System Has Turned Malpractice Suits Into Patient 'Lottery'
by Mary Rettig
June 12, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The executive director of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) says the malpractice system is broken and needs to be fixed. The comment came after a recent study from Harvard found that four out of every 10 medical malpractice cases were groundless. The researchers reported that many of the lawsuits they analyzed had no evidence that a medical error was committed or even that the patient had suffered any injury.
However, Dr. David Stevens of the CMDA says he thought the number of groundless cases would have been even higher. "When I went to medical school, we used to say bad doctors got sued," he notes. "By the time I was in practice, a lot of doctors got sued. Now everybody gets sued, no matter whether you're a good doctor, bad doctor, or whatever."
Unfortunately, Stevens observes, the medical malpractice system in America has "turned into the lottery." The potential for enormous payouts from these cases has many people filing despite having no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of their doctors, he says.
Many people say, "Let's sue the doctor if there's even a bad outcome, because the chance of making a huge amount of money is there," the Christian physician explains. "The system that's in place, where malpractice lawyers are not paid a fixed fee for services or per hour but paid upon a contingency fee, encourages people to sue with no risk to themselves."
This system gives the lawyer every incentive, Stevens adds, "to get as much as he can and to stretch the truth, for want of a better word, because they will personally benefit." As a result, he says, skyrocketing malpractice insurance is forcing some doctors out of the profession.
What the country needs, the CMDA spokesman contends, is a system like that in place in the state of Indiana, which requires all malpractice cases to go before a review board to see if the facts merit a trial.
Implementing a system like Indiana's would cut down on gigantic jury awards, Stevens asserts. That, he says, would in turn lower medical malpractice insurance costs, which would benefit both doctors and patients.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
