By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
(Talon News)
-- President Bush hit the road Wednesday to push for legislation that would reform the medical liability system. The president traveled to an Illinois county that was designated as the top "judicial hellhole" by the American Tort Reform Association last year.
Upon arrival, the president met with a group consisting of a neurosurgeon, a cardiologist, the administrator of a hospital, an OB/GYN, and a patient, to discuss the health care crisis caused by extraordinary jury
awards and frivolous lawsuits.
Afterward, Bush told an audience of health care professionals, "I'm here to talk about how we need to fix a broken medical liability system."
Bush said that unnecessary costs
were keeping Americans from being able to afford health care. He said those costs don't start in an examining room or an operating room, but instead originate in a courtroom.
The president pointed out that all across
the country, lawyers are filing baseless suits against hospitals and doctors because they know the medical liability system is tilted in their favor. He said that skyrocketing jury awards in medical liability cases have
forced doctors to settle cases even when they know they have done nothing wrong to avoid a ruinous judgment against them.
"That's what's happening in the system today," Bush said. "It's a system that's
just not fair. It's costly for the doctors; it's costly for small businesses; it's costly for hospitals; it is really costly for patients."
The president noted that when those providing insurance have to pay the
bills for enormous jury verdicts or out-of-court settlements, premiums need to be increased on physicians they cover. Specialists in high-risk practices like OB/GYN or neurosurgery are particularly vulnerable to
lawsuits so their premiums have risen the fastest. Premiums rise even for those who have never had a claim against them.
When insurance premiums rise, doctors have no choice but to pass some of the costs on to their
patients. Patients end up paying for junk lawsuits every time they visit their doctor. In many cases, doctors stop practicing medicine or move to another place that is not as favorable an environment for predatory trial
lawyers.
In 2003, almost half of all American hospitals lost physicians or reduced services because of medical liability concerns. Over the past two years, the liability crisis has forced out about 160 physicians in
two southern Illinois counties alone.
The president declared, "America's health care professionals should be focused on fighting illnesses, not on fighting lawsuits."
Doctors are now practicing defensive
medicine, writing prescriptions, or ordering tests that really aren't necessary, just to reduce the potential of a future lawsuit. Altogether, defensive medicine drains some $60 billion to $100 billion from the economy.
Defensive medicine raises medical bills for patients and increases insurance costs for employers and it takes money away that small businesses could use to invest and expand.
Copyright © 2005 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
