Patients are not the problem
USA Today
Guest Editorial
January 10, 2005

By Joanne Doroshow

In the sensationalized debate over what is causing doctors' insurance premiums to soar, there is typically little talk of the epidemic of medical malpractice that exists in America today. Up to 98,000 people die and hundreds of thousands are injured in hospitals each year due to medical errors.

A report commissioned by the White House recently found that if incompetent doctors were prevented from practicing, malpractice and lawsuits would both be reduced.

Yet rather than focus on improving patient safety, the White House has decided to support placing legal obstacles in the way of sick and injured patients.

And when you realize that the president also supports giving legal protection to reckless pharmaceutical companies that put unsafe drugs on the market, you start to understand where his priorities are, and they're not with average Americans.

What is driving the discussion today is a sad reality: Many doctors cannot find affordable malpractice insurance. But the solutions to those problems do not lie with weakening the jury system or taking away patients' rights. The solutions lie with the insurance industry, an industry that last year made more money than ever in its history.

Very few states have any meaningful regulation of insurance rates. In the few states that do, such as California, rates have stayed under control. On the other hand, states that have tried to solve this problem by limiting compensation to patients have seen rates skyrocket for doctors.

Our health care problems cannot be solved by focusing on the legal system, even though some argue that the fear of litigation is causing a culture of silence in hospital corridors. The reality is that hospitals that are subject to immunity laws, such as in Massachusetts, still vastly underreport their mistakes. Doctors rarely talk openly about errors for many reasons, and litigation is not the only, or even principal, reason for it.

More significantly, laws that make it less likely that hospitals, HMOs, drug companies and nursing homes will be held accountable in court weaken their financial incentive to operate safely.

Sadly, Americans will suffer and many more will die if these laws are passed.

Joanne Doroshow is executive director of the Center for Justice & Democracy.