A Different Side (Medical Malpractice Crisis My Ass Part IV)

[Thanks to the comments of an anonymous poster, I've decided to take a slightly different slant on my regular rant.]

We've heard all the arguments, pondered what was to be done about it, debated if it even in fact exists. That's rights folks, its time for my favorite topic: the medical malpractice "crisis." As you know from past posts (Parts I, II, III), I'm angered by the way supposed lack of tort reform has been used as a sorry excuse for the rising costs of health care in this country, which I'm damn sure can't be solved by taking away a patient's protections. And in fact, it turns out that even if the fear of being sued went away, that wouldn't do much for patient's safety (and we already know it would do nothing for cost containment.)

The Seattle Times published an article based on a study regarding a doctor's decisions to tell, or to not tell an unknowing, unsuspecting patient about a medical mistake that had been made. The title of the article is Lawsuit fears aren't reason for docs' silence on errors.

As debates over medical malpractice raged in Washington and across the country, many doctors have blamed a litigious system in the United States for discouraging doctors from openly admitting mistakes to patients. Those same doctors have held up the Canadian system, which drastically limits liability and discourages lawsuits, as a model.

But it turns out that it's not the risk of lawsuits that zips doctors' lips but rather the "culture of medicine" itself, say leading researchers on the subject.

I couldn't imagine the difficulty of being a doctor, or surgeon, or caregiver of any kind, when someone else's life is in my hands. I know many if not MOST physicians take this responsibility with the utmost seriousness and gravitas that it deserves. Of course that's not to say that there are uncaring SOB's out there practicing medicine (as witnessed by this Washington Post article) who could give a care about you as the patient, but that's not my point.

My point is that if you are going to allow 46 million U.S.ians to go uninsured, and allow 18,000 of them to DIE every year because of it, and then blame it on frivolous medical malpractice suits which are the cause of sky rocketing health care costs, you've got to be out of your mind, and think that the rest of us are too.

Canadians don't have better health outcomes, and more general coverage than we do because of their system of "don't tell the patient" therefore don't get sued, therefore don't have out of control insurance costs that makes health care unaffordable.

Doctor's fears of getting sued don't keep insurance costs down, or make for a more just health care system.

disclosure is... crucial to improving patient safety, advocates such as Larson say.

"This code of silence, this conspiracy of silence does not work for reducing errors," Larson said. "What we know now is it does nobody any good to bury a mistake or cover up a mistake; you can't correct what led to the mistake unless you deal with it explicitly."

It's a simple and human fact that it's damn fucking hard to admit to a mistake, especially when it's one that could change a person's life forever. Understandable, but not excusable. Let's now follow this red herring of "crisis" and out of control costs. Let's make sure that patients are getting the best care possible, and when they aren't, let's make sure they know about it, and have the right to recourse.