Pathology of Malpractice

NORMA SHERRY

Together Forever Changing

An Article

Pathology of Malpractice

Florida is facing a medical crisis we are told. Governor Jeb Bush has made it his top priority. According to physicians malpractice insurance is a stranglehold on their ability to continue practicing and staying in business. Perhaps their verbiage is more accurate than they would like. Statistics clearly indicate doctoring in Florida rates among the lowest quality in the country. Only Wisconsin and North Carolina rate worse. So, perhaps “practicing” is not a misnomer but a sad truism. As for the business part, we, the patients, have long known being a physician is a very viable and productive business.

But I digress. The average doc claims to be working one week out of every four to pay his malpractice insurance. They argue that there must be a patient cap of $250,000 per pain and suffering on any medical malpractice lawsuit.

Considering that more people have died at the hands of physician error or medical malpractice than AIDS, or Breast Cancer, and double the number of individuals that succumbed to an automobile accident in any given year, it would appear at this rate, our physician’s best carry insurance. However, the fact that they are insisting a cap be placed on the extent they are willing to be liable for a catastrophic or deadly error is unconscionable. In essence, in Florida, $250,000 is the value of a life according to our physicians. And if perhaps that patient is not so lucky as to die but, instead has to live a tortured existence because of a physician’s malfeasance, this paltry sum, akin to a drop in the bucket, is supposed to last a lifetime of care?

Florida Physicians and the AMA (American Medical Association) have begun an expensive and expansive campaign to win the support of Florida patients and citizens. Every doctor I’ve visited lately has the same poster prominently displayed with a physician’s hands bound with rope. For many individuals the fear of losing their favorite doctor is fear enough. Others may be swayed by the half-truths being perpetuated by this crusade of fear.

The true facts are these according to a report by Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy organization, and its president, Joan Claybrook, “There is no medical malpractice insurance crisis. Rather, there is excessive doctor malpractice and an insurance industry profits crisis.”

Consider this dear reader; has your homeowners insurance escalated? Has your health insurance remained the same? The answer to both is a resounding “yes”. Homeowners insurance has increased 15% and health insurance between 20 and 28%, an undeniable and significant stranglehold on the average household. In fact, health insurance is so expensive that according to the 2002 Census Report, 41.2 million Americans are uninsured and rapidly increasing.

The physician’s complaint and in some cases, tear-driven argument, that they are being driven out of business is a shameful sham. The truth of the matter, however, regarding physicians and malpractice insurance, is that there is an insurance rip-off, a clear case of chicanery at its worst. Here are the statistics, you decide.

Doctors working in Jacksonville pay $28,769 for a policy that costs doctors in Georgia $6,283 from the same company - even though Georgia's average malpractice payout in 2002 was 31 percent higher than Florida's. Florida physician’s malpractice insurance has increased 20 – 25% each year, with Gynecologists paying among the highest premiums of nearly $200,000 a year.

Florida Today suggests the problem lies in the insurance industry’s inability to set aside reserves. In the 1990’s there were 40 insurance companies in Florida writing and competing for the malpractice insurance business. Then there were some very large awards to well-deserving patients, but little reserves were set aside. Today there are only 6 companies writing medical malpractice insurance in Florida; the theory is they are trying to replenish the cache.

There are many contributing factors for this sad state of affairs – many more than space will permit. But here’s a few for your bonnet. Our legal firms have fought for and won Tort Reform, which if any of you has sought legal recourse for a transgression knows all too well, has made doing so virtually impossible…or in the legal vernacular, not cost effective. Disreputable physicians and hospitals alike have double and triple billed the Medicare and Medicaid systems nearly bankrupting them. The overseers of right and good have neglected their duty. Hospitals allow questionable doctors to continue performing; the boards created to protect patient’s rights and patient care are disreputable and worse than lenient when it comes to monitoring and penalizing their own.

So, dear reader, that leaves us, the patients in a quandary. We must send a clear message to our representatives that we are not gullible; that we have an astute understanding of how the system and the business of business is manipulating the situation.

As patients we have the right to insist our doctors perform expertly and if they don’t they need to pay the consequences. Perhaps then the inadequate will be filtered out and the cream will rise to the top. As customers we have the right to insist on excellence and timeliness and courtesy. Doctors who overbook and stockpile patients 4 to 6 for the same hourly appointment don’t deserve our business. We need to tell them so. Can you imagine any other business in which such a disregard for you, the customer, would be acceptable?

Additionally, we need to let the insurance industry know we are on to them…that we are not going to take this anymore. Not only for the excessive rates for our physicians, but what about our rates?

It is time, dear readers, that we express our right to excellence in every regard…but particularly when it comes to our lives.

Links to Our Pages

The Purpose and The Vision:

Our Purpose

Our National Proposal and Vision

In Defense of our Civil Liberties

Articles by Norma Sherry

The Day Democracy Was Put On Hold by Norma Sherry

Freedom is Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose by Norma Sherry

Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More (Outsourcing American Jobs) by Norma Sherry

Bye, Bye Miss American Pie (Outsourcing American Jobs) by Norma Sherry

Dear American Worker (Outsourcing American Jobs) by Norma Sherry

Once Upon a Time in America (Not a Fable) (Outsourcing American Jobs) by Norma Sherry

I Believe (A Retrospective and a Promise) by Norma Sherry

We Can Make a Difference by Norma Sherry

What Price Glory? by Norma Sherry

Six Steps to Get The Vote Out by Norma Sherry

Not So Gay Times by Norma Sherry

...And God Said by Norma Sherry

Where, Oh Where Have All The Jobs Gone? by Norma Sherry

Never Again by Norma Sherry

A Deadly Secret by Norma Sherry

Pathology of Malpractice by Norma Sherry

Reality TV by Norma Sherry

One for the Gipper by Norma Sherry

Jobs, Jobs, Everywhere Jobs and Not a Job to Find

HIPAA and Other Assaults Upon Our Civil Liberties by Norma Sherry

Eyes Wide Shut by Norma Sherry

Skewed Vision by Norma Sherry

Sugar-Free Reflections of a Democratic Convention by Norma Sherry

Michael Badnarik: Libertarian Candidate for President by Norma Sherry

Que Sera, Sera by Norma Sherry

Suffer the Little Children by Norma Sherry

Katrina's Wrath, America's Shame by Norma Sherry

If it Were Up to Me by Norma Sherry

What Have They Done to my Song? by Norma Sherry

A Child's Dilemma by Norma Sherry

The Ride Home by Norma Sherry

Whose Life is it Anyway? by Norma Sherry

Reaping Profits for the Reaper by Norma Sherry

Genocide by Norma Sherry

A Tribute to the Life of Reverend Dr. Taylor Scott IV by Norma Sherry

Articles by Philip J. Rappa

Warning on Yawning by Philip J. Rappa

What Have We Learned Since 911? by Philip J. Rappa

Rhapsody for Democracy by Philip J. Rappa

Help Me if You Can, I'm Feeling Bad by Philip J. Rappa

In God We Trust by Philip J. Rappa

Fear and Loathing in America by Philip J. Rappa

Open Letter to the President of the United States of America by Philip J. Rappa

The House Always Wins by Philip J. Rappa

Alpha and Omega by Philip J. Rappa

Oh-Sum-Bodies-Been-Lying by Philip J. Rappa

Requiem to the Silliness I Learned in Civics Class by Philip J. Rappa

Storm and Strife by Philip J. Rappa

The Ill-Begotten: Reflections of Unconstitutional Precedence by Philip J. Rappa

High Noon in America by Philip J. Rappa

Do the Hokey Pokey by Philip J. Rappa

Articles by Others

Lawyer's Band to Save the Constitution

Raid on Patrons

Philip's Story:

Philip's Personal Story

Philip's Presentations on Personal Responsibility

A Little About Norma:

All About Outsourcing:

Businesses that Outsource

What You Can Do About Outsourcing?

Press Releases:

Front Page Story of Creator's Norma & Philip

Back to Top of Page

If you are interested in joining the growing number of American citizens worldwide who wish to investigate the crimes of the Bush Administration and want to begin the process of impeachment, please visit the following websites:

More of Our Favorite Websites:

Visit www.Penstrokes.biz for effective writing.

If you need words that get results, Penstrokes is the scribe for you!

Commondreams