Groups to Congress: Don't Sacrifice Patient Safety to Lower Health Costs

Health Reform Should Reduce Medical Errors, Not Immunize Negligent Providers
for Mistakes that Maim and Kill Innocent Patients

WASHINGTON, June 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congress should not confuse
lowering health care costs with limiting patient safety, said a letter from
consumer and patient advocates sent to Congress today. The groups urged a
focus on reducing medical errors in health reform legislation, not limits on
liability for negligent medical providers, as a means to both save lives and
lower the costs of medical mistakes.

State malpractice damage caps, and other limits on liability for negligent
health care providers, have locked injured patients out of court, degraded the
quality of health care and denied justice to too many families, said Consumer
Watchdog.

"Those who wish to reduce the costs of medical malpractice liability should
focus on stemming the epidemic of preventable medical errors," wrote the
advocates, not "reduce accountability for wrongdoing and weaken patient
safety. We urge you to reject any amendments to the legislation that will
shift costs from poorly performing medical facilities and providers to
struggling families."

"Shielding negligent parties from accountability is no way to cut costs or
provide quality care. To the contrary, it is a recipe for increasing the
nation's epidemic of preventable errors, at enormous human and financial cost.
Instead of limiting liability, the Congress should focus on improving patient
safety. This would save not only lives, but also billions of dollars in
unnecessary medical cost," wrote the groups.

The state that is cited most frequently by proponents of malpractice liability
limits as a success - California - has insurance regulation, not its
malpractice damage cap, to thank for holding malpractice insurance rates down
for health care providers. In the thirteen years after passage of a damage
cap, medical malpractice insurance rates went up 450%. Over the next thirteen
years, after Californians approved strong insurance oversight, medical
malpractice insurance premiums went down 2%.

Consumer Watchdog joined the Alliance for Justice, Consumer Action, National
Women's Health Network, NCCNHR: The National Consumer Voice for Quality
Long-Term Care, Public Citizen and USAction to send the letter today.

Download the letter here:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/MedErrors6-25-09.pdf

See the video monument of innocent patients denied justice for medical
mistakes at: http://www.JusticeforPatients.org

Download the report "How Insurance Reform Lowered Doctors' Medical Malpractice
Rates In California, And How Malpractice Caps Failed":
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/documents/1008.pdf

Consumer Watchdog is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization with
offices in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, CA. Find us on the web at:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog

Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog, +1-202-629-3043