NCPA Report Suggests Reform to Benefit Doctors and Patients
DALLAS, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nation's medical malpractice
system should be replaced by a system that automatically compensates patients
for unexpected injuries or deaths, regardless of who is at fault, according to
a new report from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). The NCPA
report says the key to reform is to allow patients, doctors and hospital
personnel to solve the problem by contract, completely opting out of the court
system.
"Medical malpractice is a system of lawyers, by lawyers and for lawyers," said
NCPA Policy Analyst Pam Villarreal, who co-authored the report. "The needs of
patients and the freedom of doctors to practice medicine often get lost in the
mountain of litigation."
The malpractice system is supposed to compensate victims of negligent medical
practice for their injuries and discourage future errors by medical providers.
It does both jobs poorly. Consider that:
-- Fewer than 2 percent of patients (or the families of patients) who are
negligently injured ever file a malpractice lawsuit; and even fewer receive
compensation.
-- Moreover, of the lawsuits filed, fully one out of every three cases does
not involve any medical error.
-- Furthermore, malpractice victims receive less than half of every dollar (46
cents) recovered through settlements or jury verdicts; the rest goes to pay
their attorneys' fees, court administrative costs and defense costs.
The current system, according to the report, imposes large costs on doctors.
One in every four physicians is sued every year, and more than half are sued
at least once during their career. To protect against such lawsuits, doctors
purchase malpractice insurance, which carry high premiums. Most of these
costs are passed on to all patients. The total cost of the medical tort
system is estimated between $129 billion and $207 billion - or as much as
$2,000 per year for every household in America.
The report suggests a reformed system should compensate every patient fully
who is harmed by a medical error, minimize the cost of determining
compensation and encourage health care providers and patients to act in ways
that reduce the frequency of errors. To do this the NCPA suggests replacing
the tort-law malpractice system with a system in which liability would be
determined by voluntary contract. These contracts could include:
-- Compensation without fault - set in advance the amount a provider is
obligated to compensate the patient (or family of the patient) for in the case
of unexpected death, and set compensation for unexpected disability based on
the state Worker's Compensation system.
-- Adjustment for risk - allow the compensation amount to be reduced for the
riskier patient or high-risk procedures.
-- Full disclosure - require providers to make certain quality information
public, such as mortality rates for surgeries.
-- Patient compliance - base qualification for full compensation on the
patient's compliance with certain provider directives, including diet
restrictions, full discloser of medications being taken.
"Instead of buying malpractice insurance, physicians would essentially be
purchasing short-term life insurance on all patients, say, undergoing
surgery," said Villarreal. "Under this system, insurers would have a strong
interest in monitoring how doctors practice medicine and would price their
policies accordingly. Bad doctors would largely be priced out of the market."
The NCPA is an internationally known nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute
with offices in Dallas and Washington, D. C. that advocates private solutions
to public policy problems. We depend on the contributions of individuals,
corporations and foundations that share our mission. The NCPA accepts no
government grants.
SOURCE National Center for Policy Analysis
Sean Tuffnell, +1-972-308-6481, sean.tuffnell@ncpa.org, or Elysa Nelson,
+1-972-308-6477, elysa.nelson@ncpa.org, both of National Center for Policy
Analysis
