| There is a major effort to undertake health care | | | | causal relationship. Doctors are paranoid about |
| reform going on at the moment. Reform is | | | | being sued. To limit their risk, they order just |
| definitely needed because the cost of health | | | | about every diagnostic test and treatment that |
| insurance has gone through the roof the last two | | | | could possibly tell them anything. Why? They |
| decades. Whether the current plan being offered | | | | don’t want a lawyer asking them why they |
| is a good one or not is up for debate, but what is | | | | didn’t do a certain test. |
| clear is it does not address one of the factors in | | | | One can hardly blame doctors for taking this |
| rising health care costs – malpractice lawsuits. | | | | approach. Everybody guards against being sued if |
| There was a time when just about the last thing | | | | they can help it. The problem is this approach has |
| a doctor had to worry about was being sued for | | | | a very practical effect of driving the costs of |
| malpractice. Most doctors were tied into their | | | | health care absolutely through the roof. Insurance |
| community and new their patients on a very | | | | companies will discount these costs to a certain |
| personal basis. When problems or mistakes | | | | extent, but sooner or later they have to pay a |
| occurred, an apology was issued and remedy was | | | | good chunk of them. Guess who the carrier is |
| searched for. Those times are long gone. The | | | | going to past the costs onto? Yes, the people |
| health care industry has become, well, something | | | | paying the premiums on the insurance policies. |
| of an industry. The personal relationship between | | | | That would be you and me. |
| doctor and patient is now a cold one in most | | | | I am not suggesting in any way that negligent |
| cases. When mistakes inevitably occur, the patient | | | | doctors should be let off the hook when it comes |
| tends to look to the courts for a remedy. | | | | to malpractice claims. The point of this article is |
| Medical malpractice lawsuits are on the rise in a big | | | | simply to suggest that there are many reasons |
| way and so are the premiums doctors pay for | | | | our health care system is out of control from a |
| errors and omissions insurance. Still, what does | | | | cost perspective and the possibility of fixing them |
| this have to do with the cost of health insurance | | | | with one health care reform act is not realistic. |
| going up so dramatically? Well, there is a direct | | | | |