Healthcare Education and Q&A Thread

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by dmek25

sorry Joe, but they have to be accountable. if not, Dr.s all of a sudden turn into weathermen. really doesn't matter if they are right or wrong. and contrary to popular belief, there is a such thing as a bad doctor

To that point though, by paying for malpractice insurance, they've essentially removed any financial incentive to avoid mistakes.

It's not like they have to be accountable under the current system; if they screw up their insurance carrier foots the bill. So under a capped system, the insurance premiums paid by doctors would be lower, and there would be no change in penalties felt by the doctor in cases of malpractice.

A loss of license would be effective, but I'm not even sure you need that. Doctors already try their damndest to avoid mistakes for fear of scaring all of their patients away. I wouldn't want to put any more pressure on them, they already practice costly defensive medicine as it is.

When you're trying to avoid malpractice suits, you tend to order more tests and procedures than is truly necessary. The rash of malpractice suits is partly responsible for healthcare expenses being as high as they are; we simply don't always need the tests doctors order. I'd rather not put anything in place that would make them any more defensive.