The Health Care Reform Address Thread

[JoeRedskin]

Learning a little as I go here. Tell me what you think of the validity of this study. http://www.citizen.org/documents/NPD...port_Final.pdf

I am not a numbers guy and this is a very statistic heavy study but it argues that the majority of malpractice costs are essentially due more to rising costs of care and lack of doctor disciplinary actions ("only 18 percent of doctors have been responsible for even a single malpractice payment" - yet only 33% of those doctors who have had 10 or more claims paid have been subjected to discipline).

The study relies on data collected by the "National Practitioner Data Bank" are you familiar with this entity? If so, do you believe it to be a credible data base?

Just from a general skimming of the information on the internet turned up by my search for "malpractice awards punitive percentage" seems to suggest that this is another one of those areas where stats don't support intuitive/common thought. Many states have capped punitive dams (~20), five don't allow them at all. PUNITIVE DAMAGE AWARDS, CAPS, AND STANDARDS. Even so, malpractice costs increase.

Not sure what all this means except that we are back to "no easy answers".