Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 03/12/2008 10:34:40 AM PDT by Harrius Magnus
States May Warn Doctors to Follow Smoker Treatment Guidelines or be Sued for Medical Malpractice
State health commissioners may soon begin warning about medical malpractice law suits which could be brought by smokers against physicians who fail to follow federal and other guidelines in treating them, putting pressure on the medical profession similar to that put on the tobacco industry by earlier smoker law suits.
Public interest law professor John Banzhaf, whom the media has dubbed a "driving force behind the lawsuits that have cost tobacco companies billions of dollars," and the "law professor who masterminded litigation against the tobacco industry," has written to the health commissioners of the fifty states suggesting that they warn their state's doctors about such law suits based upon a recent article in a leading medical journal and an even more recent study about saving smoker lives.
The letter notes a recent study which shows that physicians are killing more than 40,000 American smokers each year by failing to follow federal guidelines which mandate that the doctor warn the smoking patient about the many dangers of smoking and provide effective medical treatment for the majority who wish to quit.
"The families of any one of those 40,000 victims – or the hundreds of thousands more who suffer heart attacks, strokes, amputations, blindness, or other problems because of their smoking – could sue physicians for malpractice for failing to follow the standard of medical care mandated by these guidelines," says Banzhaf, who serves as Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first antismoking organization.
Indeed, the New York City Department of Health has already warned that "because physician intervention can be so effective, failure to provide optimal counseling and treatment [for smoking] is failure to meet the standard of care – and could be considered malpractice."
Also, a medical journal noted that the "failure of many doctors and hospitals to deal with tobacco use and dependence raises the question of whether this failure could be considered malpractice, given the Public Health Service guidelines' straightforward recommendations, their efficacy in preventing serious disease and cost-effectiveness. . . . a court could have sufficient basis to find that the failure to adequately treat the main cause of preventable disease and death in the US qualifies as a violation of the legal duty that doctors and hospitals owe to patients habituated to tobacco use and dependence.”
The US Public Health Service’s Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence provide that “every patient who uses tobacco should be offered at least one of [two] treatments.” Many major guidelines by other respected medical bodies – e.g., the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, etc. – also require that smoking patients receive not just warnings but also treatment, including counseling.
However, as the Partnership for Prevention recently noted, in a report sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the WellPoint Foundation, fewer than 30% of smoking patients receive even the minimal treatment required by the guidelines. The report estimates that this refusal by physicians and hospitals to follow the Guidelines kills more than 40,000 smokers each year.
Banzhaf's letter to the health commissioners suggested that: "Since many in the antismoking community (including hundreds of organizations, many with their own attorneys), as well as lawyers associated with antismoking groups and other lawyers in private practice, are now considering how to proceed with the article’s litigation suggestion, the need to remind doctors of their responsibilities and of their potential legal liability is paramount – especially since their continued refusal to even warn many patients about smoking, much less to follow the guidelines’ requirements of effective intervention, kills over 40,000 patients each year."
"Since physician malpractice kills over 40,000 smokers annually – more than motor vehicle or product liability accidents – it should not be surprising if antismoking lawyers, as well as those in private practice working on contingency fees, find physicians who deliberately flout federal guidelines to be a major target of litigation."
PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III Executive Director and Chief Counsel Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) 2013 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20006, USA (202) 659-4310 // http://ash.org
What a crock. As a former heavy smoker I know that without the real will to quit on the part of the smoker, there is no "effective medical treatment".
The POS scum known as Banzhaf is the Darth Vader of the rabid smoker-hater movement.
It may interest you to know I use the exact same technique. Several years ago, my physician at-the-time let his entire staff know they had 90 days to quit smoking. At the end of that time, they’d be fired if they hadn’t quit. All but one woman smoked. I had an appointment, was told about this by the secretary, and unloaded on him when he came into the room(after the exam, of course,which took about five minutes). I yelled at him, “Who made you God, you miserable elitist SOB? “ And informed him in no uncertain terms that he’d never see me again. His entire staff quit, including the one who didn’t smoke, and now a friend who still goes to him tells me he’s going to stop seeing his patients who smoke-unless they quit. The doctor is an ex-smoker, by the way. Nothing worse. Nothing.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
ping
Maybe, but they tell me ex-wives can be hell-raisers. : )
Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you so very much. I actually enjoy doing it when it is taken as a whole. Don't ask me if I'm enjoying myself at about 8:15 when we want to close the kitchen and we've got people ordering things that take a minimum of 20 minutes to cook :)
Say what you want about Soros, but John Banzhaf is the face of communism, (read, evil), in America today.
Soros spends millions attempting to coerce politicians and public opinion. If Banzhaf isn't making millions, then he must just gets his kicks advising trial lawyers and local and federal government on how to restrain the liberty of the populace.
I would’ve told them to @#$% off.
It's both.
Exactly. Ban it already. Suggest banning tobacco to the grant junkies and paid lefty political activists who are living off the Government Tit and MSA payments and watch their heads explode. They would have to actually get a real job.
“I am quite content to leave you to indulge your disgusting vice to your heart’s delight, as long as you don’t blow the smoke my way.”
Then I am sure that you are more than willing to stay off of private property where I am welcome.
Next will be too much fat in your diet...
then caffeine...
then salt...
ad infinitum...
ad nauseam...
I would if the wife's company had any resemblance of decent insurance. They don't and I have dependents. So I suck it up instead of smoke it up. Oh and cholesterol and BMI are being measured as well. You can see where that is headed.
funny thing is there is no drug testing involved. Hmmmm. Oh and it is completely “anonymous.”
The federal government will withhold money to hospitals who don't follow the guidelines for certain things like pneumonia. congestive heart failure, etc.
Here's from Wikipedia: "Health professionals may follow the "five As" with every smoking patient they come in contact with:
1. Ask about smoking
2. Advise quitting
3. Assess current willingness to quit
4. Assist in the quit attempt
5. Arrange timely follow-up"
You don’t need to tell them. They can figure it out on their own.
Wow, that Doc really does have the “god complex.”
Like I tell my doctor I smoke. No way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.