One secret to decreasing the cost of health care in the US is to get the friggin lawyers out of the equation. Now, I am a doc, and my very best friend is a lawyer (who doesn’t sue doctors). Yes, there is certainly malpractice, and it should be punished accordingly. But as long as every single doctor in this country needs to work as if there is a tiny lawyer standing on his/her shoulder all day long, then every single test will be run, every angle pursued and common sense will be thrown out the door in favor of covering one’s butt.
That is a fact of our lives.
I have discouraged my own children, subtly, from pursuing a career in health care.
Patients, that would be guys like me, should have the option to legally ‘opt out’ of the frivolous lawsuits. Then a dual pricing plan could be offered.
In my particular case having just been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer I would be suing the damned officious bureaucrats at the Dept of Health and Welfare in Idaho, especially their director and the woman they assigned to appease me who initially threatened to deport me even though I legally entered this country and then offered me a “carrot” of finding a surgeon willing to cut off the breast and then wait to see if the surgery would possibly be covered as something considered an emergency. And by the way, after the surgery there would be NO follow up treatment even though another lump was discovered during the initial surgical consultation. Welcome to Socialized medicine like Canada has, I lived it before coming down here!
Well, the alternative is criminal cases, in the case of negligence.
Wise words. Every doc I have worked with got frustrated with the insurance companies and ICD9 codes telling them how to treat their patients. The volumes of paper work and denials of claim coverage has been discouraging. I have never worked with a doc who did not work long hours and genuinely enjoyed caring for their patients. The gov’t and insurance companies are keeping them from doing what is in their nature. I had one doc have a “moment” when he finally just said all he wanted to do was take care of his patients. What a shame that he can no longer do that. He retired shortly after that.
He was truly an exceptional doc, as are many many others. If they start providing monetary incentives it will turn into the “nursing shortage” crisis. I have never seen so many people go into the nursing field because of the bonuses and salary who have not one speck of caring and compassion. They are just interested in how much money they can make, patients can take a hike. I know the nursing field will eventually weed them out, but to see this breaks my heart.