Posted on 08/25/2002 7:56:30 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Just have the trial lawyer come to your house and deliver the babe!
The downside..he would demand 20% of the babe's future earnings.
A long-time friend who was a paramedic for many years says the situation is much worse than described in the article. There are more problems than just malpractice insurance. Specialists and specialized machines are very costly. Our education system delivers new doctors who are heavily in debt. Too many are motivated by things other than interest in medicine. The public has been misled into believing that free medicine is a God-given right. And so on.
It's worth looking at other systems. There's some indication that we might benefit from expanding the clinic system. It might be worth-while finding out why Europeans don't think doctors should be sued, and why French doctors seem satisfied making less money - for example.
Are you sure about this?
I've been investigating in my own small way. I have French and German neighbors who have extensive experience working with and in both systems. I'm told the French system is better and cheaper - and that the doctors are more dedicated (probably because many are women who've gone into the profession for love of the work). The German system is much better for the poor, slightly worse for the rich, costly to the state, and painfully slow for everyone. A Freeper tells me the Dutch system is bare-bones and uncomfortable.
Many people tell me our system produces an awful lot of greedy incompetents.
I'm not in a position to verify any of this but I'm working on it.
The first lawyer who specializes in such a practice would be richly rewarded.
No, they are not. The roots of the crisis are as follows:
See? That was easy.
-ccm
They might add, Americans have taken too much time to fight for rectifying this gross embarrassment on such a great country.
The care is no better and you pay through the teeth.
More likely 20% of the baby.
Carolyn
Great. Now we're going to use taxes to transfer money from the hard working people to the insurance companies and the lawyers. What a country.
No, there won't.
But what will happen is that those who do go will be less smart, less driven, more failure-tolerant, and more able to be molded into happy state workers.
This is happening already.
I don't understand what you mean by equipment which is too costly, advancements in the medical world save more lives.
Many female surgeons who have no debt are electing to end their medical careers in their mid thirties. These women were given opportunities over and above males of whatever race and ability simply because of gender. The biggest problem I'm aware of today is the government's desire to force those who accept government loans to specialize in specific areas and upon graduation to work forty hour weekly jobs for five years in those areas as government employees.
As I said in earlier posts, I'm looking at other systems to see if I can learn anything useful. I am not aware that women doctors in France retire early. Maybe it's true but noone has told me about the problem.
I have no idea what you are saying, society wouldn't have magnetic resonance, stent proceedures, let alone penicillin today if your theory were correct.
I have no idea what female physicians do in France.
You can find lots of statistics to prove the contrary - we are living longer, fewer babies die, infectious diseases are under better control, malnutrition is down. But do they really prove that hospitals aren't financially troubled, malpractice insurance isn't sky-high, millions aren't without medical insurance, etc.?
Modern medicine is far more costly than medicine of the '50s and '60s, which was available to nearly everyone. Somehow we have to find a way to deal with that.
You can find lots of statistics to prove the contrary - we are living longer, fewer babies die, infectious diseases are under better control, malnutrition is down. But do they really prove that hospitals aren't financially troubled, malpractice insurance isn't sky-high, millions aren't without medical insurance, etc.?
Modern medicine is far more costly than medicine of the '50s and '60s, which was available to nearly everyone. Somehow we have to find a way to deal with that.
Are the high costs here in the states due principally to our legal system? What about the costs of medical equipment, doctors, nurses, physical plant, etc.?
California limited legal costs but medical costs haven't gone down. And in Taiwan there still must be medical malpractice awards. If not, how is malpractice handled?
People in the 50s and 60s only went to the physician when they were actually sick, not upon referral of ambulance chasing lawyers because of alleged "injuries." Malpractice insurance was minimal.
Today, any time someone's name is in the paper concerning an auto accident the person is swamped with letters from lawyers saying "Better safe than sorry! Let one of our friendly, cooperative chiropractors evaluate you for possible injuries. It won't cost you a dime!"
They flood the daytime "court" TV shows with their ads. Look at the covers of your telephone directory for the ambulance chasers. (PLEASE, take a minute to read their ads.) They file scattergun suits against the hospital and any and all physicians who even remotely were connected to the case. They win very few, but their frivilous suits raise the malpractice rates.
I'm glad my wife and I were able to retire early. Until something is done to limit the size of awards and punish those who file frivilous suits physicians will continue to get out or move to better states.
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