BlogWood: MT Archives

I'm not surprised...

But the Tampa Tribune is surprised that various groups lied about the need for malpractice caps:

employees with the state Department of Health and the Agency for Health Care Administration testified that the number of medical doctors practicing in Florida has increased during the past five years. They also said no emergency rooms or trauma centers have closed as a result of the double-digit increases doctors have seen in their medical malpractice insurance premiums.

That seemed to contradict the mantra of the Florida Medical Association and insurance companies that doctors are leaving the state in droves and that emergency medical centers are closing.

In the SP Times, Mary Jo Melone see’s the same solution that I mentioned on
5/30: (scroll down to find the post titled “Insurance reform...”)

MJM:

Other measures could be taken to cut back on the problems posed by bad doctors. According to figures compiled by another consumer group, Public Citizen, just 6 percent of the state's doctors are responsible for more than half of the malpractice payments. If we made sure they got put out of business, you would certainly cut back on costs.

BlogWood:

Here's an idea: why don't mistake prone doctors get out of the business? Insurance rates would fall, patient care would improve, and consumers could still get just compensation if a jury decided they deserved it. Unfortunately, doctors hate to lose potential golf buddies, so the AMA would rather put an arbitrarily low price tag on a life than do the right thing.