Lawyers and Medical Malpractice Reform: Tort Reform Allies for Doctors?

When lawyers talk, I listen. Two attorneys penned a piece on medical malpractice reform in the April 21st issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the most prestigious medical journal on the planet. Here is an excerpt from their article, New Directions in Medical Liability Reform.

When lawyers talk, I listen. Two attorneys penned a piece on medical malpractice reform in the April 21st issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the most prestigious medical journal on the planet. Here is an excerpt from their article, New Directions in Medical Liability Reform.

The best estimates are that only 2 to 3% of patients injured by negligence file claims, only about half of claimants recover money, and litigation is resolved discordantly with the merit of the claim (i.e., money is awarded in nonmeritorious cases or no money is awarded in meritorious cases) about a quarter of the time.

This is not self-serving drivel spewed forth by greedy, bitter doctors, but a view offered by attorneys, esteemed officers of the court. Apply the statistics in their quote to your profession. Would you be satisfied if your efforts were benefiting 2-3% of your customers or clients? Would this performance level give me bragging rights as a gastroenterologist? Perhaps, I should attach a new slogan to my business card.

We would have to build a second waiting room to accommodate the crowds of new patients who would be jamming in to see me.

The current medical malpractice is beyond broken, and it is absurd to debate this. When even lawyers write under their own bylines that medical malpractice reform is needed, then it must be even worse than I thought. I assume that their bylines are true, but perhaps they used pseudonyms for their own protection.

In fairness, the authors did not find persuasive evidence that various medical malpractice reform proposals, some of which I have advocated on this blog, would accomplish the desired objectives of improving care and controlling costs. They examined various reforms including damage caps, pre-trial screening panels, certificate-of-merit requirements, joint-and-several-liability reform and statutes of limitation limits. They advocate continued study and experimentation to achieve meaningful medical malpractice reform.

As a physician, I understand the value of evidence. We should not adopt a medical malpractice reform measure that is shown be ineffective, even if doctors like me favor it. This assumes, of course, that the reform measure has been fairly tested. Debating torto reform proposals is a legitimate discussion and lawyers should be included in the conversations.

Defending the current system, however, is not legitimate. Even lawyers admit that the current system targets but a tiny fraction of patients who have been harmed by medical negligence. What relief do the other 97% of patients receive? In addition, the system targets too many innocent physicians, ultimately releasing most of them after dragging many of us on an agonizing journey. In my office, and probably in your doctor’s office also, litigation fear promotes defensive medicine, which harms patients and costs money.

I will now turn away from tort reform and turn to my morning pleasure, The New York Times. I read a hard copy with ink and newsprint, but I am sure that this anachronism will soon be extinct. I have a new suggestion for their motto, which appears in the top left corner on page 1 of every issue.