It’s too bad the Times didn’t give this malpractice story more prominent play. It’s so darn difficult to get any substantive news out of Albany and here was an example of some. We hope Kaplan stays on this story and broadens it to investigate what, if anything, New York’s hospitals—which are about to get a gift from the state—are doing to reduce errors and help victims and their families when bad care is given. In other words, what are they doing to make care safer? What are they doing for those who’ve been injured? That’s something potential patients just may want to know, especially if they are going to have trouble getting to court. Perhaps they will want to choose the hospitals that are doing the most to head off errors and avoid those that are doing little or nothing. Some old fashioned consumer journalism, with a chart showing the safety activities of all the state’s hospitals, might be in order.
Campaign Desk
02:10 PM - March 28, 2011
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Both you and the article ignored what academic studies say is the real cost of malpractice litigation. Academic studies suggest that 5-9% of medical costs are due to the practice of defensive medicine, ordering tests and procedures that doctors don't consider necessary, but that juries may.
#1 Posted by Jerry, CJR on Mon 28 Mar 2011 at 06:05 PM
Jerry, once again, there is no evidence that states such as California, Texas, and Florida that have capped non-economic damages in med mal suits have experienced any lower medical spending growth than states that have not capped damages. See Michael Morrisey's December 2008 study in Health Services Research on this. Controlling total health costs is given as the primary justification for capping damages, but while liability insurers and doctors may save money, those savings don't seem to trickle down to consumers.
#2 Posted by Harris Meyer, CJR on Mon 28 Mar 2011 at 07:16 PM