The Herald in Washington:
The Harvard researchers may not think the system is riddled with frivolous lawsuits, but we agree with the AMA that 40 percent is too many, and they do burden the system, even when there is no payout.Perhaps a penalty for filing a frivolous suit might help some patients have more respect for the law. Getting those numbers down would put the focus where it should be: punishing and/or weeding out the small percentage of doctors who harm patients.
Update –
Here’s another one. The Patriot-News in PA:
In short, the medical malpractice system as we know it is one great big roulette wheel that does a far less than acceptable job of compensating those truly harmed by improper treatment. It survives, we suspect, because trial lawyers — who appear to benefit from the system more than anyone else — have convinced many Americans that any other system would fail to adequately compensate those who suffer serious injury as a result of medical error.In fact, there’s every reason to believe that an independent no-fault system run through special medical courts would do a far better job of awarding compensation to the truly deserving far faster, with far less uncertainty and personal trauma, and at far less cost.
