Who really pays for jackpot verdicts and multi-million dollar settlements? Not the doctor nor hospital, but society as a whole:
Medical malpractice insurance is even more problematic. Every doctor with the same type of practice pays the same as every other doctor in that same type of practice. The world’s best surgeon pays the same price as a night-school butcher surgeon. What this means is that good doctors pay liability into a liability insurance bucket to cover the lawsuits for bad doctors. However, more importantly, businesses pass down costs to consumers when they set their prices. That means you’ve already paid the price for that settlement when you saw the doctor. Not a red cent comes out of the doctor’s salary or estate . . .. . . The idea that suing a company for some injustice (many imaginary and some, sadly, very real) to make them pay is false. It’s a creation of trial lawyers who like collecting 40% of those big multimillion dollar settlements. The dirty little secret is that society pays an increased amount for products to sustain that system. No matter what you think about a hack artist doctor or a negligent fast-food restaurant owner, they never pay for these lawsuits, society does.
