MICRA is doing exactly what it’s supposed to in California. Want to raise or eliminate malpractice caps? Then deal with physician shortages. Pick your poison:
“Raising the MICRA cap would significantly increase healthcare costs, limiting patient access to doctors, hospitals and clinics throughout California,” said Lisa Maas, executive director of Californians Allied for Patient Protection, a trade group. “MICRA protects patient access to healthcare.”San Diego obstetrician Philip Diamond is skeptical that the law is keeping patients from obtaining malpractice lawyers. But he acknowledged that limits on payouts do lead to trade-offs.
“If we raise the cap, where does that money come from?” he asked. “Any increase means a drop in access.”
Related posts:
- My take: Ghost-writing, physician access
- Resident work hour restrictions: Increasing surgical complications?
- Laborists, and how rising malpractice premiums and the physician payment system are fueling the rise of hospital-only obstetricians
- Texas malpractice caps: Readers react
- Poll: Is easy patient access to the medical record a good idea?
- The price of unlimited access to the tort system
- Cost or access: Choose one or the other
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{ 12 comments }
Kevin, did you actually read that article before you cited it? It doesn’t appear so.
By the way, how many physicians per capita constitutes a “shortage”?
“”If we raise the cap, where does that money come from?” he asked. “Any increase means a drop in access.”"
I like this line. So doctor, if we do this, how many physicians will you guarantee us?
You won’t guarantee us any? Well then what’s the point?
One word:
Texas
Two words:
Lima, Peru.
Ponder why lawyers troll medical forums, yet doctors don’t have the time or (poor-)character to troll legal blogs.
Why is asking rather obvious questions like how do you determine a “shortage” of physicians trolling?
You’re asking us to make policy based on these shortages, so don’t you think you should define them?
Or do you prefer to wallow in ill-informed beliefs?
Nothing like the prospect of cold cash to make the John Edwards wannabe charlatans to crawl out from under the rocks.
Where ya’ll gonna run to?
Crim,
We’re all gonna run to another profession – it’s becoming intolerable.
If the anesthesiologist really thought there was malpractice, why doesn’t he front some money to pursue the case? If, as in the article, there was already a state investigation and a sanction, it would appear some of the initial legwork was done. And, of course, file complaints against the individual doctors with the Board, the hospital, and the relevant insurance companies.
Donna Shalala endorsed noneconomic damage caps when she took over at the University of Miami after running HHS in the Clinton Administration.
Her attitude sure changed when she actually became responsible for a budget.
“We’re all gonna run to another profession – it’s becoming intolerable.”
You’re not going anywhere. No other profession pays even 75% as well.
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