The whole issue of tort reform is pretty much DOA now. If it couldn’t be done in the past 8 years, it’s certainly not going to happen with the next administration. That being said, here’s are McCain and Obama’s take on the issue.
Rather than caps, physicians should be pushing for more expedient compensation to injured patients. No-fault malpractice would be an ideal solution, providing quicker payments for patients and removing the adversarial nature discouraging physicians to admit their mistakes.
Related posts:
- Medical Economics examines tort reform
- Tort reform: Where the candidates stand
- My USA Today column on why medical malpractice reform is needed
- Op-ed: Injured patients deserve medical malpractice reform
- Do patients trust doctors to bring about health reform?
- Expecting perfection in medicine
- Baseless lawsuits
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Tort reform died in 2006, when the republicans lost control of Congress. (Bitter irony — the only major legislative goal Bush failed to achieve was the only one I agreed with.) With the Dems in control, it’s DOA and we need to devolve to a state-by-state strategy, regardless of who the next President is.
If the Republicans really wanted tort reform, they could have pushed for it during the 6 years that they controlled both houses of congress and the Presidency.
The fact is they didn’t. The reason is simple: they didn’t care. All of you foolish physicians who supported republicans in the name of tort reform took the bait. As smart as we doctors may be, we are political idiots.
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