Posts Tagged ‘medical malpractice reform’

The NYT reported that an official with the White House stated that President Obama told the American Medical Assocation (“AMA”) that he would support medical malpractice reform if the AMA supported the President’s health-care reform bill.  On June 15, President Obama addressed the AMA and made statements about medical malpractice reforms, suggesting he supports reforms, not caps on recoveries, but it still unclear what type of medical malpractice reform he supports.  In response, to that address, the American Association for Justice (“AAJ”), which works to make sure people have a fair chance to receive justice through the legal system when they are injured by the negligence or misconduct of others–even when it means taking on the most powerful corporations.
 
The following is a statement from American Association for Justice President Les Weisbrod regarding President Obama’s address to the American Medical Association:
 
“It’s clear America’s health care system is in crisis.  Over 40 million people are without health insurance and costs are skyrocketing.  President Obama is right that health care reform is needed now and patient safety should be the top priority.
 
“Empirically-based practice guidelines, developed by independent experts, is an idea we can support, as long as it does not lower quality or standards of care.  Instead, these guidelines should lead to greater patient safety.
 
“According to the Institute of Medicine, 98,000 people die every year because of medical errors.  Eliminating these errors, not further hurting the victims of negligence, is where lawmakers should focus their attention.  By taking away the rights of people to hold wrongdoers accountable, the quality of health care will suffer tremendously.
 
“However, the notion that ‘defensive medicine’ is leading to higher health care costs is not supported by empirical data or academic literature.  Recent news reports, CBO and GAO analyses, and statements from administration officials have shown that physicians will over-test and over-treat purely for financial reasons, unrelated to liability concerns.
 
“Limiting the legal rights of injured patients will do nothing to lower health care costs or aid the uninsured.  We will work over the coming weeks and months to educate members of Congress and the administration on how to best protect victims of medical negligence.”
 
AAJ has developed a primer on medical negligence and the role of the civil justice system in the current health care debate.  The primer can be located at www.justice.org/medicalnegligence.  Information is also available on this site about New York medical malpractice.

Clearly one of the big agenda items for the Obama administration is health care reform.  Universal health care is definitely a good thing and long over due in this country.  But, for a consumer injured by medical negligence, what does health care reform mean? 

The White House had made clear that it would like to get a reform bill passed in Congress before the end of this session in August.  Whether the White House can achieve this is questionable and will required broad reaching support from various contingencies, including the American Medical Association (AMA).  So, what promises, if any, is the White House making to the AMA about medical malpractice reform, which is a big issue for the AMA (the website has Obama and his speech featured on its home page this morning), despite studies showing that medical malpractice reform has little or no impact on health care costs?

The New York Times reported earlier this week that insders at the Obama White House state that Obama has told the American Medical Association (”AMA”) that he supports malpractice reforms.  On June 15, 2009, Obama opened his drive for health care reform by speaking to the AMA.  During his speech, he stated:

“Now, I recognize that it will be hard to make some of these changes if doctors feel like they’re constantly looking over their shoulders for fear of lawsuits. I recognize that.

(APPLAUSE)

Don’t get too excited yet.

(APPLAUSE)

All right. Now, I understand some doctors may feel the need to order more tests and treatments to avoid being legally vulnerable. That’s a real issue.

Now, you know, just hold onto your horses here, guys.

(LAUGHTER)

I want to be honest with you. I’m not advocating caps on malpractice awards…

(BOOING)

… which I believe — I personally believe can be unfair to people who’ve been wrongfully harmed.

But I do think we need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, how to let doctors focus on practicing medicine, how to encourage broader use of evidence-based guidelines. I want to work with the AMA so we can scale back the excessive defensive medicine that reinforces our current system and shift to a system where we are providing better care simply — rather than simply more treatment.

So this is going to be a priority for me. And I know, you know, based on your responses, it’s a priority for you.

(LAUGHTER)

And I look forward to working with you, and it’s going to be difficult. But all this stuff is going to be difficult. All of it’s going to be important.”  See Obama AMA Speech Transcript.

So far this is the only public statement by Obama about malpractice reform.  His views seem consistent with what his views were as a Senator, which is a good thing for consumers who are injured by medical negligence.  Medical groups, however, have already expressed disappointment in his statement but we hope that the White House will stand strong for consumer rights, especially in the face of considerable evidence from studies that show that malpractice reforms do not reduce the costs of healthcare in the United States.