This column from the Business Section of today’s Los Angeles Times attacks the myth that restriction of the rights of patients to hold health care providers responsible for harming patients must be a part of national healthcare reform.
An excerpt:
Every circus needs a sideshow, which must be why every time the issue of rising medical costs gets debated, politicians start clamoring for "tort reform."
The article explains who wins if patient’s rights are restricted. Here is on example:
How great a business is malpractice insurance nationwide? At American Physicians Capital (an insurer active in the Midwest), claims were falling so fast in 2007 that its chief executive publicly compared his underemployed claims managers to "the Maytag repairman." The next time you find yourself nodding in assent while some politician carries on about tort reform, remember that its benefits will go to characters like this.
Thanks to Brandon Bass for bringing the article to my attention.