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Ilow · 02-25-2005, 02:53 PM

i don't know any more about the status of the current legislation than anyone else here, however it seems that i do have some agreement with the Republican bill. [gasp]
My good friend who is a physician pays a fortune in various insurances because of the potential that he will be sued (frivolously or otherwise) so consequently he must pass the un-savings on to his consumers (patients). He is especially concerned with the state of the rates to be an ob/gyn. These insurance rates are so astromomical that another friend of mine is considering leaving the ob/gyn trade and doing GP. What is happening is that we are now driving good doctors away from where we need them, which is unfortunate.
Naturally i believe that if gross negligence is involved (i.e. going to the ATM during surgery) there should be severe penalties, but as advanced as modern medicine is there is still an element of art to the science and the possibility of mistakes remains. IMHO there are far too many ambulance chasing lawyers out there willing to sue any and everyone everytime something unfortunate happens regardless of it was actually preventable. I really think that this is often the case because the insurance companies are quick to settle and both the lawyer and the party filing suit are happy because they got a decent chunk of change for relatively little effort. Does this hurt people who have legitimate claims? Probably, but the solution is to find a way to reduce frivolous or unwarranted lawsuits. Too many people have a loved one pass away and then in their grief want someone to blame, and there are too many lawyers who are eager to take their case. Again, this is MHO, but still.
Regarding this post (setting aside the fact that i thought that you had to be 18 to be on the TFP at all) I do feel for the poster, if in fact the situation is authentic, but i also have some reservations about how someone who has had cancer previously could graduate to stage 4 metastatic cancer that is mis-diagnosed as acid reflux. That's just my suspicious nature, I'm sure.

02-25-2005, 02:53 PM	#17 (permalink)
Ilow Junkie Location: Pats country	i don't know any more about the status of the current legislation than anyone else here, however it seems that i do have some agreement with the Republican bill. [gasp] My good friend who is a physician pays a fortune in various insurances because of the potential that he will be sued (frivolously or otherwise) so consequently he must pass the un-savings on to his consumers (patients). He is especially concerned with the state of the rates to be an ob/gyn. These insurance rates are so astromomical that another friend of mine is considering leaving the ob/gyn trade and doing GP. What is happening is that we are now driving good doctors away from where we need them, which is unfortunate. Naturally i believe that if gross negligence is involved (i.e. going to the ATM during surgery) there should be severe penalties, but as advanced as modern medicine is there is still an element of art to the science and the possibility of mistakes remains. IMHO there are far too many ambulance chasing lawyers out there willing to sue any and everyone everytime something unfortunate happens regardless of it was actually preventable. I really think that this is often the case because the insurance companies are quick to settle and both the lawyer and the party filing suit are happy because they got a decent chunk of change for relatively little effort. Does this hurt people who have legitimate claims? Probably, but the solution is to find a way to reduce frivolous or unwarranted lawsuits. Too many people have a loved one pass away and then in their grief want someone to blame, and there are too many lawyers who are eager to take their case. Again, this is MHO, but still. Regarding this post (setting aside the fact that i thought that you had to be 18 to be on the TFP at all) I do feel for the poster, if in fact the situation is authentic, but i also have some reservations about how someone who has had cancer previously could graduate to stage 4 metastatic cancer that is mis-diagnosed as acid reflux. That's just my suspicious nature, I'm sure. __________________ "Religion is the one area of our discourse in which it is considered noble to pretend to be certain about things no human being could possibly be certain about" --Sam Harris