Why shouldn't the medical profession be responsible for its errors?
If you or I rearend someone in a car accident, and we injure somebody, we are going to be held accountable for the injuries we cause. Yet many don’t want medical professionals to be held responsible for injuries they cause. Does that seem right?
A recent study claims that about 250,000 Americans die each year due to medical errors. If you think about it, that is an average of 5,000 people per state. Another study puts the number at about 90,000. That’s a better number, but still unacceptable. At the average rate, this conservative study means over 1,000 people will die in Arizona this year due to medical malpractice.
The current system in some states still holds doctors and hospitals fully accountable for errors. States that have enacted tort reform allow medical professionals to escape full responsibility, by capping what they owe when they make mistakes.
The reason that medical professionals should be held fully accountable for their errors is because it forces them to meet accepted standards of care. The American tort system used to hold the medical profession liable. You know what the result was? Better medicine. Because the profession was held responsible, doctors and hospitals were forced to improve the quality of their service, to institute procedures and protocols, to have checks and balances, and to review and supervise staff. Do you know why the profession improved itself? Because money talks. Forcing the profession to pay for its mistakes incentivizes it to reduce mistakes and to improve the quality of care.
As stated above, up to 250,000 people still die each year due to medical negligence. That’s the number after decades of malpractice suits have forced the profession to improve itself. Imagine what that number would be if doctors and hospitals did not know that they would be held accountable. A legal system that allows full recovery provides a very important check and balance on the medical system.
